Pity the $30,000 a year teacher
“You know, it’s tough to ask a teacher who’s making $30,000 or $35,000 a year to tighten her belt when people who are making much more than her are living pretty high on the hog.” —Senator Barack Obama, October 7th presidential debate
As soon as I heard Senator Obama make this statement last night, I thought to myself, “Are there really that many teachers who only make $30,000 per year?” Sure, there are places in America where starting salaries are still around the $30K mark, but he couldn’t mean for us to feel bad for a 22-year-old who’s making $31K per year and has to “tighten her belt” by drinking cheap beer instead of micro-brews. His “I empathize with the middle class” statement must have been meant to invoke a teacher with a family, maybe a mortgage payment—you know, real responsibilities. Which implies not rookies but those with, say, at least five years of experience.
How much are those teachers making? I dipped into the National Council on Teacher Quality’s nifty collective-bargaining database for the nation’s largest 100 school districts to find out. Here are a few interesting tidbits. First, even many new teachers are doing better than Obama implied, at least in most places. Sioux Falls School District in South Dakota had the lowest starting salary of the top 100 districts at $26,000. In fact, Sioux Falls was the only sub-$30K district in the mix. And one in five districts start teachers at $35,000 or above.
What about our five-year veterans? Only four districts pay them less than $35K per year. About two-thirds of the district are north of $40K; the average for the whole group is $47,000. Now, these large districts probably pay higher salaries than districts on the whole, partly to offset of the higher costs of living in cities (which most of them serve). But still, it’s clear to me that the number of teachers “making $30,000 to $35,000 a year” must be awfully small. So Senator Obama: the next time you mention the archetypical teacher, you might talk about the challenges of her tightening her belt at $40,000 to $45,000 per year. It would be a lot more accurate.
Photo from Flickr user foundphotoslj.
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October 8th, 2008 at 11:30 am
The 100 largest districts only employ about 20% of the nation’s teachers. What about the starting and 5 yr salaries for the other 80% of teachers? Isn’t it fair to say that smaller districts likely pay their teachers less than the larger districts? If so, then you are overlooking the vast majority of teachers with your analysis.
But even if the pay in the smaller districts mirrored the pay in the larger districts, then 80 percent of all new teachers would make between $30K and $35K and one third of all five year teachers would make under $40K. A five year teacher would be between 27 and 30 years old and likely just starting a family - hard to do with less than $40K.
Given that your reliance on data for the 100 largest districts ignores 80% of the teaching force, it seems that Obama’s comments are closer to fact than you would like to admit...
October 8th, 2008 at 11:53 am
> Isn’t it fair to say that smaller districts likely pay their teachers less than the larger districts?
No. But you are free to offer data in support of the contention. I can think of one large district that pays quite well and a nearby smaller district that pays quite a bit better.
Besides, what’s the importance of a teacher’s living standards? The purpose of the public education system isn’t to fund the life-styles of teachers but to educate kids. If there’s a connection between the pay of teachers and the quality of their work it’s hardly a connection that’s important to most school districts so why would improving the lot of teachers be important to society?
October 8th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I have a doctorate, 16 years of experience, numerous academic awards including the top award by the Western Historical association for the top book published in the nation, numerous teaching awards, including district runner up Teacher of the Year, and I teach in a hard-to-staff hardcore inner city school, and I make $43,000 per year. Our newcomers start around $30, 000 and principals start around $45,000. I couldn’t care less about the pay.
Our superintendant just said something that none of his predesccors noticed. We don’t even have a budget for paining buildings.
Districts like ours can not even come close to affording the “reforms” we are supposed to implement.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I and North Carolina teachers are paid according to a state salary schedule with average local supplements ranging from $100 to about $6,700 per year depending on where you teach. The average local supplement is about $3,300. In the 10 years I have been teaching here, my salary is still only in the 30s. So, in answer to your completely ignorant question, YES, there really are that many teachers making only $30,000 a year. In the 2006-2007 school year there were 6,504 first year teachers out of about 83,000 teachers total (according to the 2007 NC Public Schools Profile). It takes at least 12 years of experience in NC to even make it into the $40,000 range. Most of the teachers I work with have less than 12 years of experience. NC has only started their new teachers at $30,000 this year. That’s only about $1,000 less than the national average salary for new teachers (according to the AFT 2005 salary survey released in 2007) and that’s definitely not the bottom of the list.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
According to the current “Occupational Outlook Handbook” published by the Dept. of Labor, the lowest 10% of elementary & secondary teachers have a salary range of $28,590 to $33,070. And remember that’s for working 9 months per year. On an annualized basis that’s the equivalent of $38,120 to $44,093.
Not great pay, but not horrendous either.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Here are some additional numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2007 estimates:
Elementary School Teachers, Except for Special Education
10th percentile $31,480
25th percentile $38,130
Middle School Teachers, Except for Special Education
10th percentile $32,630
25th percentile $38,870
Secondary School Teachers, Except for Special Education
10th percentile $32,920
25th percentile $39,780
October 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Just by way of comparison, here are the 2Q 2008 average weekly earnings for college graduates in the U.S:
10th percentile $548
25th percentile: $749
Assuming 40 weeks are worked per year, that comes out to $21,920 and $29,960 respectively.
October 8th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Maybe he was thinking of Catholic school teachers.:)
October 8th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Being in education for 16+ years and working in 2 different counties, i have witnessed highs and lows of educators salaries. Our responsibilities increase drastically on a yearly basis with no direct relationship to our salaries. Inundated with mindless—senseless — paperwork, liabilities beyond what what we are there for....TEACHING.
Systems that worked have been disregarded for “new” technologies, and all we have witnessed are students with less than adequate acedemic skills. The day gets shorter as time is needed to go back and review and re-teach remedial skills in order to reach proficiency levels we are required to achieve.
In other words twice as much work in the same amount of time. Add in the pointless political paperwork, beauracratic nonesense, that force work to be taken home, after hours, weekends and holidays to complete. Let alone the responsibilities of educating 32 or more INDIVIDUALS per day meeting lesson expectations, missing lunches, not to mention having to accomodate personal and family problems of said individuals. Add in moral education, work place readiness, post secondary preparation to responsibilities as well. Also because of societal changes that are out of control there is a lack of parental involvement, support or concern. And of course constant shrinking budgets that force teachers to achieve more with less. Using our own money to fund our classrooms not to mention using money out of our pockets to assist our less fortunate students so they can have lunch.
We produce new thoughts, new ways of thinking, vocational training, life skills, social skills, physical fitness, etc etc etc, producing young children, young men and women for our societies future. All done with a smile, dealing with political correctness and individual minds using several different techniques to facilitate individuals thought processes all the while dealing with generation after generation that has increasingly less respect for us.
Our students generally spend more time with us in their youth than there own parent(s). Parents who more times than not say “not my johnny or suzy” when faced with their children being disciplined for assaulting us physically or verbally , or stealing from us or their fellow students. Parents,who sign notices, stating they are aware that cell phones and mp3 players are not to be brought to school that threaten law suits or yes violence after johnny and suzy have these devices taken from them because they are talking, texting or listening with headphones during class. These same parents who do not check on their childrens progress nor respond to teachers notes home or phone calls regarding the lack of work being done in school, failure of tests, not turning in assignments. These same parents who again threaten bodily harm, law suits, because their children are failing.
Much more can be said about a teachers daily routine and the problems we face while we still come to work and do our jobs and do them well educating todays youth. But let’s not forget that we teachers also have a life....our own responsibilities and families. Raising our own children and taking care of our families, homes, and personal lives.
Relate these expectations, responsibilities, work days to any corporate job and tell me $40,000 per year is relavent in pay. With or without our ecconomic woes the salaries teachers earn in relation to their responsibilities, liabilities, expectations, work load do not amount to an equivalant compensation. Sure we have summers off. It SOUNDS nice until you realize that the majority of teachers MUST find summer work, (most available work is near minimum wage) to be able to pay the mortgage. And the ironic thing is that the same majority are also working over the summer, preparing for the upcomming school year, while not being paid.
actually to put it very simple, take what it costs for day care, or let’s say a babysitter for one child. This mind you does not necessarily include an education. Lets use 7 hrs a day—5 days a week for 44 weeks. Large district or not, let’s look at these numbers:
day care — per child costs on average for 3hrs a day is $150 per week.....multiply this by 32 students = 4,800/wk.....multiply this by 44 weeks = $211,200 per year.....double this to equal a full day of school you get $422,400 per year in salary for day care.....TEACHERS average salary—-$30 to 40k to start??? average after 12 years $47,000 ...hmmmmm
ok, you say day care provides snacks, play time , nap mats....lets go with baby sitting....today most sitters average between 8 and 10 dollars an hour and are generally teens....let’s use 9 dollars an hour....ok, 1 school day about 7 hrs.....1 student would be $63 per day...times 5 days = $315 per week per student.....multiply this times 32 students we see daily = $10,080 per week.....multiply this by 44 weeks = $443,520 per year......again, TEACHERS salary to start...30 - 40k.....average after 12 years $47,000....HMMMMMMM
Oh and let’s not forget that ALL teachers must have a college education ....day care and babysitters do not.......
so....now....does pity the teachers mean something or not ???????????????????????????
October 8th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
p.s. Understand the venting is directly related to comments poo pooing a teachers worth....it by no means reflect my feelings about teching...I LOVE what i do.....always have....regardless of problems faced day in and day out....it is a challenge but a good one....the most rewarding job there is....facing new faces and seeing the beginning to end product....seeing the change in thinking, the products of our labor.....and all i am saying.....WE ARE WORTH IT....
thank you
October 9th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Crimson Wife: Please do not perpetuate the stereotype that teachers only work “nine months a year” (with the assumption that their salaries should only be 75% of a typical 12 month salary). Big differences: Teachers work many days each year that students do not attend school (and work many hours after school, nights, weekends when the students aren’t there). Also, teachers get few vacation and sick days. Looking at a typical 10 year teacher vs 10 year office worker, this is what I found:
Teacher Year: Late August to Late June (10 months). Minus federal holidays (same with office workers). Minus additional days at Christmas and one week at Spring Break. Total = About 40 weeks.
Office Job: All year. Minus federal holidays. No additional days at Christmas but with three weeks vacation/personal days. Plus an average of one 1/2 week of sick leave. Total = 48 1/2 weeks.
Note that teachers rarely get more than one or two vacation days per year and usually are forbidden from using them attached to any holiday weekend (because it’s hard to get subs). As a teacher, sick leave was also limited, and strongly discouraged (again, because it’s hard to get subs).
This is only a difference of about 7 1/2 weeks (less than two months). Which is less than an office job - but not three months less. And many long time workers get more than three weeks of vacation leave/7 days of sick leave. Teachers don’t. And this doesn’t even take into account the extra nights and weekends teachers spend grading papers, attending P-T conferences, etc. I’m just looking at flat out contract hours. Of course, many teachers work summer school (with total pay of only about $2,000) to get a little extra money.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Correction: The total “office worker” number above should be 47.5 weeks, not 48 1/2 weeks. Sorry!
October 9th, 2008 at 9:54 am
allan wrote:
“Besides, what’s the importance of a teacher’s living standards? The purpose of the public education system isn’t to fund the life-styles of teachers but to educate kids. If there’s a connection between the pay of teachers and the quality of their work it’s hardly a connection that’s important to most school districts so why would improving the lot of teachers be important to society?”
Gee, I don’t know, Allan. Perhaps we want to encourage high quality educators to choose and remain in the teaching profession. Considering most teachers have just as much education as a CPA, or other professionals who make considerably more money, then the market needs to be more competitive to maintain a quality teaching force. Yes, the purpose of the public education system is to educate kids, but in order to do that well we need to take care of our teachers. I don’t know a single teacher who would tell you they went into teaching for the money, but teachers are members of a professional workforce - with substantial education - and should earn enough money to own a home and enjoy the same opportunities as other professionals.
Thanks to Attorney DC for clarifying teachers’ work loads. I would also offer that teaching is one of the few professions in which employees are expected to complete continuing education on their own time and with their own dollar. To go back for a masters degree, specialists degree, or another mandated certification, most teachers spend their summers and paychecks. Meaning that the 7.5 weeks that separates teachers from an “office worker” is often cut short by state and federal mandates, which provide no financial support.
So, Mike Petrilli, figure in the cost of a masters degree, subtract it from your average teacher salary (which is much higher than any district I have ever worked in...even factoring in a masters degree and years of service), and then you MIGHT have a more accurate account of what teachers make.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Danielle: Thanks for adding to my comments. I also note that I conducted research a few years ago regarding teacher salaries in Virginia. The difference in starting salaries between counties was huge (around $40K near DC and only about $22K in rural VA). Interestingly, teachers making less money in rural areas seemed to have a higher standard of living b/c housing costs were so high in the DC suburbs. E.g., it appeared to be easier financially to be a teacher in rural VA than in Fairfax County (unless you have another source of income like a high-earning spouse or an inheritance).
October 9th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Danielle wrote:
> Gee, I don’t know, Allan. Perhaps we want to encourage high quality educators to choose and remain in the teaching profession.
If that were the case then there might be some effort to differentiate between good and bad teachers but there isn’t and paying a lousy teacher more money doesn’t make them a good teacher. It just makes them a lousy teacher who drives a more expensive car.
If you want to encourage high quality educators to choose and remain in the profession then lousy educators ought to be shown the door on a regular basis.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
This whole conversation is off the point that Obama was making. He wasn’t speaking about all teachers. He gave the example of one teacher, “her”, making $30-35k a year, which we have already seen on this website isn’t extremely rare. The point made to me is that this hypothetical teacher’s salary is peanuts compared to the executives at investment banks and stock brokerages who are indeed living high on the hog.
So instead of focusing on what Obama was talking about, the author of the article and many people in this discussion launched into attacks on Barak Obama and teachers - the author by splitting hairs over the amount Obama used and others by piling on. Why all the anger towards teachers? Most work very hard and many get burned out from the lack of reward and/or respect - respect from people who have never spent a day in a classroom and have no idea what they’re talking about. I signed up for “This Week’s Education Gadfly” because I thought it would shine a light on interesting education issues of the day. Instead it seems to be some sort of anti-public school, anti-teacher screed.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Sorry, rural teachers in Missouri start low. My husband was only making $24,000 a year after teaching for 14 years and having almost a master’s degree. Unfortunately, many of the statistics used average together the high paying cities with the low paying rural areas.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
My husband used to be one of those investment bankers. Yes, he made six figures, but he was working 80-100+ hours per week for it. In theory he got 2 weeks’ vacation but he rarely was granted permission by his boss to take even a single day off at a time. He routinely worked late into the night, weekends, even holidays. He had to sleep with his BlackBerry by the bed and several nights per week he’d have to wake up to respond to somebody in Asia or Europe who HAD to have something RIGHT THIS INSTANT. He couldn’t refuse any of these unreasonable demands or he’d get fired on the spot (none of this cushy lifetime tenure after 3 years on the job).
By contrast, both his parents are recently retired schoolteachers and his sister is currently one too. None of them worked more than 40 hrs/wk even counting grading & lesson planning time. All were off from mid-June until the very last week of August plus 2 weeks at Christmas/New Year’s and 1 week in the spring.
If one were to calculate out the wage earned per actual hour worked, the pay premium my DH received as an investment banker over his relatives the teachers would shrink dramatically. And that’s why he was the one who got “burned out” after less than 2 years in that industry and changed careers.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:42 am
CrimsonWife: Your personal experiences definitely lend some background to the positions you advocate on this website and others. I understand that businessmen making “six figures” usually work hard to do so. However, I think your views on teacher salaries are skewed on two levels: (1) When your husband (like several of my friends) “burned out” after only a few years in the business world, he did so after making $100K+ a year. So, he’s exhausted, but well remunerated for his efforts. By the time they burn out, businessmen, lawyers, etc. have paid off school loans, socked money away for retirement and can buy a house. Teachers who “burn out” are usually just scraping by financially (unless they are financially supported by a spouse or parent). Their burnout does not come along with six figure paychecks. (2) I think your in-laws may be anomalies in the teaching field in terms of their workload (or perhaps teaching has changed in the years since they left the field). Almost no teacher I know works only 40 hours a week. At the high school level, most are pressured to coach or head clubs after school, in addition to teaching a full schedule. In many schools, the amount of paperwork, grading and lesson preparation is truly overwhelming. I suggest that your experience with your in-laws teaching careers is not representative of teachers in general.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Since school started in mid-August, every week-end (Saturday and Sunday) and 2 to 3 nights per week has been spent grading papers and lesson planning. Saturdays I try really hard NOT to spend the entire day focused on school related activities, but Sundays, my family knows that I plan for the week and I also grade papers. I regularly log an 8 hour day on Sundays and usually spend around 3 hours on Saturday, “dedicated” to my profession.
I arrive to school at 7:15 a.m. and most days, I leave around 3:30 (students are out at 2:15 p.m. - so my contractual day ends at 2:30 and begins at 7:45 a.m.). Then, from about 7 to 9, two to three nights per week, as I mentioned, is spent grading papers. My only real “break” is my 40 minute lunch, which is spent with the door open to students who often come in to talk to me and get extra help if they need it.
Last summer during my summer “vacation,” much was spent away from home, spent on professional development. During the other time that I have off during the school year (Thanksgiving, Christmas break, Spring Break, etc.) quite a bit is also spent focused on my profession.
This year, I’ve signed on to do National Boards, something that will end up costing me a lot of time, money and effort. The school district that I work in does not cover any of the cost associated with doing National Boards (a cost of $2500). I know that when I worked in the corporate world, most professional development was reimbursed by the employer because they valued self-improvement as long as it was related to your employment.
This year, like every other year I’ve worked as a teacher, has also found me looking in my own pocketbook to cover the cost of items that are needed for my classroom to function. As a teacher in a high needs school district, I do not let the fact that a family may not be able to afford school supplies impede the success of any student who enters the doorway of my classroom.
Crimsonwife, I’ve worked in the corporate field and I can assure you that I work much harder as a teacher than in any other job I have ever held. I will put it you very bluntly. I work hard because I love what I do. However, attitudes like yours really piss me off.
October 13th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
What percent of teachers actually invest the time & effort to become NBCTE? Their website says 64,000 have earned the certification since the program was instituted in 1993. Out of how many MILLIONS of individuals who’ve worked as schoolteachers during those 15 years in the U.S.?
It seems perfectly obvious that those who choose to pursue the NBCTE are not representative of how hard the typical schoolteacher works...
October 15th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Some teachers can’t afford the NBCTE or haven’t met the experiential qualifications to pursue it, so it doesn’t seem fair to use that as the only standard for teaching excellence. No one is saying that teachers should get millions or that bad/unresponsive teachers deserve the same treatment as the good/improving teachings. However, many teachers find it hard to make ends meet because they are not compensated in a way that is comparable to their level of education and the amount of work they do. Moreso, they are not respected in a way that is comparable to their level of education and the amount of work they do.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Vanderboom: Well said. As someone who has worked in the business world and as a teacher, I definitely agree that teachers (as a whole) are not paid fairly given their education and amount/difficulty of work. As a teacher in my twenties, I probably worked an average of 45+ hours a week (not including lunch or commuting) and was paid between $29K and $36K a year for it. At the time, I had a college degree and two years of graduate education. My friends of the same age/education who worked in the business world worked similar hours, but earned at least $50K.
I think there’s still a widespread misconception that a teacher’s day starts and ends when the students are at school - ignoring all the hours of grading, lesson prep, parent conferences and afterschool activities that teachers do (often on their own time). While this might not be rocket science, it’s definitely on par in terms of educational requirements and effort with being a paralegal or an entry level computer scientist. People need to stop buying into old stereotypes of a “schoolteacher” and understand what a teacher’s life in today’s world truly entails.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Absolutely SOME teachers are very much underpaid for how hard they work. But there are also SOME teachers who are overpaid for how hard they work. In the town where I grew up, the teachers’ pay scale tops out in the $80k’s. Certain of those teachers are worth every penny they receive (and possibly more). Others do not. Some of the younger teachers at the school get paid tens of thousands less but actually do a superior job educating their students.
In business, it’s not unusual for a talented person with fewer years experience to outearn his/her more veteran colleagues who are only average performers. In my last paid position, I was 28 but two of the employees I supervised were in their forties. I have a bunch of friends who are in similar situations of supervising people who are older than them.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Crimson Wife: I do agree with you that the current teacher salary scale (years of service + graduate credits) is not particularly on target. Evidence has shown that teachers improve a lot in their first 3 to 5 years on the job, and then their performance pretty much levels off. Some studies I’ve seen indicate that teachers’ performance may actually decrease in the last few years before retirement.
In light of the above, I’d suggest a different pay scale in which teacher pay increased substantially from year one to year five, and then leveled off somewhat. This would reflect teacher performance gains in the first five years. It would also act to stop the massive exodus of teachers in their first 5 years (studies show that somewhere around 30-50% of new teachers quit w/in 5 years).
I also think that paying teachers to attend night classes to slowly earn Master’s Degrees (the only way to increase your salary) is pretty silly. First, it makes the teacher tired (and takes time away from grading and lesson planning) to encourage teachers to continuously attend weekend and evening classes while working fulltime. Second, there is no evidence that getting a master’s degree in education improves teaching (from the studies I’ve seen).
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
As I was a former teacher, it must be said: Teaching programs are a joke! They are incredibly easy to pass and do well in. Teaching is really a no brainer; you really don’t have to think too hard to be a teacher! I thought lawyers were smarter than the average teacher; but there are Triple Toilet Towers that provide law degrees to complete idiots.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.