What's up with these Mutimillionaire Teachers???

[simpilotswife]

You can't just look at their salary and say they are making a lot of money. How much does a house cost on LI, something like $500,000 for a 3 bedroom ranch.

That depends on where you live. In my neighborhood the houses are about $350K

There is no way someone could afford a house like that on even $80,000.

They could if they bought three years ago when the houses were $200K

Also, how do you know teachers aren't paying for their benefits? A lot of companies will charge little or nothing for an employee and then if you want to insure family members you pay for that. What is wrong with that? It is pretty normal.

I know because I have a copy of their contract. Again something that anyone who wants it can get. And when I say teachers aren't paying for their benefits I mean that they have an amazing plan with miniscule copays, especially for prescription drugs.

My last year teaching our contract raise was 1% spread out over 2 YEARS. Great benefit!

Our school district's budget is going up next year by 3.5%. Most of that is driven by contractual obligations. Our teachers received a 5-6% increase spread out over the course of 3 yrs. In addition, their retirement plan is structured in such a way that if the plan doesn't make a certain % return school districts are required to pony up the difference.

Again people, you can't compare salaries without comparing cost of living. Around here the assistant manager at McDonalds makes more then the teachers at the schools, pretty sad.

And in my community you have two parents working to pull down what one teacher makes in a year.

Like I said I don't begrudge them the money that they make. I do realize how much time a teacher puts in in a day that doesn't show up "on the clock". That being said, I can assure you our teachers make far better money than the assistant managers at McDonald's.

 

[chager]

It is truely sad what teachers make!! My best friend teaches 8th grade Spanish. She makes enough to survive but that's it. Her sis lives in Fl and recently had a baby. K thought about moving down there. She checked out all the stats and found out she would have to take a $15,000 pay cut and even after 10-15yrs would still not be where she is now. Which is not much! She will never be able to live near her sister. Although teacher salaries are low, housing costs are not. She lives with the knowledge that her job could be eliminated if the district drops foreign language in the middle school. She works long hard hours including the weekends. She can't just leave work at work. She goes to special events that her students are in, such as ballet compititions or basketball games. She has also gone to the hospital to visit students and unfortunately to a couple of their funerals. She is very careful of how she acts in public because a student could be most anywhere! (We even saw 2 of her students at 3 am on a Saturday once when we stopped for milkshakes at SteaknShake!!) This year her benefits changed. She had a package similar to mine. The pay your co-pay to the dr and for scripts kind. (Hers compared to what we had before my DH switched jobs and now we have a cruddy one!) However, now she has to meet a $1500 deductable before any co-pays kick in. This includes her meds! And is on top of what she has to pay for her part of the insurance. Even with all she does and the little she makes she loves her kids and wouldn't change jobs.

 

[pearlieq]

I am not saying teaching isn't hard or that they aren't important but I still feel most are adequately compensated.

Not a popular opinion, but I happen to agree with you. Teachers in my area are quite adequately compensated--most of the veteran teachers are making between $70-90k pear year. Not bad for 190 days of work per year. I'm not convinced their workload is any heavier than any other professional at that salary tier. It seems like a pretty darn cushy job to me. I don't begudge them their salary and advantageous work conditions--all in all I think the compensation is fair--but I would like to see folks around here put away their violins for the poor, suffering teachers in the affluent suburbs!

I know there are many overworked and underpaid teachers, especially in cities and rural areas, and I appreciate their plight. But it concerns me a little to see a blind sympathy for teachers when at least in some areas they have one of the best jobs available.

 

[Miller1412]

Just this week we had to order supplies for next year. I have a kindergarten classroom of usually about 25 children. My yearly budget for classroom supplies is $150. That is $6 per child for an entire year of consumable supplies. That includes paper, paint, markers, pencils, craft supplies, cooking/food supplies, sentence strips, dry erase markers, sisscors, etc.
That doesn't even include bulletin board supplies, manipulatives, special projects for theme units, holidays, parent gifts etc.

I've been teaching for 15 years. My salary is not very impressive. I buy these supplies because without them, my program would not be suitable for anyone.

I was just wondering if any other professions must use personal salary to provide the basic supplies that are needed for their job to run at a BASIC level?? And that is a HUGE something to think about when talking salaries.