I'm sure you realize the obvious: this salary scale is for teachers who live in one of the most expensive areas of one of the most expensive cities in the world. It is in no way representative of the majority of American teachers.
Teaching AP classes does not increase your salary. Senior Class Advisor pays a little extra (in my district, it's like $500 a year - LOL!).
Ditto for our area. Teacher pay is based upon years of service, not academic level; special ed teachers make the same amount as AP teachers.
As for bonuses, our department chairperson makes an extra $50/month, and each new teacher is assigned a mentor who receives a small stipend for the first year he or she "helps" that new teacher. Coaches receive a stipend at the end of the season; however, it ends up being less than a dollar an hour, and it's a thankless job. EVERY teacher sponsors at least one club or extracurricular activity, and EVERY teacher works at three sports events or dances every year -- without pay.
Seriously, though, I like our system. It judges you as a teacher, not as an academic.
I agree. I remember two college professors who were absolutely brilliant men, but they were in it for the research opportunities; they were very, very bad at "getting down to a student's level" and they were not skilled at imparting knowledge to other people. Does a teacher need to be smart? Well, yes, but a teacher doesn't necessarily need to be class validictorian. Having the right personality is very important, and that's not something that can be taught.
• Most I know of live in very nice neighborhoods and drive BMW's, Hummers, etc.
• My mom was an office aid/worker in a nearby county for many years and if she wasn't grading their papers or making their copies she was disciplining their students. He words were believe me, they don't have it bad at all and they rarely go home with anything to do.
• And lets don’t forget the BONUSES - some may get them, some may not, but ours got a $3400 bonus jujst this summer. And that wasn't even their first bonus of the year or the first year getting them.
• Around here they are paid to earn their masters during the summer and they don't have to pay to earn it either.
Teachers new what they were getting into when they got into that field so quit griping!
Things must be very different in other places because our parking lot is full of Fords and Hondas; I know one teacher who drives a Jag, but her husband's a plumber.
No one EVER makes copies or grades our papers; we are allowed to send out-of-control students to the office, but that's only when things are really out-of-control -- for example, kids who are fighting.
Because I live in a wealthy county, I get a once-a-year supplement of about $750.
We can be reimbursed 50% of the cost of graduate classes after we show a passing grade; books, fees, and other related costs are our own responsibility. A person who tried to earn a masters' degree during the summer semeser only would require at least six summers to complete the degree, and that assumes that the classes would all be available during the summer sessions.
Yes, I knew that I'd work long hours and earn a small paycheck; however, I'd always wanted to be a teacher, and I felt it'd be a good working-mom job. What I didn't expect was the general dislike that so many other people have for teachers.
LMAO!! My poor laptop monitor! ahhhh no. We, and I bet you are the same, can't even have a Christmas party unless it is on our buck.
Yep, we pay $5 each for our Christmas party too! Actually, I think that's appropriate; with the shortage of money in the public schools, it'd be wrong to use that money for parties. Our perks: We get breakfast on the first teacher workday of the school year, we usually get staff shirts once a year, and we get a lunch at the end of the school year -- oh, I forgot the biggie: we get free tea in the cafeteria during lunch.
Yes. I have quite a few teachers in my neighborhood of multi-million dollar homes (some husband/wife teacher duos, some husband teacher/wife nurse and one wife teacher/husband attorney). Teachers in my district typically retire at about $110,000 - $160,000 depending on stipends, level of education, etc. One gym teacher retired at $180,000 because of all the coaching stipends and clubs he tacked on his last couple of years - younger teachers stepped aside and let him take them all so he could "beef" up his retirement numbers. They receive 75% pension (so they bring home $75K for every $100K they earned the last two years of teaching when retired), plus full medical and dental . . .
Most teachers in my school make exactly what the salary scale says they make + the county supplment ($750 a year, and taxes take a huge chunk since it's unearned income); coaches are paid a small supplement, which works out to less than a dollar an hour once the practices, games, and travel time are calculated. I'm glad I'm not qualified to coach anything! Most of my teacher friends are middle-class -- they're certainly NOT living in the lap of luxury as some people on this thread are suggesting, and if they were, we might not be facing a serious teacher shortage in our area!
Our retirement is calculated as follows:
The average of the highest 4 years' salary X .0182 = _____ X years of service = yearly pension.
The calculations for a person who teaches for 30 years and retires with BOTH a masters degree AND National Board certification (
this would be the highest possible pension, so most people would make less) would look something like this:
60,000 x .0182 = 1092 x 30 years = 32,760/year
In addition, basic medical (not dental or eye coverage) is paid in full for the retiree (not spouse or dependant children) until Medicare kicks in. The retiree is also eligible to buy supplemental insurance through the state.
Not a bad deal, but also not 75% of one's final salary.
Lest anyone question it, here's the NC Retirement Benefits handbook:
https://www.nctreasurer.com/NR/rdon...2-A8C67D328217/0/NCYRBTeaStateFINAL031607.pdf
When the middle and high schools wanted to start the day closer to 8am in order to let the teens sleep in a little bit longer (fully supported by dozens of scientific studies that state that teens clocks are timed differently), the union went nuts.
Yeah, it's been suggested here, but it's not the teachers who are against it -- and we don't have a union. Instead, it's the parents and the teens who are dead set against it. Think about it: If we start high school an hour later, sports teams can't start practice until an hour later, and the kids'll get home very late. Also, the majority of our older high schoolers have part-time jobs, and they "need" to leave school by 2:30 to get to work. (I'm not a big fan of high schoolers working, but that's another topic.)
See, there's the difference. Our school does not offer after school tutoring, Saturday school or summer school. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only schools that offer summer school are a few of the public schools and the summer school jobs are snapped up by their employees long before summer school even starts.
Our school doesn't permit us to "sell" our tutoring to parents. If they ask about tutors, we're supposed to refer them to the office. I do not know why ... I suppose the school prob. take a cut. I don't tutor b/c I don't have the time.
Ditto.
So does this certification come from a specific teaching course at college?
Do they pay you to train or do you fund yourself?
The typical pathway is as such:
People who want to teach elemetary school go to college for four years and earn a degree in Elementary Education. People who want to teach high school earn a four-year degree (i.e., English, Biology, or math), and they also take education classes. Regardless of the intended certification, the last semester of college is student teaching. During that semester, the student is paired up with a teacher in a local school and -- under that teacher's supervision -- teaches the children. Towards the end of the college coursework, the prospective teacher must pass several national exams; finally, the teacher must be licensed by the state. The teacher's first license is good for three years; after that, a new license (which requires continuing education coursework) must be obtained every five years.
People who've already earned degrees and worked in other jobs may enter the teaching profession in a number of other ways, but what I've described is the most common way.
Some very good full-ride scholarships are available to the top-top students who want to become teachers; however, these are very competative. Many states also offer scholarship/loans to prospective teachers; these are "repaid" through service. However, like most college costs, the majority of one's teaching preparation is paid by the college student and/or his parents.
Your babies. Your flesh and blood. Your most prized possession. 
and I wished they were paid more
