<p>Mtmomma–to be fair, I don’t think he feels like an enemy to everyone. Personally, he gets a lot of respect from “real people.” Our governor, though, knows an easy rhetorical trope when he finds one, and has made teachers the designated punching bag. You can find similar rhetoric on Comments pages and talk radio, but day to day, I think he’s treated well.</p>
<p>“Probably the biggest downside is that all teachers are compensated based on seniority instead of subject taught and hours worked.”</p>
<p>^^ In NYC about 1/3 of the teacher’s union consists of retired teachers who, even though they are double-dipping, vote to maintain generous pension/med benefits that are unreasonable to expect when everyone else his tightening his/her belt (not to mentin the fact that tax $$ that go to supporting those benefits are then unavail for salaries and resources for current classroom teachers).</p>
<hr>
<p>Garland, can’t believe anyone would consider your H the enemy, glad to hear that he knows that he is appreciated.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yah,I agree. The actual people teachers come in contact with usually understand and appreciate what they do for their students. What I saw from your post was that “the public”, meaning those who have no real idea what is going on in the classroom, seem to feel free to criticize publicly. I have not seen any other profession that faces this same scrutiny.</p>
<p>I have to laugh when I hear TV ads for politicians that claim they want to “fix our broken public schools”. The emphasis never seems to be on the government bureaucracy, lack of funding (because so much is spent on government bureaucracy), inability to discipline students (because there will be a lawsuit), an archaic system that can’t have alternative hours or school years (because what would the bus drivers do?), etc…It seems to just focus on the bad teachers and their bad unions. The “public” seems to think that if this one thing could just be fixed, everything else would fall into place.</p>
<p>From my perspective 100K isn’t all that much money to pay a teacher for nine months of work…if the teacher is doing a good job.</p>
<p>I know four teachers. Three of them qualify for WIC, and two qualify for freaking food stamps. FOOD STAMPS. They work summers for peanuts and work 10 hours a day.</p>
<p>I know one person that just dropped out of teaching school after her practicum. All that work, but she was like… are you kidding? And I’m getting paid LESS than my kids’ babysitter?</p>
<p>I don’t know where xiggi lives, but if you want to be a teacher… go there.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I just want to say, thank you. My kids will be in the public schools. I don’t like working with the public so I couldn’t do it but I have the highest respect.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh tell me where this is? I’d love to earn $100K for 9 months of work. I have great letters of recommendation, lots of experience and I do a good job!!</p>
<p>If you want to be a teacher and maintain salary, it pays to look around. Focus on the obvious states. </p>
<p>In my district, a suburb, teachers with a masters degree hit $99,000 after 15 years, health care contributions are negligible, and pensions and other benefits are first rate. This salary is obviously well above the median salary of residents; people move here because of the schools. There are a number of areas around here where teachers’ compensation is higher, so this is doable. We’re a median cost of living area; houses can easily be purchased in the low $100,000’s, and even cheaper than that - in very solid neighborhoods. In our state, the education establishment is not under stress, so I don’t foresee a shakeup.</p>
<p>So aspiring teachers, look around. You don’t need to give up anything to pursue your dream.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is in post#7. 57K plus benefits equals 100K.</p>
<p>I think that is not a lot of money to budget for a good teacher.</p>
<p>In suburban NY…in high performing school districts…there are quite a few teachers earning $100,000 salary plus benefits.</p>
<p>But…homes in these communities usually cost $500,000+ ($500,000 is a small starter home on virtually no property…or in a less desirable section of town.)</p>
<p>So…many teachers live a fairly long distance away to have more house/land, or they have a partner/spouse with a good income so they can afford to live in one of these communities on two salaries. </p>
<p>I want to know more about MisterK’s community…where teachers can earn $99,000 in salary AND buy a house for the low $100,000’s.</p>
<p>As for the OP…you’re going to find that many professions don’t have instant job availability these days. There will always be a need for teachers…and…in places were teachers stay around due to seniority…there are retirements and…at some point…hiring will need to take place.</p>
<p>As others have said…if you really feel you enjoy teaching and have a passion for it – do it. If you think you’d have a passion for whatever the top jobs are that are expected to have openings in the next 5 years…then switch!</p>
<p>Oh MisterK…do tell. Where can I work and earn $100K AND buy a house for the same amount. I’m ready to relocate. This sounds like a great place.</p>
<p>Thumper, I found the average teacher pay for the top 10 states–where does MrK live? Oh yeah, don’t forget how you can’t transfer more than 6 years of experience, you’ll have to go back to a beginning teacher salary–so I guess you’ll make considerably less than the average.
I wonder what the average price of a home is in these states?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Back to an earlier post…
Garland-- tell your DH to go into real estate. It cant get much worse than it already is, so he wont have to take the blame for tanking that profession :)</p>
<p>thumper - The great real estate run-up and crash didn’t happen everywhere. Lots of places are just steady and solid. I’m not going to post my community, but deals like this really aren’t all that hard to find. You could approach it the same way as if you were looking around for a place to live, evaluating job offers, researching retirement areas, or even analyzing college costs.</p>
<p>A prospective teacher could look for a state with a powerful education establishment, strong pro-union laws, government-heavy, then look for local areas with reasonable cost of living, then investigate solid public school districts. In such areas, teacher salaries will be well above the median income for the community - I’m talking $100,000/yr salary plus fantastic benefits (one poster thought that the $100k comes from including benefits - nope). Newcomers here are often shocked to learn that it really is a true $100k/yr wage, and a number of nearby communities are even higher.</p>
<p>There are downsides, too. These areas may not be as wonderful as the high cost of living areas, and salaries for other professionals will be much, much lower than what many of you are used to. Also, local income taxes and property taxes as a percentage of real value will be absolutely shocking. And don’t expect your house’s value to keep up with inflation - ever - in good times or bad. So it’s mixed, but a very good deal if you want to teach.</p>
<p>Although it’s nobody’s idea of a dream location, this area is plenty nice enough for me - a nice mix of incomes and housing choices.</p>
<p>Just saw mtnmomma’s post. Good list! Won’t be hard to find deals that I’m describing starting from there…</p>
<p>JYM–I will! I’m chuckling, and if posts here had “like” buttons I definitely would have “liked” that comment.</p>
<p>MisterK, how many years of experience and what education level do you have to have to earn $100,000?</p>
<p>Where i live it takes a teacher about 13 years with Masters to get up to 100K. Most will have their Masters by then.</p>
<p>About 20 with Bachelors + 15 credits. Not certain if anyone below that.</p>
<p>This is with no summer school, no coaching, no supervision of plays or musicals, etc.</p>
<p>Wow…with so many wonderful places with such fabulous salaries, I think MORE people should consider going into education.</p>
<p>The most senior teacher in our district earns $90,500. That’s with about 34 years on the job. Benefits (Social Security, Teachers Retirement System, Workers Comp and Health Insurance) cost the district an additional $30,000 per year.</p>
<p>In our rural upstate NY area, unless you are willing to live in a trailer, you are looking at about 200K for a little “starter home.”</p>
<p>I’d love to know where MisterK lives because I’d have my wife apply for one of those teaching jobs tomorrow. She’s got a Masters +30 ed credits and had her own small private sector business before getting into teaching about 5 years ago. I’m sure she’d be as interested as I am in a place where the cost of living is cheap and teachers earn private sector pay.</p>
<p>Kayf, how much does an average house cost in this area? My cousin makes over $100,000; she has a graduate degree and has been teaching for 25 years, but she lives on Long Island, where the cost of housing is out of this world.</p>