The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries

The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries
By DAVE EGGERS and NÍNIVE CLEMENTS CALEGARI
Published: April 30, 2011


WHEN we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. We don’t say, “It’s these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That’s why we haven’t done better in Afghanistan!” No, if the results aren’t there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.

And yet in education we do just that. When we don’t like the way our students score on international standardized tests, we blame the teachers. When we don’t like the way particular schools perform, we blame the teachers and restrict their resources.

Compare this with our approach to our military: when results on the ground are not what we hoped, we think of ways to better support soldiers. We try to give them better tools, better weapons, better protection, better training. And when recruiting is down, we offer incentives.

We have a rare chance now, with many teachers near retirement, to prove we’re serious about education. The first step is to make the teaching profession more attractive to college graduates. This will take some doing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html

You start around 30K, then over 20-25 yrs. move up to maybe 60K-70K if you're really lucky. Big whoop.

And if you change jobs b/c your principal or headmaster of a private school is a dolt, you're back at square one making maybe $40-45K.

I'd advise my grown kids to stay out of teaching for now.

only by continuing to take courses and enhance their education--at their own expense.

list a mile long and he is thinking about selling insurance because he can make 30% more.

25k a year after 5 years of school is a joke.

To bad because he is great with kids and would be a wonderful teacher.

Scott Walker has done untold damage to the teaching profession in this state.

I'm a retired elementary teacher. I taught for 32 years and have a Master's Degree in Education. (It's required in the State of Connecticut.) The highest salary I achieved my 32nd year was $50,000. (I retired 5 years ago.) I lived in Northeast CT where the salaries were about $20,000 a year less than the CT towns closer to NY. Teacher's in CT cannot pay into SS but we pay 7% into our pension plus health insurance. If my husband had not paid into SS, I would not have been eligible for Medicare. I think that is now changed because CT teachers now pay into Medicare (not sure how much they have to pay.) The real kicker is that my Medicare is $115.40 per month, as opposed to people who also have SS who pay $96.50 per month. When I asked why mine was more I was told, "It is because your Medicare isn't being deducted from your SS check." Hello, I can't have SS!!

I'm not complaining, though, because I am lucky to have Medicare and wish everyone could be on this single payer plan. We have to make sure we let our Senators and Reps know that we don't want the Ryan Bill, Voucher Care as someone called it on another post. (Love it.) Why should those of us who are lucky enough to be covered not want it for those Americans 55 and under?

From the article:

"The average starting salary is $39,000; the average ending salary — after 25 years in the profession — is $67,000."

But when compared to people with similar educational backgrounds their pay sucks

Please let me know how making 60K with a Master's degree and 25 years of experience is great money compared to the private sector.

You're not going to get enough good people willing to take on that kind of stress for what teachers make. There'll be a few martyrs here and there but when it comes down to it people need to earn a living. Shockingly, busting teachers unions isn't the cure all remedy Scott Walker would have you think it is.

I found this op-ed via his blog: