@rosea Can you unionize at your school? Move to a state that pays teachers more? Use your teaching degree for work for a corporation? Teachers will never be paid appropriately in this country until they refuse to accept/work for the wages offered. Just like nurses leaving the bedside until working conditions/wages improve, teachers need to leave the classroom.
How am I supposed to keep up with inflation? (school teacher)
- Thread starter rosea
- Start date
audiovoxjunkie
New member
@how2group $67k for what is effectively seasonal work -- and damn important, don't get me wrong -- is an incredible salary.
resjudicata
New member
and a little scared 
too.orangelight
New member
@rosea From an egoism perspective (which your title question implies) you will have to either obtain more income or lower your costs.
You've been at this job for almost 9 years. What have you done in addition to that job to increase your income? You should seriously consider moving in to a different line of work and your experience as a teacher is valid. You won't be "starting over".
You have nearly a decade of experience in project and personnel management. There is a company out there that would love to have your foundational experience even without industry specific experience and likely for much more than you currently make.
Please before anyone comes at me with societal issues, government malfeasance, poor policies etc...the question asked was "How am I supposed to keep up with inflation?" and that implies the individual wants to take some sort of action.
You've been at this job for almost 9 years. What have you done in addition to that job to increase your income? You should seriously consider moving in to a different line of work and your experience as a teacher is valid. You won't be "starting over".
You have nearly a decade of experience in project and personnel management. There is a company out there that would love to have your foundational experience even without industry specific experience and likely for much more than you currently make.
Please before anyone comes at me with societal issues, government malfeasance, poor policies etc...the question asked was "How am I supposed to keep up with inflation?" and that implies the individual wants to take some sort of action.
paradoxbrown
New member
lostinwebspace
New member
@paradoxbrown Not sure why you're downvoted. No doubt OP is losing to inflation, like literally everyone, but teachers are often under contract for less than 200 work days per year at less than 8 hours per day. The district I went to school in starts at 45,000 dollars roughly for 187 days at 7 hours per day. Meaning teachers in the district are contracted at 34 dollars per hour year one. The issue is that teachers get months off and weeks off more than other jobs. Meaning they have time to work a second job to supplement that, and make more money than your average joe.
marshallmea
New member
@lostinwebspace Unless you’re a teacher, please do not say things like that. First of all, I don’t know one teacher that does not either stay well past their “seven hours a day” (which, by the way, it’s normally 8 hours) or bring their work home. That 8 hour day is actively teaching with normally about an hour prep time and 30 minute lunch.
One hour is not enough time to grade 90-100 assignments, tests, projects unless it’s perhaps just multiple choice. However, most of the time it’s not just MC because that would only show recall, not actual comprehension and analysis.
And that is just the grading. Not the constant meetings that are normally one to two times a week during that prep time (so you lose out on that because those meetings are always useless), the lesson preparation, the test and assignment creation, along with extra things such as Professional Development, staff meetings, or any extracurricular activities you sponsor. All of which (normally except coaching) is unpaid.
In those 190 days, teachers work MORE than someone who works full time 50 weeks of the year (we will just assume they get 2 weeks off PTO or at least get off all the major holidays).
In those 190 days, if we take the median and multiply it, you would get 2,052 versus the person working 40 hours a week for the 50 weeks out of the year (again, assuming they get PTO, days off for holidays) who works 2000 hours.
So yes, theoretically, they have “more time” but that “more time” is about two months (June and July) where they are preparing for the school year or recovering from working the same amount in 38 weeks that most people work in 50-52.
https://www.tasb.org/services/hr-services/hrx/hr-laws/typical-teacher-works-54-hours-per-week.aspx
One hour is not enough time to grade 90-100 assignments, tests, projects unless it’s perhaps just multiple choice. However, most of the time it’s not just MC because that would only show recall, not actual comprehension and analysis.
And that is just the grading. Not the constant meetings that are normally one to two times a week during that prep time (so you lose out on that because those meetings are always useless), the lesson preparation, the test and assignment creation, along with extra things such as Professional Development, staff meetings, or any extracurricular activities you sponsor. All of which (normally except coaching) is unpaid.
In those 190 days, teachers work MORE than someone who works full time 50 weeks of the year (we will just assume they get 2 weeks off PTO or at least get off all the major holidays).
In those 190 days, if we take the median and multiply it, you would get 2,052 versus the person working 40 hours a week for the 50 weeks out of the year (again, assuming they get PTO, days off for holidays) who works 2000 hours.
So yes, theoretically, they have “more time” but that “more time” is about two months (June and July) where they are preparing for the school year or recovering from working the same amount in 38 weeks that most people work in 50-52.
https://www.tasb.org/services/hr-services/hrx/hr-laws/typical-teacher-works-54-hours-per-week.aspx