Unpopular opinion: DCPS teachers are super well paid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

[Anonymous]

You should be happy that your school retains experienced teachers! Most students in DCPS don’t have that opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

A 20 year teacher with a masters makes 112. https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

I don't think I can put into words how maddening this thread is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t disagree with you, and I’m a teacher. But one misunderstanding is that the “price” of a teacher in the budget is not our salary. It’s the average total cost (benefits too) for all teachers.

Correct. The budget cost in our school budget allocations are NOT the salaries of employees. Teachers and staff are public employees. One can easily look up their actual salary to confirm that the budget cost number is not the salary.

From an old budget guide, "We use an average salary to ensure we properly budget for costs associated with teachers including base salary, benefits, performance-based pay and bonuses as well as buyouts or extra year placement costs that DCPS incurs. We also include costs related to substitute teachers and fingerprinting/drug testing into the average. More importantly, we use an average salary to ensure that we do not discriminate against more experienced teachers in the school budget development process."

A first year teacher with a bachelor's makes 63K. That teacher in a school budget is shown at a much higher "total cost" of 133,000 (the average salary PLUS all of the benefits and other costs mentioned above).

Even if you consider 63K high for someone just out of college keep in mind that the estimated salary for affording a studio/small 1 bedroom in DC at 2,500 a month is about 90K.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are still underpaid. The work they do is invaluable to society, which would fall apart without them. A good teacher can change the trajectory of a child’s entire life. We should pay teachers more to not only compensate them for the important work they do but also to encourage bright students to continue entering the profession. As it is, many wonderful teachers are leaving.

If you don’t want to give a gift card at Christmas, don’t. But that is unrelated to the salary that teachers deserve.

[Anonymous]

How much would you want to be paid to do their job? How would you feel if your salary was public and someone questioned your worth on an open forum?Check yourself and your entitlement please.

[Anonymous]

I have no problem paying them good salaries but we need year round school. Bigger breaks between quarters are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much would you want to be paid to do their job? How would you feel if your salary was public and someone questioned your worth on an open forum?Check yourself and your entitlement please.

Every single fed’s salary (other than IC and DOD) is public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can see the max salary of a 10 month teacher is $131k. I’m not sure most teachers are on the PhD scale.

Also, what 3 months don’t teachers work? 😂

FWIW, it's 121, not 131

I’m assuming you’re finding that on FY2021. If you scroll almost all the way down to FY2023 you’ll see last year’s salary.

Which also happens to be this year’s salary because there’s no contract for this year. DCPS came to the table but only sent a lawyer and now wants to do negotiations at 5 am. Which means that these budgets for FY2025 won’t even accurately represent salaries.

[Anonymous]

Someone really had to go on here tonight and sh**t on teacher salaries for reasons unknown

[Anonymous]

My sister is a DC teacher. Her price on the public docs is higher than her pay. But she does well - $105 plus pension. She moved from Fairfax to DC because of the pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can see the max salary of a 10 month teacher is $131k. I’m not sure most teachers are on the PhD scale.

Also, what 3 months don’t teachers work? 😂

FWIW, it's 121, not 131

I’m assuming you’re finding that on FY2021. If you scroll almost all the way down to FY2023 you’ll see last year’s salary.

Which also happens to be this year’s salary because there’s no contract for this year. DCPS came to the table but only sent a lawyer and now wants to do negotiations at 5 am. Which means that these budgets for FY2025 won’t even accurately represent salaries.

Good catch you're right. And yeah, the disrespect from DCPS and DCUM never ends. I can't even doom scroll at night after a terrible LSAT meeting without some 1/2 bottle parent coming in telling us we're overpaid and should work summers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

A 20 year teacher with a masters makes 112. https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

I don't think I can put into words how maddening this thread is

Make sure you scroll down to FY2023. It’s now $124k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

A 20 year teacher with a masters makes 112. https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

I don't think I can put into words how maddening this thread is

Yep— the entire premise of this thread is just flat out wrong.

Also, regardless of what a teacher makes, we give small gifts and cards to show gratitude to them. Not to “pay them back” for a low salary. (As if a few $10 Starbucks cards could do that anyway.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.


This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

My SIL is an elementary school teacher in Suffolk County, Long Island. She makes $140k+ and has a golden pension.