Study Reveals FCPS Teacher Career Salaries $142K Below Average of Regional Peers

[Anonymous]

If I were in Arlington I'd be asking why we are paying our teachers more but don't have schools as good as the top schools in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

I am in Arlington, and with a few notable exceptions, I am not seeing teaching that justifies why we pay our teachers more than anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k. He's strongly considering switching to Arlington for the pay. It's tough living in this area on that kind of income. We realized we weren't going to be well-off with his career choice, but this has gotten to be too much.

We have two kids in FCPS schools, so we care about the quality of schools and teachers here. I hope FCPS finds a long-term fix soon.

65k at his level is way too low IMO.

Agree--however, he does have excellent health benefits for his family. And, good retirement prospects. In addition, he gets three months of vacation--if you include paid holidays and breaks during the year. I have been a teacher and understand how hard they work, but the pay is deceiving when you balance it with the time off allotted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k. He's strongly considering switching to Arlington for the pay. It's tough living in this area on that kind of income. We realized we weren't going to be well-off with his career choice, but this has gotten to be too much.

We have two kids in FCPS schools, so we care about the quality of schools and teachers here. I hope FCPS finds a long-term fix soon.

65k at his level is way too low IMO.

Agree--however, he does have excellent health benefits for his family. And, good retirement prospects. In addition, he gets three months of vacation--if you include paid holidays and breaks during the year. I have been a teacher and understand how hard they work, but the pay is deceiving when you balance it with the time off allotted.

As opposed to all of the other teachers in the other nearby, higher-paying districts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k.

Shouldn't he be making more than 70K? That's what the salary schedule says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k.

Shouldn't he be making more than 70K? That's what the salary schedule says.

Yes, but there were pay freezes and a few years that they froze step increases This is the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did they really need to hire and pay consultants to calculate this out? Seems like a high school math class could have done this for free.

Why didn't you volunteer your time to calculate this out? Oh wait... you probably don't work for free...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k. He's strongly considering switching to Arlington for the pay. It's tough living in this area on that kind of income. We realized we weren't going to be well-off with his career choice, but this has gotten to be too much.

We have two kids in FCPS schools, so we care about the quality of schools and teachers here. I hope FCPS finds a long-term fix soon.

65K seems on the low end for a teacher with his qualifications/experience in FCPS. How is it that some of his peers are make 30K+ more than him in the same school system. I am not a teacher, I have just seen 6 figure salaries reported elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

^sorry for sloppy typos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The President of the United States - the leader of the world(!) - makes 400K.

Come on, I think teachers have a tough job but...let's be reasonable.

Oops. Meant leader of the free world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My SIL is a 4th grade teacher in a Long Island, NY school district. She's been at her job for about 20 years, is in her mid 40s and makes a salary of $125K/year (plus benefits). That's more than I make as an engineer with the same experience. I sometimes wonder if I made the right choice.

Not bad for a part time (190 days a year) job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k. He's strongly considering switching to Arlington for the pay. It's tough living in this area on that kind of income. We realized we weren't going to be well-off with his career choice, but this has gotten to be too much.

We have two kids in FCPS schools, so we care about the quality of schools and teachers here. I hope FCPS finds a long-term fix soon.

65K seems on the low end for a teacher with his qualifications/experience in FCPS. How is it that some of his peers are make 30K+ more than him in the same school system. I am not a teacher, I have just seen 6 figure salaries reported elsewhere.

Not the PP, but a teacher with 15 years and a Masters makes in the upper 60s. The degree step does not necessarily match the number of years experience.

The only teachers making $30k more than that have almost 30 years and a MA. My DH has 23 years with FCPS and makes around $85k. Not a complaint, just a comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My SIL is a 4th grade teacher in a Long Island, NY school district. She's been at her job for about 20 years, is in her mid 40s and makes a salary of $125K/year (plus benefits). That's more than I make as an engineer with the same experience. I sometimes wonder if I made the right choice.

Not bad for a part time (190 days a year) job.

This isn't about Long Island.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k. He's strongly considering switching to Arlington for the pay. It's tough living in this area on that kind of income. We realized we weren't going to be well-off with his career choice, but this has gotten to be too much.

We have two kids in FCPS schools, so we care about the quality of schools and teachers here. I hope FCPS finds a long-term fix soon.

65K seems on the low end for a teacher with his qualifications/experience in FCPS. How is it that some of his peers are make 30K+ more than him in the same school system. I am not a teacher, I have just seen 6 figure salaries reported elsewhere.

Not the PP, but a teacher with 15 years and a Masters makes in the upper 60s. The degree step does not necessarily match the number of years experience.

The only teachers making $30k more than that have almost 30 years and a MA. My DH has 23 years with FCPS and makes around $85k. Not a complaint, just a comment.

O.k. but that doesn't include all of the earning opportunities that they have during the summer and even taking on additional responsibilities at the school. They can earn more if they wish to earn more can't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband teaches in FCPS. He has a Masters degree and 15 years of teaching experience (10 of them at the same FCPS school) - he makes about $65k. He's strongly considering switching to Arlington for the pay. It's tough living in this area on that kind of income. We realized we weren't going to be well-off with his career choice, but this has gotten to be too much.

We have two kids in FCPS schools, so we care about the quality of schools and teachers here. I hope FCPS finds a long-term fix soon.

65K seems on the low end for a teacher with his qualifications/experience in FCPS. How is it that some of his peers are make 30K+ more than him in the same school system. I am not a teacher, I have just seen 6 figure salaries reported elsewhere.

Not the PP, but a teacher with 15 years and a Masters makes in the upper 60s. The degree step does not necessarily match the number of years experience.

The only teachers making $30k more than that have almost 30 years and a MA. My DH has 23 years with FCPS and makes around $85k. Not a complaint, just a comment.

O.k. but that doesn't include all of the earning opportunities that they have during the summer and even taking on additional responsibilities at the school. They can earn more if they wish to earn more can't they?

Of course that is true about summer. Right now he watches the kids during the summer so we don't have to pay for child care. Maybe someday though! I'm not sure what extra jobs they can do during the school year that would earn them more money though (or maybe you meant that as part of the summer opportunities).