NOVA Teacher Salaries

[Anonymous]

I work for Aps. Masters plus 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I make 82k as a 10th year teacher which is perfectly fine with me. About half of my friends make more than me but obviously they are working 12 months and much longer hours. I also always find odd jobs in the summer when I feel like making extra money but I’m very comfortable with my salary. Too many teachers complain in my opinion.

Is that masters, PhD, or bachelors?

Are you in LCPS, FCPS, FCCPS, APS, PWCPS?

Interesting. I’m a 10th year FCPS teacher making $73k. Are you in Arlington? I know FCPS is lowest of the region for mid career teachers.

Oh, and that’s with my masters. I was a career switcher.

Weren’t there a couple of years in the last 10 without a step increase?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 82k as a 10th year teacher which is perfectly fine with me. About half of my friends make more than me but obviously they are working 12 months and much longer hours. I also always find odd jobs in the summer when I feel like making extra money but I’m very comfortable with my salary. Too many teachers complain in my opinion.

Is that masters, PhD, or bachelors?

Are you in LCPS, FCPS, FCCPS, APS, PWCPS?

Interesting. I’m a 10th year FCPS teacher making $73k. Are you in Arlington? I know FCPS is lowest of the region for mid career teachers.

Oh, and that’s with my masters. I was a career switcher.

Weren’t there a couple of years in the last 10 without a step increase?

Yes, there were in the past 10-15 years in FCPS. That’s not unusual with schools though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 82k as a 10th year teacher which is perfectly fine with me. About half of my friends make more than me but obviously they are working 12 months and much longer hours. I also always find odd jobs in the summer when I feel like making extra money but I’m very comfortable with my salary. Too many teachers complain in my opinion.

Is that masters, PhD, or bachelors?

Are you in LCPS, FCPS, FCCPS, APS, PWCPS?

Interesting. I’m a 10th year FCPS teacher making $73k. Are you in Arlington? I know FCPS is lowest of the region for mid career teachers.

Oh, and that’s with my masters. I was a career switcher.

Weren’t there a couple of years in the last 10 without a step increase?

Yes, there were in the past 10-15 years in FCPS. That’s not unusual with schools though.

That’s why I’m surprised that someone with 10 years in APS would be on the 10th step.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The obsession with teachers is insane. Honestly, give it a rest.

I agree. They should stop complaining! Work a full year like the rest of us. Oh, and we will need you to show up on minor holidays, too.

I work in healthcare and work every holiday, even Thanksgiving and Christmas (alternating each year).

And does anyone ever give you crap or call you a princess because in healthcare you can work just three days a week! Sure it’s a 12 hour shift but teachers working 12 hour days isn’t uncommon. You healthcare professionals should really stop complaining about having to work holidays. You literally signed up for that! You knew hospitals don’t close for holidays. Maybe you should have made better choices yourself. But at least you could apply to work just 36 hours a week, only three days, and I know healthcare workers who will crunch their 4 days off together so that they can travel. You should really give it a rest hunny and stop blaming us for your poor career choice. You did sign up for that after all...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The obsession with teachers is insane. Honestly, give it a rest.

I agree. They should stop complaining! Work a full year like the rest of us. Oh, and we will need you to show up on minor holidays, too.

I work in healthcare and work every holiday, even Thanksgiving and Christmas (alternating each year).

And does anyone ever give you crap or call you a princess because in healthcare you can work just three days a week! Sure it’s a 12 hour shift but teachers working 12 hour days isn’t uncommon. You healthcare professionals should really stop complaining about having to work holidays. You literally signed up for that! You knew hospitals don’t close for holidays. Maybe you should have made better choices yourself. But at least you could apply to work just 36 hours a week, only three days, and I know healthcare workers who will crunch their 4 days off together so that they can travel. You should really give it a rest hunny and stop blaming us for your poor career choice. You did sign up for that after all...

Oh and babycakes! Maybe if you’re oh so jealous of teachers you should become one and then you’ll get those silly holidays off! There might be grading to do but you can do it from your pjs bc teachers are oh so lazy, right?! It’s not hard to get a teaching license in Virginia. Go ahead and quit that sweet healthcare gig and get your license and become a teacher! Sign up for those holidays off. Go get em babycakes!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The obsession with teachers is insane. Honestly, give it a rest.

I agree. They should stop complaining! Work a full year like the rest of us. Oh, and we will need you to show up on minor holidays, too.

I work in healthcare and work every holiday, even Thanksgiving and Christmas (alternating each year).

Do you take your work home with you? Teachers generally work about 70 hour weeks

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A new teacher doesn’t do well. But a teacher who has been around a few years and gets certain certificates can do very well.

I looked up my kids teachers a couple of years back. They were fantastic teachers so I was curious to see. They made over 90k each.

But how many years have they taught and what were those years? When I was teaching we had salary freezes constantly. I had been teaching for 10 years, but I hadn’t made it past step 5.

Also, keep in mind that is flat. There are no bonuses or cash rewards for performance.

90K would be 108K if they worked the full year. That doesn’t seem bad at all. There are many, many professions that don’t get bonuses, so I don’t see how that is relevant here.

50K is low, but again, would be 60 if they worked the full year. That’s not an uncommon starting salary in many fields.


I’m a teacher and I never complain about the salary because I knew what it was before going into teaching
I do complain incessantly about the obscene hours I have to put in.
That’s something I didn’t expect.

I’m starting to question the “low pay” argument. Now, crazy large class sizes and having to buy your own supplies are reasonable complaints.

Yep. There is a point at which you feel like teachers just don’t account for the fact they work 10 month contracts and compare their salary with 12 month employees. If they want to supplement their salary, there are all sorts of academic enrichment programs that would take them in the summer. There is weekend and evening tutoring, when a private sector job would expect you to be working and not doing a side hassle. If not, they don’t have to pay for childcare. They seem to be paid about what Masters degree, non-managerial Feds are paid. And as a Fed, I don’t have a ton of sympathy for the no bonuses piece.

Like being a Fed, it’s a choice. You make trade offs. Less money and no perks, but a mission you are supposed to feel good about, a pension and great job security. I don’t have much sympathy for people who sign up for my mission oriented agency with a clear salary table and gripe about no perks or bonuses and a pretty set career path. For me, I could do something I felt good about, spend time with my kids, take off for their school events, and not constantly feel like I was either shortchanging work or the job. Or doing a job I just didn’t believe in. And I price the pension into salary calculations. And during the recession and pandemic, we have known I would keep my job.

Who are all these people lured into teaching with false promises of wealth and glamor? You made career choices. If you don’t like them or feel the trade offs aren’t worth the salary, make new choices. But quit whiny. You signed up for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The obsession with teachers is insane. Honestly, give it a rest.

I agree. They should stop complaining! Work a full year like the rest of us. Oh, and we will need you to show up on minor holidays, too.

I work in healthcare and work every holiday, even Thanksgiving and Christmas (alternating each year).

You are not making any sense. We are not taking those holidays off. They are holidays that are created by the national government that FCPS chooses to observe. It has 100% nothing to do with teacher work ethic.

It sounds like you're the one who's annoyed with having to work Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The federal, state, and local government could decide on a full school year, but they haven't. If they do, I'm sure plenty of teachers will work it because they'll enjoy having the extra money. But, once again, not something that teachers control. You are placing the blame on the wrong party.

I’m sorry. When you chose to become a teacher as a career, were you unaware it was 10 months pay for 10 months of work? Choosing a career that has 10 month contracts is as something within your control. Quit playing he victim amd on your career choices. Jeez.

I do t complain about the money. I knew about that before I went into it.
It’s the horrible hours that I complain about.
Yes, I heard teachers complain about the heavy workload prior to my decision to become a teacher, but I honestly thought they were exaggerating. I would gladly trade my 10 month work schedule in favor of working year round and only working 40-50 hours a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make 82k as a 10th year teacher which is perfectly fine with me. About half of my friends make more than me but obviously they are working 12 months and much longer hours. I also always find odd jobs in the summer when I feel like making extra money but I’m very comfortable with my salary. Too many teachers complain in my opinion.

What do you teach that you don’t work long hours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 82k as a 10th year teacher which is perfectly fine with me. About half of my friends make more than me but obviously they are working 12 months and much longer hours. I also always find odd jobs in the summer when I feel like making extra money but I’m very comfortable with my salary. Too many teachers complain in my opinion.

What do you teach that you don’t work long hours?

NP here. I think it all depends. I spend more time grading and prepping as an ES teacher than I ever did as a MS math teacher. But, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a MS Lang Arts teacher spends more than me because they have to grade 150 essays and other writing assignments.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if it still applies, but I received step credits in FCPS for most of my private school teaching years when I was hired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if it still applies, but I received step credits in FCPS for most of my private school teaching years when I was hired.

DW received credit for 10 years of working in a private school, but that was about 13 years ago.