Teachers leaving due to no step increase?

[Anonymous]

MCPS spends/wastes SO much money on so much other things. It is an incredibly wasteful budget.

Would love to see some of that re-allocated to hire more staff IN classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the salary is less then 60K not to mention union dues and 7% of the salary going to a pension that if you don't stay 35 years in then you won't be a part of. I don't know how they will retain young educators. I'n at year 25 so I'm hear to stay, I started before 2011 so I have 5 years to go. And while we are on the subject, nothing makes me angrier then the para situation. The paras really work hard for the money, especially those in special education (changing diapers, getting hit, being a sub when the teacher is out, etc). So many of the para positions I see vacant don't come with benefits. WTF????!!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a MCPS teacher at about year 20, so I get $0 for the next few steps.

After DCPS and PGPS recently got like $10k I expected MCPS to match. Instead the budget proposal came out. When I did the math, I realized the average teacher was looking at only about $3k or so. Which is far less than inflation and what happened at every other school district I could identify locally. I was hoping that some of the expiring COVID funds would be turned into bonuses, steps, or COLA's but instead MCPS gives a puny ~3% for this year and next with no step increases.

It takes 10 years to vest in the Maryland pension now, and you have to work for 35 years to reach full retirement. So, if a new teacher is planning to leave education, it makes sense to get out as earlier as possible to restart a new career/retirement fund. It's just not worth it for a lot of people unless you were hired before 2011. That's when the new pension system kicked in. Those hired before 2011 are usually able to retire around 60 or so with a higher pension. So, the golden handcuffs kick in.

[b]Less than $60k for a 1st year teacher is just painful to justify in this area. It's not what I would consider a competitive liveable wage for a college graduate [/b]with student loans to pay off.

I am just not really sure what the endgame for MCPS is here in terms of negotiating wages. Current staff are complaining and new staff are getting harder to find. I see new teachers leaving at much higher rates than ever before.

Yes, I'm on year 19 so I don't think I get a step increase again until year 25? They definitely have me by the golden handcuffs. I remember when I was hired it was a honor to get a contract with MCPS. They were considered the best of the best. Now it's just abysmal. I hate what this system has become in the last five years. The few kids who are always out of control make classrooms disruptive and miserable for the students who really, really want to learn. Hats off to our paras who support and cover classes daily. As other posters have mentioned, so many sub jobs don't get picked up daily. I work in a medium size elementary school and I'd say about 10 -20% of sub jobs actually get picked up. Otherwise it's our paras covering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a MCPS teacher at about year 20, so I get $0 for the next few steps.

After DCPS and PGPS recently got like $10k I expected MCPS to match. Instead the budget proposal came out. When I did the math, I realized the average teacher was looking at only about $3k or so. Which is far less than inflation and what happened at every other school district I could identify locally. I was hoping that some of the expiring COVID funds would be turned into bonuses, steps, or COLA's but instead MCPS gives a puny ~3% for this year and next with no step increases.

It takes 10 years to vest in the Maryland pension now, and you have to work for 35 years to reach full retirement. So, if a new teacher is planning to leave education, it makes sense to get out as earlier as possible to restart a new career/retirement fund. It's just not worth it for a lot of people unless you were hired before 2011. That's when the new pension system kicked in. Those hired before 2011 are usually able to retire around 60 or so with a higher pension. So, the golden handcuffs kick in.

Less than $60k for a 1st year teacher is just painful to justify in this area. It's not what I would consider a competitive liveable wage for a college graduate with student loans to pay off.

I am just not really sure what the endgame for MCPS is here in terms of negotiating wages. Current staff are complaining and new staff are getting harder to find. I see new teachers leaving at much higher rates than ever before.

Engineers average a starting salary of $65K and their degree is 10x harder than getting a teaching degree and they work year round.

Anyone that wants to be a teacher, should never have student loans. Go to JUCO for 2 years and transfer to an in-state college. You will be offered the same money as any other graduate. I did this as a nurse. Got my diploma and knocked out a community college associates degree. I graduated in 2.5 years, had no debt, and got paid the same as someone with an RN bachelors degree and 5 figures of loans to pay off.

You can't pay someone to enjoy their working conditions. MCPS doesn't discipline, parents don't parent, and schools are turning into nightmares that teachers have no control of. I wouldn't be a teacher if you paid me $80K to start. But my sister gladly works for $64K as a 5yr teacher at a private school. She was offered more to start as a public school teacher, but chose to take less knowing the private school would teat her better. Her class size is 17. She works PT as a tutor and gets paid $60/hr by those rich parents. She travels all summer and enjoys her life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS spends/wastes SO much money on so much other things. It is an incredibly wasteful budget.

Would love to see some of that re-allocated to hire more staff IN classrooms.

Start at the top. Central office funding is OBSCENE and are never held accountable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a MCPS teacher at about year 20, so I get $0 for the next few steps.

After DCPS and PGPS recently got like $10k I expected MCPS to match. Instead the budget proposal came out. When I did the math, I realized the average teacher was looking at only about $3k or so. Which is far less than inflation and what happened at every other school district I could identify locally. I was hoping that some of the expiring COVID funds would be turned into bonuses, steps, or COLA's but instead MCPS gives a puny ~3% for this year and next with no step increases.

It takes 10 years to vest in the Maryland pension now, and you have to work for 35 years to reach full retirement. So, if a new teacher is planning to leave education, it makes sense to get out as earlier as possible to restart a new career/retirement fund. It's just not worth it for a lot of people unless you were hired before 2011. That's when the new pension system kicked in. Those hired before 2011 are usually able to retire around 60 or so with a higher pension. So, the golden handcuffs kick in.

Less than $60k for a 1st year teacher is just painful to justify in this area. It's not what I would consider a competitive liveable wage for a college graduate with student loans to pay off.

I am just not really sure what the endgame for MCPS is here in terms of negotiating wages. Current staff are complaining and new staff are getting harder to find. I see new teachers leaving at much higher rates than ever before.

Engineers average a starting salary of $65K and their degree is 10x harder than getting a teaching degree and they work year round.

Anyone that wants to be a teacher, should never have student loans. Go to JUCO for 2 years and transfer to an in-state college. You will be offered the same money as any other graduate. I did this as a nurse. Got my diploma and knocked out a community college associates degree. I graduated in 2.5 years, had no debt, and got paid the same as someone with an RN bachelors degree and 5 figures of loans to pay off.

You can't pay someone to enjoy their working conditions. MCPS doesn't discipline, parents don't parent, and schools are turning into nightmares that teachers have no control of. I wouldn't be a teacher if you paid me $80K to start. But my sister gladly works for $64K as a 5yr teacher at a private school. She was offered more to start as a public school teacher, but chose to take less knowing the private school would teat her better. Her class size is 17. She works PT as a tutor and gets paid $60/hr by those rich parents. She travels all summer and enjoys her life.

Engineering has more difficult classes, yes, absolutely, no one is disputing that. But teaching is much harder to survive in. So, 4-8 years of hard classes versus 30-35 years of hard working conditions. My district is bleeding staff. And yes, housing values will tank when there are no more "good" public schools because they can't find anyone whose degree was "easy" to do the hard work for the next 30 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a MCPS teacher at about year 20, so I get $0 for the next few steps.

After DCPS and PGPS recently got like $10k I expected MCPS to match. Instead the budget proposal came out. When I did the math, I realized the average teacher was looking at only about $3k or so. Which is far less than inflation and what happened at every other school district I could identify locally. I was hoping that some of the expiring COVID funds would be turned into bonuses, steps, or COLA's but instead MCPS gives a puny ~3% for this year and next with no step increases.

It takes 10 years to vest in the Maryland pension now, and you have to work for 35 years to reach full retirement. So, if a new teacher is planning to leave education, it makes sense to get out as earlier as possible to restart a new career/retirement fund. It's just not worth it for a lot of people unless you were hired before 2011. That's when the new pension system kicked in. Those hired before 2011 are usually able to retire around 60 or so with a higher pension. So, the golden handcuffs kick in.

Less than $60k for a 1st year teacher is just painful to justify in this area. It's not what I would consider a competitive liveable wage for a college graduate with student loans to pay off.

I am just not really sure what the endgame for MCPS is here in terms of negotiating wages. Current staff are complaining and new staff are getting harder to find. I see new teachers leaving at much higher rates than ever before.

Engineers average a starting salary of $65K and their degree is 10x harder than getting a teaching degree and they work year round.

Anyone that wants to be a teacher, should never have student loans. Go to JUCO for 2 years and transfer to an in-state college. You will be offered the same money as any other graduate. I did this as a nurse. Got my diploma and knocked out a community college associates degree. I graduated in 2.5 years, had no debt, and got paid the same as someone with an RN bachelors degree and 5 figures of loans to pay off.

You can't pay someone to enjoy their working conditions. MCPS doesn't discipline, parents don't parent, and schools are turning into nightmares that teachers have no control of. I wouldn't be a teacher if you paid me $80K to start. But my sister gladly works for $64K as a 5yr teacher at a private school. She was offered more to start as a public school teacher, but chose to take less knowing the private school would teat her better. Her class size is 17. She works PT as a tutor and gets paid $60/hr by those rich parents. She travels all summer and enjoys her life.

Engineering has more difficult classes, yes, absolutely, no one is disputing that. But teaching is much harder to survive in. So, 4-8 years of hard classes versus 30-35 years of hard working conditions. My district is bleeding staff. And yes, housing values will tank when there are no more "good" public schools because they can't find anyone whose degree was "easy" to do the hard work for the next 30 years.

I think if you asked any teacher they would want better working conditions, less meetings, and more autonomy than being treated like garbage and giving a baby bump raise. Administration and central office get paid a lot more and do so much less. Look at where the budget is going

[Anonymous]

May I ask why do these paras stay? It sounds like they are treated the worst.

[Anonymous]

I can't speak for all, but I'm a para with a spouse who is the breadwinner in our family. I have ES age children, and was ready to get out of the house for a bit (former SAHM). I'm now on the kids school schedule, and have Summers off with them. The little bit of money is irrelevant to our HHI.

And, things have gotten so much worse in MCPS for so many reasons. I will not be returning next Fall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The resignations have already come. How many special ed positions are currently filled with long term substitutes? Same for gen ed? And ask your school principal (or secretary) how many sub positions go unfilled every day.

Yes, next year will be worse. The burn out is real.

Yeah and who fills those empty sub positions? Paras. We are the ones who are really screwed. Do you realize how little WE are paid?

I wish my school filled them with paras. We only use teachers instead. It’s not unusual to lose four or more planning periods a week to do coverage. Twice I have done coverage six times in one week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m new to MCPS this year but a career teacher in other states. Trying to figure out how to quit now. Why wait until the end of the year? MCPS continues to make everything difficult for everyone. Let them find all these people they think are banging down the door looking for teaching jobs.

If you are not planning to stay in Maryland you can quit now and start not on doors/subbing in an another state. If you plan on staying in Maryland, I would finish out the year. Or have a doctor fill out an FMLA form for you. You can use stress/mental health/wellbeing as the reason, but the school doesn't have to be told the medical reason.

[Anonymous]

I have so many colleagues planning to quit mcps or the profession. I'm not sure I'll be able to stay if the decline continues and the disrespect continues from central office.

MCPS sent out a survey to staff about "a culture of respect" after another demeaning bargaining session where they, as an example, said that itinerant staff who travel from school to school could communicate via "walkie talkie." Unfortunately, the survey was a joke with no way to actually address the issues with the system or the reasons why staff are exiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have so many colleagues planning to quit mcps or the profession. I'm not sure I'll be able to stay if the decline continues and the disrespect continues from central office.

MCPS sent out a survey to staff about "a culture of respect" after another demeaning bargaining session where they, as an example, said that itinerant staff who travel from school to school could communicate via "walkie talkie." Unfortunately, the survey was a joke with no way to actually address the issues with the system or the reasons why staff are exiting.

As a support staff member, I would have LOVED options to say how I felt about the way I’m treated at my school versus how I feel I’m treated by MCPS because those answers would be very different.