Texas teacher salaries largely lag behind the national average – Houston Public Media
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I believe they contribute. I know at college level I contribute to TIAA or TRS.
Stuck on this summer thing I see.
Address total annual hours worked and there is little difference. Subtract time for professional development and training on their own time. 8-9 hours on campus plus another 2-4 hours a day grading - long long weeks and weekends. This also does not include summer school teaching which is most likely included in average pay charts of teachers.
Not to mention how many vacation hours do people in commercial settings get after 15/20 years, 6 weeks? plus holidays and sick leave, not to mention that even if scheduled most businesses are not really working on the scheduled days around holidays but just planning out last minute details on their trips.
Also address the inability to choose vacation time. All holidays are at full cost of peak season.
Teachers get fired and sued all the time. I also have met and worked with many regular jobs that have people that need to be fired but do get fired.
Don’t forget to include when the city is on a budget freeze and their pay does not go up for 5 years until voters agree to give them pay raises.
The bolded part tells me a lot about your mind set.
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I think you earn more for summer school? Yes?
For college educators, summers make or break your year!
It’s very much a, "tell me you’re oldest, without saying you’re older " statement.
- You can make a couple of grand for summer school.
- There are coaching opportunities, tutoring to increase income
- They can participate in a 403b to increase their retirement income.
Most likely 1 and probably 2 are are already factored into the average salary of teachers since it is also from the school district.
Also to add, with TRS, I believe you have to put in so many years to get vested. I think it is like 5 or 6, but that is rough memory. Since It teach as adjunct, I only qualify some semesters for it, so likely will be 10+ more years before I am vested in it without changing schools. So until that happens, I think I only have my contributions to it that I can keep. I expect K-12 will not have the partial qualifications I have to deal with.
Years of service plus age must equal 80 (I think) might be 85. My wife hit 80 and she bolted immediately.
That’s similar to the Texas District and County Retirement System.
A lady who works with my wife for a school district retired and received the same pay going forward as retirement after about 30 yrs of service. As far as women having options, many quit and stay home with kids. It happens a lot bc the kids take up a lot of time and effort. As far as time off, teachers get a lot of time off right when they start at 22 where as it takes decades for a private sector worker to get 4 or 6 weeks if and only if they stay decades at the same company which isn’t the norm today. Again, teachers can get fired but in the private sector, it happens way more then your stuck starting over with a new company and they usually give you 2 or 3 weeks then it takes a decade or more to build up if you stay. Also you have to wait to get fully vested in a 401 with a new job so your starting over with vaca and 401 with each job. You also don’t keep getting more money salary wise. You might make 60k or so after so many yrs then switch jobs and go to 50k. My brother had about 6 or 7 jobs and had to start over with 2 weeks vaca and had to wait again to get fully 401 vested. Teachers, if they stay keep getting increases. I haven’t had a raise in over 3 or 4 yrs where as teachers get the 2 or 3 % increase. Teachers also get thanksgiving week and spring break week off where as I only get 2 days for thanksgiving. I thought about being a teacher bc of all the vaca , job security and benefits. Soc sec could go away or get reduced where as the teacher fund is more secure than soc sec. Being a teacher isn’t a bad deal given that most private sector people have to switch jobs every 5 yrs on average. It’s true the private sector pays more sometimes if you stay longterm but gov workers get more benefits and vaca.They get more benefits or more secure pensions to off set the pay. But again, many private sector workers, move around, get fired then start over then the teacher that stays out paces then in all categories.Agian as far as women quitting, if you have 2 or 3 kids, she prob asks you if she can quit or do part time work bc the kids are a lot of work. It happened to me and a lot of people I know.
If a private sector worker leaves jobs and starts over, and is not part of the front line force, then they suck at negotiating. And I say that as someone who is not a great negotiator, but anytime I moved jobs something was always better, but usually both pay and benefits.
See way down where it says starting over with 401 and benefits such as vaca.
It says 5 or 6 percent increase in salary for hopping but the gov worker usually gets an automatic 2 or 3 % increase for staying each yr. So the teacher is close in increase without moving. Private sector workers aren’t guaranteed any increases yr to yr.
Neither are teachers. Some districts give step increases every three or so years, and most who give annual increases only add a couple of hundred dollars. So step increases are more like 0.5%. And Texas teachers max out around 70k. If teaching is as fantastic as you think, I wonder why there’s such a shortage of available teachers.
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The covid issue hurt it a lot bc teachers were forced to go to work in the classroom and couldn’t be remote. There’s a trend for more remote workers which hurts the teacher profession bc they can’t do remote work. Also unlike the private sector, most teachers have to major in it in school vs the private sec where people are more mobile from profession to profession. They have alt certs but it isn’t enough bc you have to go back to school vs just hopping in the business world right away. I heard the alt cert route is a pain also.
The lack of remote work will make the shortage really bad then they will have to increase pay etc to off set it.
I have heard the contrary, I hear at a lot of universities (through the grapevine) that a lot of new hirees are requiring a “no virtual clause” in their contract. PhDs have more negotiation at that level though
The history of salary steps is not what you think it is. It is actually the opposite of what you think it is.
Those steps (Years) and lanes (degrees and other credits) in 2022 look like a gift to teachers but you have to go way back to really understand the history of it.
It was shockingly explained to me by a now deceased labor economists and historian, “and she had the PhD from Harvard to prove it” ( that was an inside joke, but she was a true genius). It was to delay pay particularly for (but not only) women (who were fired as soon as they became pregnant) and never had a chance to make real money.
I am curious as to why Top25 is not a teacher?
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I hope that is true. I think hybrid is great, and while I think F2F is muh better than fully online, I am willing to teach fully online classes. Though I don’t quite have the PhD yet.
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You and I are in the exact same boat. I did F2F, hybrid, online anytime, and online on a schedule. F2F is far superior, but yeah, hybrid was pretty dope.