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Post by Merge on Jul 17, 2025 2:59:27 GMT
That wage gap gets exponentially larger with each passing year, too. The “automatic pay raise” scale in most school districts is pathetic. While conservatives like to bitch about teachers unions and how they “take advantage of the system” to raise pay and keep bad teachers employed, the truth is that most teachers are not covered by collective bargaining agreements. So while you might find some districts where veteran teachers are well-paid, I have only lived in one of them. It was a pretty blue district at the time and valued its teachers, but it went conservative several years ago, and teacher salaries have suffered. In the meantime, the engineer will most likely receive merit-based raises and bonuses based on their own performance (as opposed to the performance of students who have little motivation to pass a test). They will also be able to move up when they change companies because other companies compete for talent. When was the last time you heard of a bidding war for a talented teacher? Or a teacher who could make an evidence-based argument for a raise due to superior performance? Yeah, I was laughing a bit at the thread about would you take more vacation time and a smaller raise or just a larger raise. Both potential raises were substantially larger than any yearly step raise I received. They averaged from zero some years to one percent other years. But it wasn’t like that when I started. As districts have raised the starting salary to attract more teachers, they’ve collapsed the step scale so that a teacher with 20 years of experience like me only makes about ten percent more than a brand new teacher. |
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kate
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,667 
Location: The city that doesn't sleep
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
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Post by kate on Jul 17, 2025 3:33:08 GMT
And I want to add one more thing (actually, I can write you a book about this). Students have changed because parents have changed. It used to be pro-teacher. Now we are often viewed as the enemy. So this also adds to the teacher shortage. I think this, too. Both students and parents think they know better than the teacher.  Incidentally, I have a doctor friend who is going through the same thing - people with an "MD" from Google/YouTube University are telling the doctors what to do. |
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Post by aj2hall on Jul 17, 2025 3:42:34 GMT
And I want to add one more thing (actually, I can write you a book about this). Students have changed because parents have changed. It used to be pro-teacher. Now we are often viewed as the enemy. So this also adds to the teacher shortage. I think this, too. Both students and parents think they know better than the teacher. Incidentally, I have a doctor friend who is going through the same thing - people with an "MD" from Google/YouTube University are telling the doctors what to do. My dh is a nurse practitioner. He left family practice a year ago to work in urgent care and the emergency room. The number of patients that use Dr Google to diagnose themselves is kind of astonishing. Or the number of people that "did their research" on vaccines. It's one thing to go into a doctor's appointment prepared with questions, another to think that because you read a few articles online, you conducted research and are now an expert on a disease or vaccine. In terms of education, I think every politician should spend a day in a classroom, especially when they interfere and try to ban books, pass divisive concepts laws, pass don't say gay laws etc. |
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Post by playingcinderella on Jul 21, 2025 22:30:11 GMT
Texas has made it easy for me to walk away.
I cannot retire until I am 65 even though I would reach my Rule of 80 by the time I'm 52. So I can teach for 16 more years after year 20 to retire at 65 or I can stop teaching and collect my pension at 65 regardless. I will be 44, have an empty nest and my husband will be the same.
There is zero incentive to continue dealing with all that teaching in Texas has become. So I plan to step out of the classroom and move on to something else which means I have 3 years to figure out what that is.
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Post by pinkgreen on Jul 21, 2025 22:46:20 GMT
So I’m in Oklahoma. I’m 2-3 years out from meeting the rule of 90. I’m going to stick it out. I do like my district and site - the big issues are at the state level. If you’re not familiar with our state superintendent, look him up. 😬
Even though I like my students and coworkers, it’s a different world now than when I started teaching in 1993. It’s pretty disheartening to know that the general public no longer respects teachers, particularly those that are currently in the trenches. And the turnover rate is definitely higher, with a greatly reduced hiring pool. We used to interview 20+ candidates for each elementary classroom. Now we’re just glad to fill positions.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jul 21, 2025 23:11:33 GMT
So I’m in Oklahoma. I’m 2-3 years out from meeting the rule of 90. I’m going to stick it out. I do like my district and site - the big issues are at the state level. If you’re not familiar with our state superintendent, look him up. 😬 Even though I like my students and coworkers, it’s a different world now than when I started teaching in 1993. It’s pretty disheartening to know that the general public no longer respects teachers, particularly those that are currently in the trenches. And the turnover rate is definitely higher, with a greatly reduced hiring pool. We used to interview 20+ candidates for each elementary classroom. Now we’re just glad to fill positions. Yes, we have discussed your State super here... Teach Bible based history... |
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Post by pinkgreen on Jul 21, 2025 23:15:04 GMT
He’s a gem.
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ellen
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,128
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Post by ellen on Jul 21, 2025 23:48:30 GMT
It has been interesting to have conversations with my daughter about starting salaries for teachers. She just graduated from college with an education degree. So many of her classmates were living with the reality that if they didn’t find a teaching job where they could live at home, there was no way they could afford to take a teaching job where they had to give up a large portion of their income to housing. I live in a pretty rural area and we don’t get a lot of applicants for jobs anymore. My district has had to hire some pretty questionable candidates because they had the degree and were the only applicants. They work a year and are let go. Then admin hopes that there will be better applicants next time around. A situation like that led to my daughter getting a job. This is a great thing for her, but our admin feels very lucky that the timing was right for her to be available when she was. Had this not turned up she had a private sector job waiting for her that paid quite a bit more than teaching. We encouraged her to take the teaching job knowing that this opportunity might not come up again for a while and by then she probably would not be interested in taking a pay cut to teach. The safety net of our home allows her to do this.
Between high costs of college & housing, student loans, and low starting salaries we have a huge problem. If you don’t have someone to split the bills with or the ability to live with your parents you really can’t afford to be a teacher. You can work a summer job, but your regular paychecks will keep you living on the edge the entire school year. Our area has seen a lot of layoffs too. The person who replaced me when I retired had been laid off by two different districts due to budget issues. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she would have decided that this was bullshit and left education. She’s a good teacher and they were lucky to get her.
It’s all happening pretty fast in the red states. I am grateful to live in a blue state. I used to live in a very blue area, but Trump managed to get a bunch of people to think their way of life is being attacked. My daughter is a social studies teacher. Good luck to her.
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Post by Zee on Jul 22, 2025 2:39:40 GMT
I couldn't be a teacher in any state, period. All respect to those of you that take that on.
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seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,366
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Jul 22, 2025 14:31:19 GMT
I’m in a blue state. I have 9-10 more years depending on if I decide to stay the whole time. I originally planned to go 40 years. 9 more puts me at 35 and 60 years old, both kids out of HS (I have a freshman and a 4th grader this year), house 1 year from being paid off. I need to meet with a retirement person and see where my declining income begins. I may have to go until I’m 62/63. I’m the sole income in my home. I’m also the sole retirement. So…. Lots to think about.
Currently I like my job. I would be dead had I stayed in middle school for the last 3 years. I planned to retire from middle school but the district had other plans and moved me to continuation high school for the 22/23 school year and it’s so much better. Better hours, smaller classes, great admin. The kids…. They’re a struggle because they’re the ones who are sitting in the back of a regular classroom refusing to work and totally checked out. My whole class is these kids. But now they’re in a class of 7-12 not 35+ so they can’t hide and be ignored. Also, they’re fun kids once you crack that hard shell.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jul 22, 2025 14:49:08 GMT
And he strikes again... Ryan Walters, the MAGA-cheerleading state superintendent of Oklahoma, is known for his "attention-thirsty troll tactics," noted Molly Olmstead for Slate — forcing schools to purchase Trump-endorsed "God Bless The USA Bibles" and even ordering teachers to inform kids of conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rigged, allegedly without the full consent of state officials. But now he has come up with a new stunt: forcing teachers who move from blue states to effectively swear loyalty to a suite of MAGA beliefs outlined by PragerU. "Under this plan, teachers from states with 'progressive education policies' would be tested on the U.S. Constitution, American exceptionalism, and 'the fundamental biological differences between boys and girls,'" wrote Olmstead. "The screening is guaranteed to test teachers for a deeply MAGA-inflected understanding of U.S. history, government, and society: PragerU, a right-wing group with a stated mission of countering leftism in education, is already known for its white nationalist-adjacent content for schoolchildren." www.rawstory.com/ryan-walters-2673622038/www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/04/23/oklahoma-teacher-pay-educators-leaving-rates-since-covid-pandemic/73424000007/ |
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Post by Merge on Jul 22, 2025 15:27:49 GMT
I couldn't be a teacher in any state, period. All respect to those of you that take that on. It used to be a hard job that was still doable and worth doing. Now it often is neither. |
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