Author Topic: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?  (Read 28416 times)

WhiteTrashCash

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1983
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #50 on: June 08, 2017, 06:47:54 PM »
None of the teachers I know are panicking -- most of them are in full Gloating Mode now that summer vacation is coming up. It's sort of a nice change of pace from Martyrdom Mode the other nine months of the year.

+1000

Whenever I see a teacher's sob story on Facebook in March, I always want to comment on it in mid July asking them if they would be willing to trade and come be glued to my desk all summer.
(I'd probably want to trade back in the fall, but there are a lot of long sighs staring out my office window from May to September)

When I think about teachers, I commend them because I personally would rather not spend my entire day being insulted (and/or assaulted depending on the neighborhood) by hundreds of children everyday and then be insulted by administrators and parents for the afternoons and evenings. All for the same pay as a McDonald's manager. But what do I know. Maybe that's your idea of an easy and luxurious job.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1941
  • Location: Noo Zilind
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #51 on: June 08, 2017, 09:06:14 PM »
I taught for a few years in a university. Same situation - we had a contract that started at the beginning of the school year (Feb in NZ) and ended in Nov. No pay over the NZ summer (Xmas time). We did have free access to a really interesting series of lectures on finance from an actuary and a personal finance expert. Out of a staff of over 1000, there were generally 15 or 20 people in the lectures every week. It was really eye opening stuff - both the lecture and the distinct lack of interest.

eddiejoe

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 26
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #52 on: June 08, 2017, 09:41:25 PM »
None of the teachers I know are panicking -- most of them are in full Gloating Mode now that summer vacation is coming up. It's sort of a nice change of pace from Martyrdom Mode the other nine months of the year.

+1000

Whenever I see a teacher's sob story on Facebook in March, I always want to comment on it in mid July asking them if they would be willing to trade and come be glued to my desk all summer.
(I'd probably want to trade back in the fall, but there are a lot of long sighs staring out my office window from May to September)

When I think about teachers, I commend them because I personally would rather not spend my entire day being insulted (and/or assaulted depending on the neighborhood) by hundreds of children everyday and then be insulted by administrators and parents for the afternoons and evenings. All for the same pay as a McDonald's manager. But what do I know. Maybe that's your idea of an easy and luxurious job.

I'm sorry this joke personal offended you. I thought it was a funny point to make  but debated putting it up because showing any sort of negative opinion on teachers is like swan diving onto the third rail. The eseesence was "as much as teachers complain, and I agree with the grievances,  there is  a clear peark to the job (summers off)"

I also think no job is "easy and luxurious". You mentioned a McDonald's manager. When I was in high school I was a cashier at Burger King. The restaurant's GM had one of the most stressful jobs I've ever seen. She would work 70 hours on a good week, had to deal with a super flaky workforce, and was constantly being harassed by upper management to meet numbers. She had been with the company for 10 years and I think she was making a little under $50k. She never got the Summer off.

nobody123

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 519
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #53 on: June 09, 2017, 07:27:14 AM »
None of the teachers I know are panicking -- most of them are in full Gloating Mode now that summer vacation is coming up. It's sort of a nice change of pace from Martyrdom Mode the other nine months of the year.

+1000

Whenever I see a teacher's sob story on Facebook in March, I always want to comment on it in mid July asking them if they would be willing to trade and come be glued to my desk all summer.
(I'd probably want to trade back in the fall, but there are a lot of long sighs staring out my office window from May to September)

When I think about teachers, I commend them because I personally would rather not spend my entire day being insulted (and/or assaulted depending on the neighborhood) by hundreds of children everyday and then be insulted by administrators and parents for the afternoons and evenings. All for the same pay as a McDonald's manager. But what do I know. Maybe that's your idea of an easy and luxurious job.

Nobody claimed that being a teacher is easy or luxurious.  You CHOOSE not to be a teacher because of the associated crap you have to put up with.  I know I don't have the patience to do it either, and I'm glad a lot of folks do.  I respect their efforts to teach my children and their dedication to their craft.  But those people CHOOSE to be teachers, knowing full well what the job entails, pay, etc.  It is hypocritical when teachers complain about low wages (their annual pay in my area is above the median household income in their districts and they have super-cheap health care, for the most part) and long hours for 9 months out of the year touting how dedicated they are to the children, how they have to do continuing education, their bosses couldn't do their jobs but mandate how they do it, etc., then post a series of "Parents, they're your problem now!" memes on Facebook as they have their post-state-testing last month of the school year countdown to their three month vacation.  Teachers can't have it both ways, playing the martyr during the school year then flaunting the main counter (it's a 9 month job) that the general public has when they claim they are underpaid. 

Plugra

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 78
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #54 on: June 09, 2017, 07:47:53 AM »
Teachers are definitely a target for financial abuse.  There have been some great news articles lately about how teachers are scammed on their 403(b) retirement plans -- often the only choices in the plan are ghastly, incomprehensible, high fee, variable annuities. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/your-money/401ks-and-similar-plans/when-teachers-face-the-task-of-fixing-their-retirement-accounts.html

I'm a member of the teacher's union and I get lots of junk mail with financial offers and whatnot.  The union is a large pool of people with steady jobs and retirement savings, so I guess they are sitting ducks.


MgoSam

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3684
  • Location: Minnesota
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #55 on: June 09, 2017, 08:48:00 AM »
Teachers can't have it both ways, playing the martyr during the school year then flaunting the main counter (it's a 9 month job) that the general public has when they claim they are underpaid.

Clearly they can since they already are.

Listen I can't really argue that teachers are underpaid as they work 9 months of the year and have access to some really nice benefits depending on their state/district (good friend is having her student loans paid next year by her district), but they work their butts off. Most of the teachers I know probably work more hours per week than I do during their 9 months of work and that doesn't include their continuing education or degree requirements. If it means having to Unfollow them on FB because you are sick of their martyr posts then so be it.

nobody123

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 519
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #56 on: June 09, 2017, 08:57:15 AM »
Teachers can't have it both ways, playing the martyr during the school year then flaunting the main counter (it's a 9 month job) that the general public has when they claim they are underpaid.

Clearly they can since they already are.

Touché.  Lol.

FIT_Goat

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 114
  • Location: Florida
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #57 on: June 09, 2017, 09:07:06 AM »
Teachers are definitely a target for financial abuse.  There have been some great news articles lately about how teachers are scammed on their 403(b) retirement plans -- often the only choices in the plan are ghastly, incomprehensible, high fee, variable annuities. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/your-money/401ks-and-similar-plans/when-teachers-face-the-task-of-fixing-their-retirement-accounts.html

I'm a member of the teacher's union and I get lots of junk mail with financial offers and whatnot.  The union is a large pool of people with steady jobs and retirement savings, so I guess they are sitting ducks.

I think I have posted on here, a few times, about the horrible 403b options that we have through my school.  Many of the companies won't even answer any questions directly and will only send a representative (aka salesperson) to discuss their plans with you.  Those plans where I was able to find specifics often had costs of over 2% per year.  I currently have two different accounts.  One of which I am still waiting to hit the right number of years since the last deposit so that I can remove things without being charged a fee.  And, the second one is an annuity that is complete garbage.

As of the upcoming year, I am not putting another penny in the 403b plans, unless one of the representatives shows me a plan that is beneficial.  I have taken that money and moved it to max out my HSA account, as I switched to the high deductible plan through my school.  I maxed out my IRA (traditional but I might consider the Roth in the future--I am in the range where it is a coinflip decision) and will max it out again next year.  Three percent of my pay goes towards the pension, which isn't an option.
 I do feel like that is something that isn't going away.  After that, the rest is going into post-tax investing right now.  My tax bracket is low enough that I should be at a 0% rate for dividends.

When I run the specific numbers, for the plans I have or know about, I find the difference is negligible.  There is some potential advantage that I gain because I might switch careers in a few years, but I think both accounts have surrender fees that would negate those.  I could set up a third horrible account, with high annual fees but not surrender fees, but then it would cost me more if I don't end up changing career paths.  At this moment, I think it's best to just stay out of any financial deals my school offers.

talltexan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5344
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #58 on: June 09, 2017, 09:52:23 AM »
It seemed as though a lot of the teachers I knew (I was in the industry for ten years) found part-time work in the summer. Sometimes it was service stuff (coffee shops), or sometimes education-related (grading standardized exams or teaching test prep).

Plugra

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 78
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #59 on: June 09, 2017, 10:31:09 AM »
Quote
I think I have posted on here, a few times, about the horrible 403b options that we have through my school.  Many of the companies won't even answer any questions directly and will only send a representative (aka salesperson) to discuss their plans with you.  Those plans where I was able to find specifics often had costs of over 2% per year.

Why do think the 403(b) options are so terrible?  Is it because nobody thinks to make a fuss, or because someone in the administration is being taken out for steak and lobster by the sales reps?

I teach at a university and we have decent 403(b) options (although fees have still been an issue). But if I were teaching in K-12 and was being forced into these annuities I would complain loudly and publicly to the school board, the op-ed page, etc.

Debonair

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 73
  • Age: 33
  • Location: Taiwan
    • DebonairDylan
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #60 on: June 10, 2017, 07:00:05 AM »
I wish I got my summers off.

I told a friend of mine that teaches in the USA this. She thought I was crazy. There is also no retirement plan so I am also jealous she has (well has access to) 403b.

Cyanne

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 123
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #61 on: June 10, 2017, 12:40:40 PM »
Teachers can't have it both ways, playing the martyr during the school year then flaunting the main counter (it's a 9 month job) that the general public has when they claim they are underpaid.

Clearly they can since they already are.

Listen I can't really argue that teachers are underpaid as they work 9 months of the year and have access to some really nice benefits depending on their state/district (good friend is having her student loans paid next year by her district), but they work their butts off. Most of the teachers I know probably work more hours per week than I do during their 9 months of work and that doesn't include their continuing education or degree requirements. If it means having to Unfollow them on FB because you are sick of their martyr posts then so be it.

Students go to school nine months a year but teachers work additional days above those days that students attend. Teachers work several days to a week past student release and start a week or two before students return in the fall. I work ten months a year.

 The same is true for the hours in the day. Students at the school I teach at attend classes from 8:30-3:05 with a 30 minute lunch. My contract specifies that I be in the building working at 7:30 and stay until 3:30.

I can only speak to my personal numbers but I have yet to see a teacher in my state work only nine months per year and six hour days.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2017, 09:57:31 AM by Cyanne »

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #62 on: June 11, 2017, 02:57:28 PM »
Nobody claimed that being a teacher is easy or luxurious.  You CHOOSE not to be a teacher because of the associated crap you have to put up with.  I know I don't have the patience to do it either, and I'm glad a lot of folks do.  I respect their efforts to teach my children and their dedication to their craft.  But those people CHOOSE to be teachers, knowing full well what the job entails, pay, etc.  It is hypocritical when teachers complain about low wages (their annual pay in my area is above the median household income in their districts and they have super-cheap health care, for the most part) and long hours for 9 months out of the year touting how dedicated they are to the children, how they have to do continuing education, their bosses couldn't do their jobs but mandate how they do it, etc., then post a series of "Parents, they're your problem now!" memes on Facebook as they have their post-state-testing last month of the school year countdown to their three month vacation.  Teachers can't have it both ways, playing the martyr during the school year then flaunting the main counter (it's a 9 month job) that the general public has when they claim they are underpaid.
What you're saying represents what most people think about the job of teaching, but I'd like to make a few corrections: 

- When I started teaching, teachers went in with full knowledge that they were making a trade-off:  We promised to accept a low paycheck with little room for advancement, but we'd have good benefits (for low cost to us) and a secure retirement ... and it was a good "mom job" in terms of life-work balance.  As years have gone by, that has changed:  The paycheck is still lower than those of other professionals with similar educational /performance requirements, but the benefits have lagged (and now are far from low cost), and the pension is not as secure as it once was.  The job has increased exponentially in the last decade; larger class sizes, more requirements from the state, more difficult students.  Yet the public seems to think we're still operating under the old system under which I entered. 

- Similarly, the public doesn't know what's going on with teacher salaries ... except for the people who are paying close attention to what the media says.  Here's an example:  About two years ago in my state, after a six-year salary freeze, the media announced that teachers were receiving an average salary increase of 7% all in one fell swoop.  7% is pretty good ... but the reality is that the state gave new teachers something like a 15% raise (because new teachers are leaving in droves), and teachers at the top of the salary scale (I'm not there, but I'm sympathetic) received literally nothing ... while insurance almost doubled in cost in a single year, meaning that the most experienced teachers not only received nothing after that six-year salary freeze but also saw a pay decrease, while the public said, "Why are you complaining?  Didn't you just get a 7% raise?"  And when we say, "The most experienced teachers are making fewer dollars than they were a decade ago", we are told that we're whiney.

- We are 10-month employees.  We are not paid for an 8-week summer break. 

- I don't claim that my immediate superiors couldn't do my job; after all, all the principals and assistant principals were once classroom teachers, and even if they're out of practice, they know the score.  However, I'm not sure about the legislators who make the laws -- though they make laws that affect our children's lives and futures, many of them have not been in a classroom since they themselves were students.  No, it's not that they lack the ability ... it's that they don't pay enough attention to actually know what's going on in schools to know what needs to be done.  In all the years I've been teaching, no legislator has ever returned one of my letters, visited my school, or asked a single question.

And I have to point out an inconsistency in your arguments: 

- You say teachers whine all year long, then laugh, "They're your problem now, parents!"  Literally millions of people work as teachers.  You can't assume that these are all the same people. 

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #63 on: June 11, 2017, 02:59:40 PM »
It seemed as though a lot of the teachers I knew (I was in the industry for ten years) found part-time work in the summer. Sometimes it was service stuff (coffee shops), or sometimes education-related (grading standardized exams or teaching test prep).
Yes, most of the teachers I know have summer jobs.  In fact, a number of businesses actively recruit for service-type jobs because teachers are more reliable employees than high school or college students.

WhiteTrashCash

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1983
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #64 on: June 11, 2017, 08:17:37 PM »
American college students seem to now be aware of the fact that teaching is a really poor choice of employment in the 21st century because the percentage of college students studying education has dropped from 10% to 4% over the past decade. I guess that's just what happens when teachers get their pay cut and benefits slashed every year, while their responsibilities increase exponentially, PLUS they get the joy of being blamed by politicians and parents when kids decide not to bother doing their work. Yeah, not a very appetizing job, when you can just learn to code, design an app whose only feature is being able to send the word "Yo" to other people, and pocket a cool $1.2 million.

StacheyStache

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 268
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #65 on: June 12, 2017, 05:17:30 AM »
Sorry, but I've gotta agree with the above comments about teachers and the 9 month martyrdom/3 months of gloating thing.  I have quite a few teacher friends (IRL and on facebook) and around this time of year I start thinking about a career change.  I also have a high stress/high abuse job (from adult clients not students, most with mental health issues, it's unusual for a day to go by where I'm not cursed at), my education cost at least twice what theirs did, I also have high continuing education and license fee requirements, I make slightly more than the average teacher makes in my area and I work 12 months of the year with lots of unpaid overtime.  I got a text the other day from one person in my Friday night game night crew giving a heads up that she and her husband (both teachers) won't be able to attend game night for the foreseeable future because they're off traveling for four weeks.  My job gives two weeks vacation on top of all the above crap and the market is so bad there's literally nothing else available at my experience level (I look every day).  So yeah, it's hard to feel sorry teachers.

« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 05:19:08 AM by StacheyStache »

westtoeast

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 355
  • Location: East Coast City
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #66 on: June 12, 2017, 05:38:21 AM »
I also want to mention how different teaching is across the country, since this thread is debating whether teachers get a good deal or not. Starting salaries can vary by 25 grand between a southern state and a northern state. In my state teachers are required to earn Masters degrees and are paid well. We also get nice raises each year. My coworkers are highly qualified. Many of them don't work in the summer. These facts are not true for many teachers across the country, where compensation is so low one must find a summer position.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

StarBright

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3270
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #67 on: June 12, 2017, 06:13:20 AM »
American college students seem to now be aware of the fact that teaching is a really poor choice of employment in the 21st century because the percentage of college students studying education has dropped from 10% to 4% over the past decade. I guess that's just what happens when teachers get their pay cut and benefits slashed every year, while their responsibilities increase exponentially, PLUS they get the joy of being blamed by politicians and parents when kids decide not to bother doing their work. Yeah, not a very appetizing job, when you can just learn to code, design an app whose only feature is being able to send the word "Yo" to other people, and pocket a cool $1.2 million.


^for real yo! ( :) )  I had long planned to go into teaching as my second career.

The low starting salaries (my admin makes more than a teacher in their first five years), relatively high benefit costs, pension fund that is "in trouble" every year,  and increased admin duties of teachers are problematic. My biggest concern is because teaching is not covered by social security in my state and I'd have to be really careful that the windfall elimination provision wouldn't wipe out the 20 years of social security i earned in corporate america. The combined items have basically taken teaching off the table as an option for me.

I've run the numbers a few times and I think I would actually be better off financially if I work in my current industry 5 years longer than I planned and then just volunteer at schools instead.

We basically disincentivize teaching as a career.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 06:31:45 AM by StarBright »

nobody123

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 519
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #68 on: June 12, 2017, 07:29:19 AM »
Nobody claimed that being a teacher is easy or luxurious.  You CHOOSE not to be a teacher because of the associated crap you have to put up with.  I know I don't have the patience to do it either, and I'm glad a lot of folks do.  I respect their efforts to teach my children and their dedication to their craft.  But those people CHOOSE to be teachers, knowing full well what the job entails, pay, etc.  It is hypocritical when teachers complain about low wages (their annual pay in my area is above the median household income in their districts and they have super-cheap health care, for the most part) and long hours for 9 months out of the year touting how dedicated they are to the children, how they have to do continuing education, their bosses couldn't do their jobs but mandate how they do it, etc., then post a series of "Parents, they're your problem now!" memes on Facebook as they have their post-state-testing last month of the school year countdown to their three month vacation.  Teachers can't have it both ways, playing the martyr during the school year then flaunting the main counter (it's a 9 month job) that the general public has when they claim they are underpaid.
What you're saying represents what most people think about the job of teaching, but I'd like to make a few corrections: 

- When I started teaching, teachers went in with full knowledge that they were making a trade-off:  We promised to accept a low paycheck with little room for advancement, but we'd have good benefits (for low cost to us) and a secure retirement ... and it was a good "mom job" in terms of life-work balance.  As years have gone by, that has changed:  The paycheck is still lower than those of other professionals with similar educational /performance requirements, but the benefits have lagged (and now are far from low cost), and the pension is not as secure as it once was.  The job has increased exponentially in the last decade; larger class sizes, more requirements from the state, more difficult students.  Yet the public seems to think we're still operating under the old system under which I entered. 

I can only base my judgement on what my sibling & in-laws (5 teachers spread across the state; 3 in special ed) tell me, and I'm in Ohio, so things may vary elsewhere.  I know my sibling's heath insurance has gone from fully-paid to having to contribute a whopping $72/month over the past decade.  Their base salary (has a Master's, per state requirement) has been pretty much growing by a grand a year, but is still ~$70K.  Assuming only 8 weeks off at the summer that's a 1760 hour work year, so they make ~$40/hr., which would be $83,200 at a 2080 hour job.  Ohio's median household income (2015) is $51,075, so I still think it's a pretty good deal.  I will agree that the state has lumped on more requirements / expectations and the job has changed over time.  Seeing what my sibling has to deal with, I wouldn't do that job for less than $100K.

Quote
- Similarly, the public doesn't know what's going on with teacher salaries ... except for the people who are paying close attention to what the media says.  Here's an example:  About two years ago in my state, after a six-year salary freeze, the media announced that teachers were receiving an average salary increase of 7% all in one fell swoop.  7% is pretty good ... but the reality is that the state gave new teachers something like a 15% raise (because new teachers are leaving in droves), and teachers at the top of the salary scale (I'm not there, but I'm sympathetic) received literally nothing ... while insurance almost doubled in cost in a single year, meaning that the most experienced teachers not only received nothing after that six-year salary freeze but also saw a pay decrease, while the public said, "Why are you complaining?  Didn't you just get a 7% raise?"  And when we say, "The most experienced teachers are making fewer dollars than they were a decade ago", we are told that we're whiney.

I have seen that happen with my relatives.  The state keeps tweaking the retirement rules, so the deal that some older teachers signed up for has been materially changed.  I think that's BS.  And districts run into money problems, can't pass levies, etc., so salaries get frozen / teachers work without a contract until a levy gets passed.  Then the teachers get a one-time 5% raise or something and they get called greedy.

Quote
- We are 10-month employees.  We are not paid for an 8-week summer break. 

I addressed this above.  The 10 month paycheck is often still pretty good for anyone with a few years of experience.  I will agree that the first year teachers getting $25K or so should probably be making more, but as long as there are fresh graduates to take those slots, it won't change.

Quote
- I don't claim that my immediate superiors couldn't do my job; after all, all the principals and assistant principals were once classroom teachers, and even if they're out of practice, they know the score.  However, I'm not sure about the legislators who make the laws -- though they make laws that affect our children's lives and futures, many of them have not been in a classroom since they themselves were students.  No, it's not that they lack the ability ... it's that they don't pay enough attention to actually know what's going on in schools to know what needs to be done.  In all the years I've been teaching, no legislator has ever returned one of my letters, visited my school, or asked a single question.

Completely agree re: legislators.  The Ohio governor's budget has a provision where teachers are supposed to go intern at a "real" business to see how the "real world" operates as part of their license renewal.  It's a dumb idea overall, but even more idiotic if you think about how that would be completely irrelevant to teachers below 9th grade.

Quote
And I have to point out an inconsistency in your arguments: 

- You say teachers whine all year long, then laugh, "They're your problem now, parents!"  Literally millions of people work as teachers.  You can't assume that these are all the same people.

I don't see the inconsistency or get your point.  Are some of the "parents" in that meme teachers too, sure.  I am just relaying what some teachers I am FB friends with post.

nobody123

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 519
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #69 on: June 12, 2017, 07:41:40 AM »
<snip>
 The same is true for the hours in the day. Students at the school I teach at attend classes from 8:30-3:05 with a 30 minute lunch. My contract specifies that I be in the building working at 7:30 and stay until 3:30.

So a contractually mandated 8 hour day.  My office hours are 8 - 5 with a 1 hour lunch, which is pretty typical.  I can use the restroom whenever I want, so I guess I have it a little better.

Quote
I don't generally complain about my salary except when comparing it to surrounding districts who pay more for the same position.
It stinks that once a teacher has a year or two of experience, neighboring districts won't hire you because you're "too expensive" and try to fill their openings with folks at the lower end of the pay scale.  So you're essentially locked into a district, and can't take advantage of job-hopping to leverage your true worth like those in the private sector.

Quote
I am not sure how the previous point about teacher pay being higher than the median household income is relavant.
Teachers make more, relatively, than the majority of the households in the districts where they teach (at least in Ohio).  It's not like the taxpayers are forcing them to live in poverty, they have a better paying job than most of them.

Quote
Is the median education level of the average household the same? Over 50% of my co-workers have masters degrees which according to census data is much higher than the average household in the area I work.
Ah, the old fallacy that a degree must equal more pay.

talltexan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5344
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #70 on: June 12, 2017, 08:30:58 AM »
nobody123: this degree/pay fallacy you describe: perhaps "fallacy" isn't the right word for it.

It is true that there are specific cases of people without much formal education who are paid very highly. In some cases, the high pay compensates them for attributes that are independent of education, such as entrepreneurial skill or great beauty.

It is also very easy to produce examples of people who get a specific degree that doesn't translate very much into earnings, because the kind of degree is not in high demand or because the person who acquired the degree made other choices to reduce his/her income.

But the correlation between education/training and income over our population is strong and well-documented. It's completely reasonable to argue that your pay should be compared to other people at the same education level.

maizefolk

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7400
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #71 on: June 12, 2017, 08:44:40 AM »
But the correlation between education/training and income over our population is strong and well-documented. It's completely reasonable to argue that your pay should be compared to other people at the same education level.

I think the problem is defining what the same education level means. For example it would not be fair to compare the population of people with a PhD in Statistics to those with a PhD in Art History. You wouldn't compare the population of people with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering to the population of people with a B.S. in Linguistics.

Teachers get masters degrees in education. Comparing their earnings to people with masters in other subjects is going to be misleading. The problem is that the vast majority of people with a masters degree in education work in the school system (public or private), so it's really not an informative piece of information to argue schools are over or underpaying teachers based on the value of that degree.

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #72 on: June 12, 2017, 09:24:02 AM »
- I don't claim that my immediate superiors couldn't do my job; after all, all the principals and assistant principals were once classroom teachers, and even if they're out of practice, they know the score.  However, I'm not sure about the legislators who make the laws -- though they make laws that affect our children's lives and futures, many of them have not been in a classroom since they themselves were students.  No, it's not that they lack the ability ... it's that they don't pay enough attention to actually know what's going on in schools to know what needs to be done.  In all the years I've been teaching, no legislator has ever returned one of my letters, visited my school, or asked a single question.
This is SO true, and it gets worse the further you go up the government chain.  It bugs the heck out of me when I see or hear about regulations getting passed down from the federal or state legislatures that seem to ignore the realities of teaching in the classroom.  I have a relative that got her teaching certificate once all her kids were out of the house, and spent a few years teaching before getting fed up with it.  The state legislature kept passing regulations that literally made her job harder without accomplishing anything.

Of course, her local district did the same thing.  No money for classroom supplies, but they hired a bunch of "coaches" (read: 20-somethings with teaching degrees but no classroom experience) to observe and advise veteran teachers on what they were doing wrong.  Some of those veteran teachers (I presume with FU money) even refused to allow the coaches in the classroom, and the program died soon after :)

I saw a presentation once that illustrated how dramatically schooling (especially public schooling) has changed over the last 100 years, and how much more schools (and teachers) are expected to teach.  Once upon a time it was just the 3 R's.  Now it's social studies, music, art, sports, sex ed, home ec, shop class, economics, earth day, college prep, foreign languages, etc, etc.

nobody123

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 519
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #73 on: June 12, 2017, 11:41:07 AM »
nobody123: this degree/pay fallacy you describe: perhaps "fallacy" isn't the right word for it.

It is true that there are specific cases of people without much formal education who are paid very highly. In some cases, the high pay compensates them for attributes that are independent of education, such as entrepreneurial skill or great beauty.

It is also very easy to produce examples of people who get a specific degree that doesn't translate very much into earnings, because the kind of degree is not in high demand or because the person who acquired the degree made other choices to reduce his/her income.

But the correlation between education/training and income over our population is strong and well-documented. It's completely reasonable to argue that your pay should be compared to other people at the same education level.

I'll concede that in the aggregate, more education leads to more opportunities and a better chance at higher wages.  My point is that on an individual basis, earning a degree in itself doesn't guarantee a pay increase.  If I went and got a PhD in something, my current employer couldn't care less and wouldn't pay me a penny more unless I changed roles into one that required the PhD.  It is all about what skills someone brings to the table that meet the needs of a potential employer and their ability to market themselves so the employer views them as a fit.  If I go get a masters in underwater screen door repair, do I somehow deserve a job making $70K/year because that's what other masters earners in my locality make?  Of course not.  If that were true, I bet a lot of Starbucks baristas would be doing something more lucrative.

Teachers in Ohio are required (or were, the rules keep changing) to get their masters within X years of their underdraduate graduation to keep their license, and are required to do a certain amount of continuting education as well.  A masters is table stakes for the job, and shouldn't be looked at as anything special because any qualified teacher has it (or will get it soon).  Most teacher contracts around here have lane changes for bachelor's to master's to doctorate, so there is some financial reward for jumping through the hoops.  One can argue the pay bump doesn't adequately compensate the teacher for the cost (time & money) of the degree, but if that's the case that's a collective bargaining issue.

In reality, how much value does that masters in education provide the general public when it is earned by the elementary school physical education teacher?  Have there been great leaps forward in kickball in the past 20 years that are instrumental to the nation's future?  Unfortunately, we're forced to do a one-size-fits-all compensation program, because there is no good way to judge a teacher's "value add" in a 9 month school year (at least not one everyone can agree on).

FIT_Goat

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 114
  • Location: Florida
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #74 on: June 12, 2017, 01:09:41 PM »
American college students seem to now be aware of the fact that teaching is a really poor choice of employment in the 21st century because the percentage of college students studying education has dropped from 10% to 4% over the past decade. I guess that's just what happens when teachers get their pay cut and benefits slashed every year, while their responsibilities increase exponentially, PLUS they get the joy of being blamed by politicians and parents when kids decide not to bother doing their work. Yeah, not a very appetizing job, when you can just learn to code, design an app whose only feature is being able to send the word "Yo" to other people, and pocket a cool $1.2 million.

We get interns at my school fairly often.  I don't get assigned any.  It's not specifically because of my attitude towards the job; I lack a course that is required to have an intern.  But, I still talk with them fairly often.  They all ask for my "one piece of advice that I wish I had known before I started teaching."  I swear, I think they must be prepped with questions to ask teachers.  Without fail, I tell them all the same thing.  "I got the one piece of advice that I should have listened to, before I started teaching.  I was told the same thing that I am about to tell you.  Don't become a teacher.  You won't listen to that for the same, or similar, reason(s) I didn't.  You believe you are different and will be the one to make a change.  You believe it's too late to get a different career.  You really love teaching kids.  But, my advice remains the same.  Don't become a teacher.  Do something else."

They don't listen.  By the time someone is interning, they are usually in their last year or two.  They have already committed to working, unpaid, for weeks and weeks (the senior internship requires taking completely over a classroom for a semester without pay).  Once someone is in that deep, they won't turn around.

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #75 on: June 12, 2017, 06:28:28 PM »
American college students seem to now be aware of the fact that teaching is a really poor choice of employment in the 21st century because the percentage of college students studying education has dropped from 10% to 4% over the past decade.
To add another wrinkle to this, a generation ago -- maybe a generation and a half ago -- teaching was one of the few professional jobs available to women.  Today that's different, and it's showing in the number of people entering teaching. 

I can only base my judgement on what my sibling & in-laws (5 teachers spread across the state; 3 in special ed) tell me, and I'm in Ohio, so things may vary elsewhere.  I know my sibling's heath insurance has gone from fully-paid to having to contribute a whopping $72/month over the past decade. 
Likewise, I can only judge based upon my own paycheck, but I'm paying just over 15% of my gross salary to health insurance (for myself, my husband and our youngest child);  it's not a top of the line policy either.

Teachers get masters degrees in education. Comparing their earnings to people with masters in other subjects is going to be misleading. The problem is that the vast majority of people with a masters degree in education work in the school system (public or private), so it's really not an informative piece of information to argue schools are over or underpaying teachers based on the value of that degree.
Eh, not quite true.  Elementary school teachers have degrees in education.  Middle and high school teachers have degrees in their subject matter (i.e., English, history, math, or a specific scientific disciipline). 
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 06:31:00 PM by MrsPete »

maizefolk

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7400
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #76 on: June 12, 2017, 08:14:41 PM »
Teachers get masters degrees in education. Comparing their earnings to people with masters in other subjects is going to be misleading. The problem is that the vast majority of people with a masters degree in education work in the school system (public or private), so it's really not an informative piece of information to argue schools are over or underpaying teachers based on the value of that degree.
Eh, not quite true.  Elementary school teachers have degrees in education.  Middle and high school teachers have degrees in their subject matter (i.e., English, history, math, or a specific scientific disciipline).

For the bachelors in order to get the original position yes. For the pay raises a lot of districts give out for getting a masters or PhD, are history/math/science teachers getting masters/PhD degrees in their disciplinary area or in education? (I believed these were practically always in education, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so).

Rural

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5051
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #77 on: June 12, 2017, 08:31:51 PM »
Teachers get masters degrees in education. Comparing their earnings to people with masters in other subjects is going to be misleading. The problem is that the vast majority of people with a masters degree in education work in the school system (public or private), so it's really not an informative piece of information to argue schools are over or underpaying teachers based on the value of that degree.
Eh, not quite true.  Elementary school teachers have degrees in education.  Middle and high school teachers have degrees in their subject matter (i.e., English, history, math, or a specific scientific disciipline).

For the bachelors in order to get the original position yes. For the pay raises a lot of districts give out for getting a masters or PhD, are history/math/science teachers getting masters/PhD degrees in their disciplinary area or in education? (I believed these were practically always in education, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so).


They're practically always in education in most states, as are the original bachelor's degrees, even for high school teachers. In fact, it was very, very difficult for my husband (and me, briefly) to get permission to teach high school with advanced degrees in the content areas.


Which does not mean teachers are overpaid. It is just plain hard to make it on 32K in a city. But more content knowledge as well as more pay wouldn't hurt anything. You know, as long as we're fixing American education and all. :)

eddiejoe

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 26
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #78 on: June 13, 2017, 07:13:04 AM »
American college students seem to now be aware of the fact that teaching is a really poor choice of employment in the 21st century because the percentage of college students studying education has dropped from 10% to 4% over the past decade.
To add another wrinkle to this, a generation ago -- maybe a generation and a half ago -- teaching was one of the few professional jobs available to women.  Today that's different, and it's showing in the number of people entering teaching. 

This was the topic of a chapter in one of the Freakonomic books, I want to say it was Superfreakonomics. Their podcast also did an episode on education: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-americas-education-problem-really-just-a-teacher-problem-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

maizefolk

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7400
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #79 on: June 13, 2017, 07:33:46 AM »
They're practically always in education in most states, as are the original bachelor's degrees, even for high school teachers. In fact, it was very, very difficult for my husband (and me, briefly) to get permission to teach high school with advanced degrees in the content areas.

Which does not mean teachers are overpaid. It is just plain hard to make it on 32K in a city. But more content knowledge as well as more pay wouldn't hurt anything. You know, as long as we're fixing American education and all. :)

That is a good point, and it hits one confusing issue in these types of discussions right on the nose. There are actually two separate arguments: 1) current teachers are underpaid and we should pay the same people more, either as a matter of fairness, to grow the middle class, or because the quality of their teaching will increase if they are happier/less stressed about money 2) people with more subject matter expertise would give kids a different/better education, so we should pay those people more (and reduce the regulatory barriers to teaching with an advanced degree in the subject you'd be teaching) to get them to consider becoming teachers.

The problem is that the two arguments sound similar and are often confounded, but the two lead to very different sets of public policy changes.

Rural

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5051
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #80 on: June 13, 2017, 08:20:01 AM »
They're practically always in education in most states, as are the original bachelor's degrees, even for high school teachers. In fact, it was very, very difficult for my husband (and me, briefly) to get permission to teach high school with advanced degrees in the content areas.

Which does not mean teachers are overpaid. It is just plain hard to make it on 32K in a city. But more content knowledge as well as more pay wouldn't hurt anything. You know, as long as we're fixing American education and all. :)

That is a good point, and it hits one confusing issue in these types of discussions right on the nose. There are actually two separate arguments: 1) current teachers are underpaid and we should pay the same people more, either as a matter of fairness, to grow the middle class, or because the quality of their teaching will increase if they are happier/less stressed about money 2) people with more subject matter expertise would give kids a different/better education, so we should pay those people more (and reduce the regulatory barriers to teaching with an advanced degree in the subject you'd be teaching) to get them to consider becoming teachers.

The problem is that the two arguments sound similar and are often confounded, but the two lead to very different sets of public policy changes.


You're right. But I think it's even more complicated in that I think the two separate arguments apply most clearly at the high school level. I think there's a strong argument that elementary school teachers should be trained mostly in child development. (For middle school, I'm pretty sure the training should be in lion taming or similar ;) )

rockstache

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7270
  • Age: 11
  • Location: Southeast
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #81 on: June 13, 2017, 08:51:59 AM »
Sorry, but I've gotta agree with the above comments about teachers and the 9 month martyrdom/3 months of gloating thing.  I have quite a few teacher friends (IRL and on facebook) and around this time of year I start thinking about a career change.  I also have a high stress/high abuse job (from adult clients not students, most with mental health issues, it's unusual for a day to go by where I'm not cursed at), my education cost at least twice what theirs did, I also have high continuing education and license fee requirements, I make slightly more than the average teacher makes in my area and I work 12 months of the year with lots of unpaid overtime.  I got a text the other day from one person in my Friday night game night crew giving a heads up that she and her husband (both teachers) won't be able to attend game night for the foreseeable future because they're off traveling for four weeks.  My job gives two weeks vacation on top of all the above crap and the market is so bad there's literally nothing else available at my experience level (I look every day).  So yeah, it's hard to feel sorry teachers.

It sounds like you have a terrible job and need a new one. I am really sorry that you have to deal with that. Teaching might not be so bad compared to what you have, but that's because what you have is abusive, not because teaching is such a great gig.

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #82 on: June 16, 2017, 08:42:44 PM »
For the bachelors in order to get the original position yes. For the pay raises a lot of districts give out for getting a masters or PhD, are history/math/science teachers getting masters/PhD degrees in their disciplinary area or in education? (I believed these were practically always in education, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so).
In high school, it's about 50-50 ... of the teachers who have a masters, half tend to earn that degree in their subject (English, math, science), and the other half go for degrees in Administration, Speech Pathology, Special Ed, or Library Science ... the obvious point being to stay in education but leave the classroom. 

Since my state does not pay for advanced degrees, no one really has a PhD.  Literally, I've only had one teacher co-worker who had a PhD.  I've known fewer than ten PhDs in Administration and other non-classroom positions. 

clarkfan1979

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3352
  • Age: 44
  • Location: Pueblo West, CO
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #83 on: June 24, 2017, 10:28:02 AM »
For the bachelors in order to get the original position yes. For the pay raises a lot of districts give out for getting a masters or PhD, are history/math/science teachers getting masters/PhD degrees in their disciplinary area or in education? (I believed these were practically always in education, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so).
In high school, it's about 50-50 ... of the teachers who have a masters, half tend to earn that degree in their subject (English, math, science), and the other half go for degrees in Administration, Speech Pathology, Special Ed, or Library Science ... the obvious point being to stay in education but leave the classroom. 

Since my state does not pay for advanced degrees, no one really has a PhD.  Literally, I've only had one teacher co-worker who had a PhD.  I've known fewer than ten PhDs in Administration and other non-classroom positions.

For advanced degrees in high school administration, the most popular degree is the Ed.D., not the Ph.D.

I am a full-time tenure track college instructor. My first school gave us the option to get paid over 9 months or 12 months. In my second job, we don't have a choice. We get paid over 12 months.

Acastus

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 397
  • Age: 62
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #84 on: June 24, 2017, 12:12:42 PM »
Teachers here in NY state have the option to get paid over 9 months, or the full 12 months. If you don't have a summer gig, obviously take the full year schedule.

maizefolk

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7400
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #85 on: June 24, 2017, 12:22:06 PM »
For the bachelors in order to get the original position yes. For the pay raises a lot of districts give out for getting a masters or PhD, are history/math/science teachers getting masters/PhD degrees in their disciplinary area or in education? (I believed these were practically always in education, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so).
In high school, it's about 50-50 ... of the teachers who have a masters, half tend to earn that degree in their subject (English, math, science), and the other half go for degrees in Administration, Speech Pathology, Special Ed, or Library Science ... the obvious point being to stay in education but leave the classroom. 

Since my state does not pay for advanced degrees, no one really has a PhD.  Literally, I've only had one teacher co-worker who had a PhD.  I've known fewer than ten PhDs in Administration and other non-classroom positions.

For advanced degrees in high school administration, the most popular degree is the Ed.D., not the Ph.D.

I am a full-time tenure track college instructor. My first school gave us the option to get paid over 9 months or 12 months. In my second job, we don't have a choice. We get paid over 12 months.

Thank you both for the follow up! I had only a vague recollection of some of the school districts I've interacted with having fixed pay bumps for having "a masters" or "a doctorate" which drove folks to get these (often very slowly taking only one or two courses a year) so it's good to hear from those with first hand knowledge.

TomTX

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5345
  • Location: Texas
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #86 on: June 24, 2017, 02:19:31 PM »
I saw a presentation once that illustrated how dramatically schooling (especially public schooling) has changed over the last 100 years, and how much more schools (and teachers) are expected to teach.  Once upon a time it was just the 3 R's.  Now it's social studies, music, art, sports, sex ed, home ec, shop class, economics, earth day, college prep, foreign languages, etc, etc.

We had all that stuff in my high school 30 years ago (and "home ec" had 4+ semesters just on cooking, as did wood shop and auto shop, photography, art, etc)

My local high school is highly rated for Texas, but doesn't have an auto shop. Or wood shop. Or much in the way of home ec.

aceyou

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1669
  • Age: 40
    • Life is Good - Aceyou's Journal
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #87 on: June 25, 2017, 07:40:49 AM »
As a group, teachers seem below the bellcurve with financial literacy. I'm not sure why that should be; it's counter-intuitive, but I've heard more than enough stories by now to be certain of it.
I'm in Canada, where teachers are both very well compensated and fairly well insulated from the realities of the private labour market. Perhaps the all the goodies - excellent benefits, defined benefits pension, exceptional time off - has jaded them somewhat to the need to be aware of finances. Perhaps its something else.  I do know that here every teacher can elect to be paid their salary over the summer, so there is no need for cash-loan scams.

I wonder if this is really true (disclaimer, I'm a teacher so I have a bias).  The Millionaire Next Door book data found that teachers were "over accumulators of wealth" compared to the rest of society.  They tended to not feel the need for as expensive wardrobes or status cars as many other professions, also he found that they leaned conservative on the area of personal finance. 

In Michigan where I teach, you have to put 7-10% of every paycheck towards your retirement, so our forced savings alone is above the national savings rate.  And anyone who puts ANYTHING into a 403 or 457 is putting way more away than the national average.  Because teachers as a group don't switch jobs much, we tend to work in one spot, so most of us own a home, and any principal on that payment also goes right towards savings.  With all those things put together, I think it's pretty normal for a teacher in Michigan to have a savings rate around 15%, without doing anything to be hard core like we do here.  I bet that's pretty true for most other areas as well.  A savings rate like that is nothing special, but it's not enough to put teachers "below the bellcurve". 





Paul der Krake

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5854
  • Age: 16
  • Location: UTC-10:00
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #88 on: June 25, 2017, 09:09:44 AM »
Teachers here in NY state have the option to get paid over 9 months, or the full 12 months. If you don't have a summer gig, obviously take the full year schedule.
Assuming they have their financial house in order, wouldn't it be better to have their pay frontloaded?

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #89 on: June 25, 2017, 09:58:21 AM »
I saw a presentation once that illustrated how dramatically schooling (especially public schooling) has changed over the last 100 years, and how much more schools (and teachers) are expected to teach.  Once upon a time it was just the 3 R's.  Now it's social studies, music, art, sports, sex ed, home ec, shop class, economics, earth day, college prep, foreign languages, etc, etc.

We had all that stuff in my high school 30 years ago (and "home ec" had 4+ semesters just on cooking, as did wood shop and auto shop, photography, art, etc)

My local high school is highly rated for Texas, but doesn't have an auto shop. Or wood shop. Or much in the way of home ec.
I'd like to see that presentation; was it something online? 

Beyond classroom studies, don't miss everything else that schools provide (particularly for the poorer kids):  Transportation, Breakfast and lunch, medical care ranging from a visit to the school nurse to eye care and dental care (only for the poorest of the poor) and access to free clothing at back-to-school time. 

From the teacher's point of view, our job has changed significantly in the time I've been involved ... and it bears no resemblance to my grandmother's description of walking two miles to attend a one-room school house.  Today I easily do twice as much work as I did when I was new to the profession:  Larger classes make a big difference, a larger percentage of special ed students, and the implementation of technology in the classroom (and that means two things -- we're teaching the kids to use technology AND we're users of technology ourselves -- using technology in lessons, maintaining webpages, sharing grades with parents electronically). 

I wonder if this is really true (disclaimer, I'm a teacher so I have a bias).  The Millionaire Next Door book data found that teachers were "over accumulators of wealth" compared to the rest of society.  They tended to not feel the need for as expensive wardrobes or status cars as many other professions, also he found that they leaned conservative on the area of personal finance. 
I fit the above description.  My wardrobe is small, and I don't care.  I drive an economy car.  And we are "forced to save" in a couple ways that other professions aren't:  10% of my paycheck automatically goes into the pension fund every month.  I have 26 minutes for lunch and am not allowed to leave campus, so even if I wanted to go out and spend $10 on lunch every day, I couldn't. 

I think you're describing the teacher who stays long-term and really fits the profession (as opposed to the teachers who stay only a year or two).  I think we're about 50% of the teaching population. 

Assuming they have their financial house in order, wouldn't it be better to have their pay frontloaded?
Definitely, but that's easier for us older teachers, harder for the straight-out-of-college teachers who don't yet have a handle on managing their money.  It's also easier for teachers who are married to non-teachers (meaning that a paycheck of some type is still coming in during the summer). 




zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5603
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #90 on: June 26, 2017, 08:51:49 AM »
I saw a presentation once that illustrated how dramatically schooling (especially public schooling) has changed over the last 100 years, and how much more schools (and teachers) are expected to teach.  Once upon a time it was just the 3 R's.  Now it's social studies, music, art, sports, sex ed, home ec, shop class, economics, earth day, college prep, foreign languages, etc, etc.

We had all that stuff in my high school 30 years ago (and "home ec" had 4+ semesters just on cooking, as did wood shop and auto shop, photography, art, etc)

My local high school is highly rated for Texas, but doesn't have an auto shop. Or wood shop. Or much in the way of home ec.
I'd like to see that presentation; was it something online? 
I asked my source, and he sent me a copy, which I've posted here.  I'm not saying it's a great presentation, but the gist of it is spot-on.

Acastus

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 397
  • Age: 62
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #91 on: June 26, 2017, 02:51:48 PM »
Teachers here in NY state have the option to get paid over 9 months, or the full 12 months. If you don't have a summer gig, obviously take the full year schedule.
Assuming they have their financial house in order, wouldn't it be better to have their pay frontloaded?
If people can be unemotional spenders, I think getting your pay upfront will work. Many people will not save for the summer, and it will better for them to spread out the payments. It is probably easier to budget constant income each month, rather than variable pay.

talltexan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5344
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #92 on: June 27, 2017, 09:08:45 AM »
I saw a presentation once that illustrated how dramatically schooling (especially public schooling) has changed over the last 100 years, and how much more schools (and teachers) are expected to teach.  Once upon a time it was just the 3 R's.  Now it's social studies, music, art, sports, sex ed, home ec, shop class, economics, earth day, college prep, foreign languages, etc, etc.

We had all that stuff in my high school 30 years ago (and "home ec" had 4+ semesters just on cooking, as did wood shop and auto shop, photography, art, etc)

My local high school is highly rated for Texas, but doesn't have an auto shop. Or wood shop. Or much in the way of home ec.
I'd like to see that presentation; was it something online? 

Beyond classroom studies, don't miss everything else that schools provide (particularly for the poorer kids):  Transportation, Breakfast and lunch, medical care ranging from a visit to the school nurse to eye care and dental care (only for the poorest of the poor) and access to free clothing at back-to-school time. 

From the teacher's point of view, our job has changed significantly in the time I've been involved ... and it bears no resemblance to my grandmother's description of walking two miles to attend a one-room school house.  Today I easily do twice as much work as I did when I was new to the profession:  Larger classes make a big difference, a larger percentage of special ed students, and the implementation of technology in the classroom (and that means two things -- we're teaching the kids to use technology AND we're users of technology ourselves -- using technology in lessons, maintaining webpages, sharing grades with parents electronically). 

I wonder if this is really true (disclaimer, I'm a teacher so I have a bias).  The Millionaire Next Door book data found that teachers were "over accumulators of wealth" compared to the rest of society.  They tended to not feel the need for as expensive wardrobes or status cars as many other professions, also he found that they leaned conservative on the area of personal finance. 
I fit the above description.  My wardrobe is small, and I don't care.  I drive an economy car.  And we are "forced to save" in a couple ways that other professions aren't:  10% of my paycheck automatically goes into the pension fund every month.  I have 26 minutes for lunch and am not allowed to leave campus, so even if I wanted to go out and spend $10 on lunch every day, I couldn't. 

I think you're describing the teacher who stays long-term and really fits the profession (as opposed to the teachers who stay only a year or two).  I think we're about 50% of the teaching population. 

Assuming they have their financial house in order, wouldn't it be better to have their pay frontloaded?
Definitely, but that's easier for us older teachers, harder for the straight-out-of-college teachers who don't yet have a handle on managing their money.  It's also easier for teachers who are married to non-teachers (meaning that a paycheck of some type is still coming in during the summer).

I think marrying a teacher is really smart for most people. You have a spouse with a skillset that can be taken to anywhere in the country when you move for that amazing opportunity. It's like you're a stock, marrying a bond.

Saskatchewstachian

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 203
  • Age: 33
  • Location: SK
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #93 on: June 27, 2017, 10:12:34 AM »

I think marrying a teacher is really smart for most people. You have a spouse with a skillset that can be taken to anywhere in the country when you move for that amazing opportunity. It's like you're a stock, marrying a bond.

Love that analogy and I think it applies to a few other professions as well. Nursing would be one. I am in a highly cyclical industry but DW is an RN employed by government health care. Mine is a high upside high risk (stock) career whereas her's is very much a reliable/secure career with predetermined upside (bond).

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #94 on: June 28, 2017, 09:18:57 AM »
I'd like to see that presentation; was it something online?
I asked my source, and he sent me a copy, which I've posted here.  I'm not saying it's a great presentation, but the gist of it is spot-on.
Thanks for sharing that!  You're right that it's spot-on ... and i could add more to the list of things the school system provides! 

I think marrying a teacher is really smart for most people. You have a spouse with a skillset that can be taken to anywhere in the country when you move for that amazing opportunity. It's like you're a stock, marrying a bond.
I have to disagree with you -- and it's one of those things that people outside of education don't realize is "a thing" -- I didn't realize it until I was actually in the job: Teachers are solidly tied to one state.  Or, we are tied to working in one state; living just across a state line could work perfectly well. 

We are state employees, and we are in the state employee pension system.  If we leave the state, our pension does not follow us.  A new state will pay a teacher for experience in another state (for example, the new state might start you at the 10th year pay scale step, but your pension in that new state starts all over again).  It is impossible to bring your pension with you to a new state, which is one of the reasons pension are double-edged swords.  Teaching is a low paying job with the promise of a modestly comfortable pension at the end of service ... and the way to "max out" this benefit is to work for the same state for 30 years ... no teacher wants five tiny pensions from five different states; it doesn't add up to nearly as much as one solid pension check from one state. 

Also, we are licensed by the state.  So if I leave my state and go to another, I must apply for licensure in that new state.  Most states are reciprocal and only expect money for the license ... but some states require that the teacher take classes before issuing the license. 

Another thing that makes it tough for a teacher to move:  The vast majority of teacher jobs are only available at back-to-school time.  A school's fiscal year runs July 1 - July 1 ... so most new teachers are hired between July 1 and the first day of school in August.  Miss that 6-week timeframe, and you're probably waiting a year for a job.  Oh, you can substitute teach, and you might be lucky enough to fill in for a maternity leave or finish the year for a teacher who's retiring or who became ill ... but the chances are good that if you're not employed on the first day of school, you probably won't find full-time employment that year. 

Teaching really is a unique job that doesn't compare to other occupations -- in some ways great, in other ways not so great.  And people outside the profession don't realize all these details.

I do like your analogy about stocks and bonds.  That's why my husband and I've been a solid financial team:  Our jobs have opposite "strengths" -- we balance each other out, and we're a stronger team because of it.  And, as a teacher, one of the biggest positives has been that I've been home in the summer with the kids /been home in the afternoon with the kids. 

Love that analogy and I think it applies to a few other professions as well. Nursing would be one. I am in a highly cyclical industry but DW is an RN employed by government health care. Mine is a high upside high risk (stock) career whereas her's is very much a reliable/secure career with predetermined upside (bond).
Yes, RNs are more "portable" in that their skillset is needed everywhere, and their job is in great demand everywhere. 
« Last Edit: June 28, 2017, 09:29:04 AM by MrsPete »

shanghaiMMM

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 189
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #95 on: June 28, 2017, 09:29:07 PM »
Interesting and a little odd you're tied so much to one state.

The analogy definitely fits for teachers who work internationally. After Shanghai, I've had colleagues move to Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Vienna, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City... you get the picture. So if you are willing to leave the country, you can indeed be very flexible!

MrsPete

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3505
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #96 on: June 29, 2017, 09:40:21 AM »
Interesting and a little odd you're tied so much to one state.

The analogy definitely fits for teachers who work internationally. After Shanghai, I've had colleagues move to Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Vienna, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City... you get the picture. So if you are willing to leave the country, you can indeed be very flexible!
Well, you can be very flexible IF you're willing to work a couple years and not contribute to your pension.  My salary + my pension is worth my effort ... but I wouldn't do this job for the salary alone.  Yeah, the jobs are out there -- no question about that. 

In my experience, the teachers who opt to teach internationally fall into a couple categories:  Young teachers who can't find jobs here in America ... young teachers who want to travel/experience another culture and see this as a way to do it ... teachers whose spouses have job opportunities in other countries. 

There's at least one organization that helps teachers find "exchange jobs"; our county uses Visiting International Faculty.  We've had some great visiting teachers.  They tend to stay here two years. 

Paul der Krake

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5854
  • Age: 16
  • Location: UTC-10:00
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #97 on: June 29, 2017, 09:45:52 AM »
Interesting and a little odd you're tied so much to one state.

The analogy definitely fits for teachers who work internationally. After Shanghai, I've had colleagues move to Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Vienna, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City... you get the picture. So if you are willing to leave the country, you can indeed be very flexible!
Well, you can be very flexible IF you're willing to work a couple years and not contribute to your pension.  My salary + my pension is worth my effort ... but I wouldn't do this job for the salary alone.  Yeah, the jobs are out there -- no question about that. 
Assuming you had started your career with all the financial knowledge you have today, do you think you could have secured a better retirement if you had been allowed to opt out of the pension and contribute the same amount of money in a tax-advantaged account instead?

Where do you think the tenure breakeven point lies, one way or the other?

teen persuasion

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1226
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #98 on: June 30, 2017, 12:01:39 PM »
Teachers here in NY state have the option to get paid over 9 months, or the full 12 months. If you don't have a summer gig, obviously take the full year schedule.
Not all teachers in NY, though.  DH taught at an alternative school.  When he began teaching there they paid school staff 26x a year (there are other staff that does work year-round).  After a few years they changed their fiscal year to begin July 1, and with that change teachers were switched to 21 biweekly paychecks.  The first new paycheck wouldn't appear until 3 weeks after school began (2 weeks work + one week delay), and that gap threw many into a panic.  Eventually the employer cut an early paycheck for all, with the understanding that they were receiving their last check in advance.  By the end of the school year, most had forgotten, and were counting on one more paycheck.  Not pretty.

There was something demoralizing about the shift, they were treated more like hourly than salary, so it wasn't nice when the end of the school year arrived and you learned you'd already received 21 paychecks and couldn't expect one that actually included your last week worked.  Or that summer break was actually 11 weeks instead of 10 due to a weird confluence of early/late Labor days over two years, so your new pay schedule began a week later.  And the agency had a tiered health insurance pay scheme based on paycheck*26, not actual salary.

Missy B

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 607
Re: Summer is Coming, Can You Hear the Teachers Panic?
« Reply #99 on: June 30, 2017, 05:20:17 PM »
As a group, teachers seem below the bellcurve with financial literacy. I'm not sure why that should be; it's counter-intuitive, but I've heard more than enough stories by now to be certain of it.
I'm in Canada, where teachers are both very well compensated and fairly well insulated from the realities of the private labour market. Perhaps the all the goodies - excellent benefits, defined benefits pension, exceptional time off - has jaded them somewhat to the need to be aware of finances. Perhaps its something else.

I do know that here every teacher can elect to be paid their salary over the summer, so there is no need for cash-loan scams.


I'm in Canada too, and both of my parents are teachers. I assume you're talking about modern teachers, or teachers somewhere else, because here our teachers (in the province) didn't get health/dental insurance until I was grown up and moved out, and defined pension plans went the way of the dodo back around 1980. The 'exceptional time off' is, of course, unpaid, and only recently have there been programs that will pay out over the 12 months - teachers had to do it themselves before that.  I do agree, however, that they seem to be generally below the bell curve on financial literacy, but I don't think their benefits are the reason. I think possibly it's because so many of them are idealists (I've observed that teaching attracts a particular kind of person - just generally, not every single one of them).

I'm talking about modern day BC teachers. I have several in my family. They have DB pensions and health benefits that, in private industry, you would have to be upper management in a very large company to expect to receive. If at all.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!