Unpopular opinion: DCPS teachers are super well paid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that many people would not choose to work in DCPS without the high pay.

This is absolutely the only reason I’m still in DCPS. I interviewed elsewhere and they wouldn’t come close to matching my salary so here I am. My school currently has a classroom teacher vacancy because there’s no one to pay $130k to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that many people would not choose to work in DCPS without the high pay.

This is absolutely the only reason I’m still in DCPS. I interviewed elsewhere and they wouldn’t come close to matching my salary so here I am. My school currently has a classroom teacher vacancy because there’s no one to pay $130k to be there.

+1000

Salaries have to attract teachers. Most parents on this site have no idea what goes on in some schools. Even with these salaries there are vacant positions at many schools and lots of teachers leave each year.

[Anonymous]

Budget allocation includes around 27% on top of actual salary. So the salary the teacher actually sees is around $100k. Not bad for teaching, but DC needs higher salaries to keep teachers from fleeing to surrounding school districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is unpopular to consider salaries without considering cost of living. Unpopular because it's dumb and/or disingenuous.

OP here. cost of living is not a factor here because I am comparing to people living in the same area. I make similar salaries as teacher in DC and I actually live in DC. I have 3 weeks of vacation and no pension. But I am expected to hand gift cards to teachers 3-4 times a year, plus volunteer for all kind of events, donate to the PTO and help with all kind of classroom requests.

Don’t get me wrong, I think teachers deserve their salaries but all the extra parents are expected to do is a bit over the top!

I don't do the "extra" stuff like gift cards for holidays because I'm trying to compensate for teachers' perceived low salaries. I give gifts to show my genuine appreciation for the people who are taking care of and educating my children for the majority of the day.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Every teacher my child has had in our DCPS makes more than my DH does (he works for state government as a civil engineer). I make only a bit more as a public interest attorney. It doesn't make us bitter-- I'm glad they are well paid. But no we do not spend tons of money on gifts. I am very grateful to them for what they do for our child, but I don't view them as underpaid or feel like I owe them extra.

[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

My relative has less experience works in DCPS and makes more than $112k a year (according to her and another relative who looked up her salary because they could not believe what she said). She has been at DCPS less than 10 years. She brags about her 6 figure salary, not having to do lesson plans and talks about how her school underperforms. She lives in DC because she says she gets extra $ for living and working in DC. She also definitely gets months off in the summer. She told family she would never send her own children to her school. She got them into a very nice charter.

I would NEVER keep my job if I underperformed, yet some students can't read or do math and yet the teachers and administrators stay. My relative coasts and knows she can because she has a forever job, can retire pretty young with a giant pension paid for by the taxpayer until she dies. It is not sustainable.

I want good, great, and excellent teachers to be paid a lot more, but I think we need to get rid of the pensions and switch over to 401s. I also think bad and mediocre teachers should leave like how any underperforming employee would go through a process to be let go. When they retire in their mid 50s with a 6 figure pension and live until they are 80s-100s, the taxpayer can't pay for that, it isn't sustainable, especially when many of the schools in DCPS are not very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

My relative has less experience works in DCPS and makes more than $112k a year (according to her and another relative who looked up her salary because they could not believe what she said). She has been at DCPS less than 10 years. She brags about her 6 figure salary, not having to do lesson plans and talks about how her school underperforms. She lives in DC because she says she gets extra $ for living and working in DC. She also definitely gets months off in the summer. She told family she would never send her own children to her school. She got them into a very nice charter.

I would NEVER keep my job if I underperformed, yet some students can't read or do math and yet the teachers and administrators stay. My relative coasts and knows she can because she has a forever job, can retire pretty young with a giant pension paid for by the taxpayer until she dies. It is not sustainable.

I want good, great, and excellent teachers to be paid a lot more, but I think we need to get rid of the pensions and switch over to 401s. I also think bad and mediocre teachers should leave like how any underperforming employee would go through a process to be let go. When they retire in their mid 50s with a 6 figure pension and live until they are 80s-100s, the taxpayer can't pay for that, it isn't sustainable, especially when many of the schools in DCPS are not very good.

You don’t get extra pay from DCPS for living in DC.

If she’s getting two whole months off she doesn’t work for DCPS.

There is a process to be let go. It just doesn’t only let go of the bad teachers.

Most teachers won’t be retiring in their mid 50s.

If a 55 year old teacher with 30 years of experience and making $141k retired they would get about $82k a year.

[Anonymous]

There are public high schools in DC where less than 5% of kids operate at grade level and in some subject, no kid operates at grade level. The teachers at these schools have only decades of failure to show for their time there. And yet they get paid $120k+ and even get raises. Take a geometry teacher who has worked at a school for a decade during which time not one student was proficient in geometry. She would have made close to a million dollars, w/o teaching any student anything. These teachers have essentially made careers out of stealing money from DC taxpayers.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher who feels adequately compensated.

Yesterday I fixed a toilet, picked up trash outside of my school, swept my classroom, provided my own paper and toner, ran a club during my lunch ‘break,’ contacted 15 parents, graded 100+ papers, and taught the children.

My school does not have enough teachers and for several years in a row multiple teachers have had to absorb kids from other groups.

We could be paid less if DC punished children more. The only thing keeping me in a place where I’ve been punched is $$.

[Anonymous]

Okay now break it down by hours. Lesson planning; research; professional development. They see our kids from 8:45 to 3:15 and work longer than that.

DCPS does pretty well by compensation standards. For what they have to do, expected to do - every single person in the building should get double pay.

DC does some other solids for teachers like reduced mortgage rates etc.

Please remember teaching K-12 is a female dominated profession and was only to be a profession until women got married. Women were not supposed to support a family of 4 on their salary so salaries for similar educated professions skews lower than where it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are public high schools in DC where less than 5% of kids operate at grade level and in some subject, no kid operates at grade level. The teachers at these schools have only decades of failure to show for their time there. And yet they get paid $120k+ and even get raises. Take a geometry teacher who has worked at a school for a decade during which time not one student was proficient in geometry. She would have made close to a million dollars, w/o teaching any student anything. These teachers have essentially made careers out of stealing money from DC taxpayers.

Troll much or are you not that bright.

Teachers don't get a blank slate of students and impart their wisdom. The student they get has how many years of absences, no parental support, hunger (yes even kids running around etc go hungry - they shouldn't; the city does a lot to stop this but delinquent parents).

The best teacher in the world CANNOT fix every single problem a child has faced when presented to them. You have to meet kids where they are.

BTW there has been a drug epidemic in this city and others; when bubba can't say no to fentyanl its a national crisis right but when riri was addicted to crack that was his weak character.

[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!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

[Anonymous]

I think many people assume teachers are underpaid and therefore learning many teachers in DC make $100k+ is surprising. That's a healthy salary. The trolls criticizing teachers on this thread are jerks -- teaching is hard generally but anyone with experience with DCPS schools likely understands that teaching here is particularly challenging. I don't think 100k is too much and in many cases it's likely a bargain for the value provided. I agree that it's ridiculous to assess teachers by student performance in a district where 50% of students are at risk, dealing with poverty, food insecurity, housing insecurity, violence in their home or community, etc.

I think, rather, the point here is that in DC teachers are skilled professionals making a decent salary for a difficult job, and are not to be pitied or condescended to. Most DCPS teachers could get jobs in "easier" districts with fewer at risk children. They would take a pay cut to do so. Some stay for the money, some because they genuinely wish to make a difference, and most for both reasons.

[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!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who feels adequately compensated.

Yesterday I fixed a toilet, picked up trash outside of my school, swept my classroom, provided my own paper and toner, ran a club during my lunch ‘break,’ contacted 15 parents, graded 100+ papers, and taught the children.

My school does not have enough teachers and for several years in a row multiple teachers have had to absorb kids from other groups.

We could be paid less if DC punished children more. The only thing keeping me in a place where I’ve been punched is $$.

+1 Fellow teacher who "fixes" the toilet daily, buys most of my own supplies, has been hit by children, gotten lice from comforting them, and is home sick today from contacting their viruses.