Teacher's Pay Myth (activity, educator, assignments, English)

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Drover

I think one thing we are also forgetting is that teachers get to retire much earlier than your average private-sector bloke, and then they collect a taxpayer-guaranteed pension for life. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me -- if you can put up with babysitting 150 reprobates a day for 35 years.

Maybe in your dream world this is what happens but in the real world that 'taxpayer guaranteed pension' is there because teachers have to CONTRIBUTE to that fund through out their teaching career. There are no 'matching funds' from the district like you see in most businesses either.

Most teachers do NOT get to retire earlier then the private sector either. About the only time this happens is when there are budget shortages and they ask teachers to take early retirement.

[chitown68]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Maybe in your dream world this is what happens but in the real world that 'taxpayer guaranteed pension' is there because teachers have to CONTRIBUTE to that fund through out their teaching career. There are no 'matching funds' from the district like you see in most businesses either.

Most teachers do NOT get to retire earlier then the private sector either. About the only time this happens is when there are budget shortages and they ask teachers to take early retirement.

I have worked as an educator for the Chicago Public Schools for almost 11 years now. An Early Retirment Option is given to the those individuals who are at least 55 years of age AND have put in 34 years of service. The Board of Education pays 7% towards our retirement. Teachers pay 2.2 percent. But now there is a growing concern as to whether or not there will be enough money in the Teachers' Retirement System to pay out all of the teachers that want to retire early. In fact, the early retirement option may be eliminated in the next couple of years.

[chitown68]

Originally Posted by Drover

I think one thing we are also forgetting is that teachers get to retire much earlier than your average private-sector bloke, and then they collect a taxpayer-guaranteed pension for life. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me -- if you can put up with babysitting 150 reprobates a day for 35 years.

It's a sweet deal if you are in a school setting where discipline problems are low, parental support is high and the school budget is at least adequate enough so that an educator doesn't have to use their own money to buy materials.

[DawnW]

It was eliminated in Los Angeles years ago. You can still retire earlier, but you won't make as much. The magic number is now (I think) 62.5.

Dawn

Originally Posted by chitown68

I have worked as an educator for the Chicago Public Schools for almost 11 years now. An Early Retirment Option is given to the those individuals who are at least 55 years of age AND have put in 34 years of service. The Board of Education pays 7% towards our retirement. Teachers pay 2.2 percent. But now there is a growing concern as to whether or not there will be enough money in the Teachers' Retirement System to pay out all of the teachers that want to retire early. In fact, the early retirement option may be eliminated in the next couple of years.

[DawnW]

Is 62.5 early? I don't consider that early at all.

Dawn

Originally Posted by Drover

I think one thing we are also forgetting is that teachers get to retire much earlier than your average private-sector bloke, and then they collect a taxpayer-guaranteed pension for life. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me -- if you can put up with babysitting 150 reprobates a day for 35 years.

[chitown68]

Originally Posted by DawnW

Is 62.5 early? I don't consider that early at all.

Dawn

Hi Dawn,


I think some school districts will let a person retire at the age of 60 provided that they have 10 or more years of experience. But given that there isn't a lot of age difference between 60 and 62, most of the teachers that I know that are getting ready to retire try to work until medicare kicks in.

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by Delaneyland

My former sister in law complained incessantly about the "low pay" of teachers, a mere $47,000.00 in her case. After hearing her complain at every family event for two years, I pointed out to her if she wasn't bright enough to research her salary potential before she went to college to be a teacher, it was quite possible she isn't bright enough to teach. I don't know what teachers make, I do know I researched pay potential for the degree I sought before I went to college.

My SIL is so stupid...
When her and her freind's graduated from Iowa State, the parents had to ship them to Houston for them to student teach...
This girl could not offer a dying man a drink...
She makes &60k +...

[jco]

Originally Posted by SpeedyAZ

I know a teacher that works for one of the high school's in Scottsdale and makes nearly $60K a year, not too shabby. I'm not saying that she doesn't earn it but I think she is paid pretty well considering many other jobs that require similiar college courses aren't paid that well.

Scottsdale has more many than any of the other districts, and even they starte of in the low to mid 30's. The only way you get to 60k in AZ is by having advanced degrees AND 20 plus years teaching experience. My MIL is the highest paid teacher in her district with a MA + 60 credits and 26 years in the district and she doesn't make 60k a year.

[jco]

Originally Posted by 2beamissourian

Average Teacher works
8-4 (8 Hours)
1 hour break so now we are down to 7 hours of actual work
They average $45,000 per year
and they work 39 weeks per year

so they are making about 1153.00 per week of work ..this is giving them paid winter breaks and spring breaks .. and snow days etc.

So basically teachers are making $33.00 per hour that they are working.

Most teachers have aides and students grade test now! So what work goes home?

In my oppion they are over paid ..many go into the profession for the wrong reasons ........... to get summer off? What about the child you are teaching ? What about the child who needs a good teacher?
If your heart is where it should be then you are probably under paid!

I agree that many go into it for the wrong reason. It seems as if I have a lot of teacher friends that ended up where they are because they couldn't decide on a major or didn't want to fight to find a job in the business world. Those of us who actually love teaching and see results in our students are left to make up for all they didn't do.

I'm not sure about being a teacher in Illinois, but my first full year teaching here I had 48 students per class (I taught high school, so I had several classes) without an aid or whatever it is you all have over there. Our lunch is spent on duty watching kids and we were so under-staffed that my prep hours were spent covering classes. All of my grading and prep work was done at home. Not only that, but it's illegal to have someone else grade your papers here in AZ.

If you take the average teacher, you're taking a teacher with ten years experience. It would take me ten years and a MA to get to 45k.

[Jammie]

Teachers in my state are normally the lowest paid in the nation, BUT so are other professions here.

These are a few of the things that educators receive and I'll just let you decide if they're overpaid, underpaid, or just fairly compensated.

1. Their salary is a yearly salary even though they normally work 40 weeks a year.

2. They receive three personal days during the school year.

3. They receive 11 sick days per year to be used for their illness or a family illness. The remaining days not used carry over from year to year. Keep in mind this is for a 40 week year.

4. They can take the health insurance either in a family plan or a personal plan. The present premium for personal health insurance is $44 per month. It just changed about 4 years ago, previously the entire premium was paid by the school district.

5. There were 12 paid holidays per year, but two years ago it was lowered to 10.

6. They can join the dental insurance plan and the cost for the employee is $12 per month. The insurance pays for two dental cleanings per year and after a $25 deductible, it pays 90% of any remaining expenses up to a total of $2500 per year.

7. They're allowed to join the disability insurance offered by the district for $8.00 per month. This is for long term disability.

8. Anything done with extra-curricular merits extra pay~cheerleading instructor, coaching, etc.

9. They are allowed to contribute into our state retirement system. The district matches their contribution up to 6%.

10. They have recently just stopped the emergency leave benie. It was too open ended and only required the superintendent's approval.

At one time I had figured the amount of hours where a teacher's presence is actually required and also figured the district's contributions in pay, along with the district's contribution to sick pay, insurance premiums, etc. and the amount of pay per hour for the average teacher was nearly $60 per hour. Now considering that's $1.00 per minute, it's not too shabby. This includes coffee break, lunch time, planning time, actual class time, etc.