NOVA Teacher Salaries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been teaching 22 years and have a masters. There have been many salary freezes and I make about 85k. I’m happy with that. I have friends who make much more and friends who make much less than that, all with the same work experience in different fields.

This is my 28th year with a MA. I am also fine with my salary. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that I have another 5-6 years to work and I am at the top of the scale. My DW has 10 more years and has also peaked on the pay scale.

I agree, my salary isn’t going to change much anymore. I assume we will have freezes or health insurance increases that will cancel out any raises. My husband is not in education and I see the large increases that are possible if you are not in education. I do not think he works more than me but being at the mercy of clients is different than answering to unreasonable parents or administrators. I have job security. He has a higher salary but does not have job security. He’s high up in his company now but we are not foolish and know that can change. That’s why I keep my job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been teaching 22 years and have a masters. There have been many salary freezes and I make about 85k. I’m happy with that. I have friends who make much more and friends who make much less than that, all with the same work experience in different fields.

This is my 28th year with a MA. I am also fine with my salary. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that I have another 5-6 years to work and I am at the top of the scale. My DW has 10 more years and has also peaked on the pay scale.

I agree, my salary isn’t going to change much anymore. I assume we will have freezes or health insurance increases that will cancel out any raises. My husband is not in education and I see the large increases that are possible if you are not in education. I do not think he works more than me but being at the mercy of clients is different than answering to unreasonable parents or administrators. I have job security. He has a higher salary but does not have job security. He’s high up in his company now but we are not foolish and know that can change. That’s why I keep my job.

Large raises are possible if you're not in government. I make 6.8% more than I made in 2010, due to lack of locality pay in federal government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone always complains about how little teachers make. What is the typical salary range for a 10-month contract in this area? A quick Google search resulted in some numbers that aren’t so bad (for a 10-month contract), so I’m thinking what I found is inaccurate.

"In Northern Virginia, the city of Alexandria ranks second in average teacher salaries — behind Arlington County — at $78,100 per year followed by Fairfax County at $78,000, Falls Church City at $77,000, Loudoun County at $75,800 and Prince William County at $69,500, according to the VDOE report."

Source: VDOE and the below:
https://patch.com/virginia/fairfaxcity/nova-school-districts-pay-teachers-most-least-2020

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to keep in mind cost of living. Based off cost of living 60,000 is low for this area. I am from NY and at the same experience would be earning almost 6,000- 10,000 more. Cost of living is similar.

You can't be serious that cost if living in NYC is similar to DMV or NoVa. NYC area rent is way higher.

Plus COL in NoVa compared to other parts of VA is accounted for by this:

"Teachers in Northern Virginia's highest-paying district earn almost $42,000 more on average than the lowest-paying district in Virginia."

https://patch.com/virginia/fairfaxcity/nova-school-districts-pay-teachers-most-least-2020

[Anonymous]

My first few years of teaching, my kids qualified for reduced-priced lunches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to keep in mind cost of living. Based off cost of living 60,000 is low for this area. I am from NY and at the same experience would be earning almost 6,000- 10,000 more. Cost of living is similar.

You can't be serious that cost if living in NYC is similar to DMV or NoVa. NYC area rent is way higher.

Plus COL in NoVa compared to other parts of VA is accounted for by this:

"Teachers in Northern Virginia's highest-paying district earn almost $42,000 more on average than the lowest-paying district in Virginia."

https://patch.com/virginia/fairfaxcity/nova-school-districts-pay-teachers-most-least-2020

DP
The PP didn’t say “NYC”. The PP said “NY” so it could be any part of the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Plus if you switch counties, they may have you start again at the lowest step. Not all counties agreed to keep the previous step level.
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 starting to question the “low pay” argument. Now, crazy large class sizes and having to buy your own supplies are reasonable complaints.

I’ve been teaching 12 years in APS with a masters degree and don’t make nearly that much- steps doesn’t equal years taught since we’ve had many years with no step increase in the past 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

But they can’t get work a 12 month contract. People complain they get “summers off” and then that we should expect them to work another job with the same pay rate those two months. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does a Catholic school teacher make around here? Let’s say with 10 years experience.

NoVa Catholic school teachers make much, much less than their public school counterparts. But how much less varies by parish.

[Anonymous]

My spouse makes $90k as an administrator with 18 years teaching and administration with masters in teaching for a 12 month contract and very little vacation time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse makes $90k as an administrator with 18 years teaching and administration with masters in teaching for a 12 month contract and very little vacation time.

Where? No school district around here has “very little” vacation time. We have 18 Annual Leave days, 14 Sick and 4 Personal days for administrators.


Signed - A school district employee in NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been teaching 22 years and have a masters. There have been many salary freezes and I make about 85k. I’m happy with that. I have friends who make much more and friends who make much less than that, all with the same work experience in different fields.

This is my 28th year with a MA. I am also fine with my salary. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that I have another 5-6 years to work and I am at the top of the scale. My DW has 10 more years and has also peaked on the pay scale.

I agree, my salary isn’t going to change much anymore. I assume we will have freezes or health insurance increases that will cancel out any raises. My husband is not in education and I see the large increases that are possible if you are not in education. I do not think he works more than me but being at the mercy of clients is different than answering to unreasonable parents or administrators. I have job security. He has a higher salary but does not have job security. He’s high up in his company now but we are not foolish and know that can change. That’s why I keep my job.

Large raises are possible if you're not in government. I make 6.8% more than I made in 2010, due to lack of locality pay in federal government.

Yes. DH is not in government. But he never knows if he will have a job year to year. The lack of job security is scary. It’s a nice balance. He makes a good salary but I have job security with better health insurance benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse makes $90k as an administrator with 18 years teaching and administration with masters in teaching for a 12 month contract and very little vacation time.

We does your spouse work? 12 month wouldn’t be an assistant principal so I assume the position is principal or similar.

This is Fairfax’s school based administrator scale:

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY21-school-based-administrator.pdf

[Anonymous]

*Where does

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone always complains about how little teachers make. What is the typical salary range for a 10-month contract in this area? A quick Google search resulted in some numbers that aren’t so bad (for a 10-month contract), so I’m thinking what I found is inaccurate.

"In Northern Virginia, the city of Alexandria ranks second in average teacher salaries — behind Arlington County — at $78,100 per year followed by Fairfax County at $78,000, Falls Church City at $77,000, Loudoun County at $75,800 and Prince William County at $69,500, according to the VDOE report."

Source: VDOE and the below:
https://patch.com/virginia/fairfaxcity/nova-school-districts-pay-teachers-most-least-2020

It takes a minimum of 19 years for a teacher to move from the starting salary of $50,000 to $77,150 at Fairfax County. Think about that for a second. You would have to teach at least 19 years to get to the average. That's a long time. Your children are born and in college before you hit 19 years.