[Siberia]

Become a Teacher in Michigan - MI -- Teacher Education | Certification | Credentials | Training

Tax payers and politicians have decided to support Michigan's teachers and administrators. At $56,973 for 2005*, Michigan is ranked 4th in the nation for average teacher salary.

------------------------

Moving up quickly, as in 2003-2004 Michigan teachers where only 5th highest paid:

http://www.aft.org/salary/2004/downl...ySurvey-MI.pdf


Hey maybe with this new historic tax increase, teachers in Michigan will be paid the highest in the nation!!! That will match the numerous other first ranking positios of Michigan, like first in unemployement, first in lowest economy growth, first in foreclosure, and so on...

Just remember, "it is for the children"...

Ignorance must be bliss...

[Cliffie]

You've got to be kidding me. Last I heard, one of the nearby school districts just cut 8 of their best (but as yet untenured) teachers due to "lack of funds" while giving the upper management $70,000 raises. No doubt this is part of the national "No Superintendent Left Behind" plan. WHY are we continuing to throw money at a school system that can't even teach half the kids to read properly?

[rutha1105]

I can assure you that if children were "taxed" instead of property, parents would take much more interest in their education! I would much rather pay for my child's education directly, than be taxed out of my house.

[magellan]

Sheesh! You always hear teacher's complaining that they don't make a lot of money. Plus they get two months off a year. Not bad.

[bls5555]

$56,000 to be a teacher

[Cliffie]

I make about $17,000 less than that a year, WITH a Master's degree, and I work a lot harder than any teacher, believe me.

[suydam]

Just to play devil's advocate with a rhetorical question: If teachers are unfairly paid, why don't all of you who complain about what they make, get into education?

Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to sit around 20+ apathetic teenagers or screaming 6 year olds as a job.

[odinloki1]

I went to college in MI to be a teacher, due to lack of jobs I went to AZ. I quit after two years because the houses cost twice as much and salaries are stagnant (around 30,000 a year with no raises). Putting up with kids is not worth it if you can't even afford a place to live.

When I student taught in MI I put in 60 hour weeks. In AZ I finally got it down to 55 by the end of year two between the grades, after school activities and the Saturdays of helping out with activities. The two months off are needed for the required further education. Most states REQUIRE a masters within a few years of starting. Oh yeah there is no money for class supplies so teachers spend their money on it hence teachers spending thousands on supplies or Detroit teachers having to buy toilet paper because there is none. Unfortunately the admin is messed up, but don't complain about teachers unless you're gonna go in and do better, at leastin MI you can be picky, AZ has a constant shortage because however much they like what they do, they can't survive on the salary unless they have a rich spouse or live in a crime ridden trailer park!

[2to4seasons]

Jeez, pick on someone your own size. In most places, teachers get paid crap. Education just isn't a priority. How can education NOT be a priority? One of the best ways to improve education is to make it a decent paying job so that you can attract good teachers. There are a lot of BAD teachers out there, that's for sure. But, mostly, teachers are handed a nearly impossible job and blamed for much of what is societal. We have an antiquated, broken, rigid education system often run not by educators, but by politicians. Ugh. Investing in kids is a GOOD investment for all of us. I wish there were a way to pay good parents and good communities, too. I never get why teachers are at the low end of the totem pole. It is so much work, for so little respect. Why are doctors our most valued profession? Because they go to school a long time and we think they're "smart?" (and we don't pay them with tax dollars!) Maybe more "smart" doctors would have been teachers if they were paid well... Many of us in education have an advanced degree or two, spend our days parenting other people's kids, then use our time off (which i admit, is awesome) to rear and educate our own children (and take all those darn classes the prior poster mentioned). It's not easy being green.

[joedekock]

My wife is a teacher... well and English as a second language aid really. She graduated three years ago and is certified to teach here in Michigan, but due to the teacher cuts as a result of tons of families leaving the state, she has only had five interviews in the last three years and has yet to land a full time classroom job. So she has settled for this aid position.

In our school district the first year teacher with zero years experience and a Bachelor's degree get's $36000, plus the benefits. In my and my wife's opinion that is great pay considering they only work 178 days a year according to their contract. That is if they do not take their 9 paid "personal" days they are granted each year. Most of the teachers she is around take every bit of that personal time off which means they only work 169 days per year.

The average American get's 18 day's of vacation, plus three sick days, and 7 paid holiday days. That means the average American in a normal private business sector job puts in 232 days per year. That is based on strictly a five day work week. Most private business jobs you have to work at least a few Saturday's or Sunday's a year.

If you do the math there you will see that their is roughly just over a 60 day difference is working days. That constitutes for the summer months teachers do not work. A common mis-conception people have is that teacher get three months off in the summer. That is not true. They have to report to work two weeks after the kids are out and two weeks before they arrive for the new year. There are grading and committee meetings to plan for the next year, and preparation they must do as well.

As I said, my wife and I feel that the teachers salary in Michigan is very adequate for the amount of time and work they do. Especially with the benefits and pension they get. Here is something to chew on. My wife's job as an aid is the equivalent of a full time teacher. She puts in just as many hours, sometimes more, plans her own lessons, has her own class room that the kids who need to see her go to. But she makes just under half of what a teacher makes, with no benefits. Schools are skirting around hiring more teachers by hiring these "specialists", which saves them a ton of money. In effect they can hire two specialists and get the benefits of two teachers for the price of one teacher.

My wife cannot stand how teachers in the teachers lounge gripe and moan about how they do not make enough, or get bonuses. It floors her that they truly believe they need to make $80,000 a year and get bonuses, plus have the best benefits in the world. My wife is truly someone who loves teaching children and did not go into the profession to make a big salary.

Here is what I always say to any teacher that complains about their salary:
"you know when you go to college how much a teacher makes. You can look it up on line for any school district you desire to work at and they have the entire salary contract available. It clearly states what you will make as a first year teacher, all the way into what you will make as a 30 or more year veteran. It lists what you will make for each of those years if you get college credits along the way, and end up with a masters degree. So you know full well going into college and graduating college, that you will start making $36000, and end up making $80,000 when you are at year 30. (Of course it will rise due to inflation). So what give you the right to complain? You are the idiot who had the information available to you to tell you what your entire life as a teacher would provide you in a salary, but did not know it"?

Any way, when you think about it like that it proves how these teachers, especially the newer one's are moron's for thinking they were going into a profession that makes a ton of money. And it shows how the school systems are taking advantage and finding loop holes in the system to hire all these specialists and aids. Just like my wife, she is truly working for peanuts, and does not have the protection of any union to help her.