Private school teacher salary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23 year old who just graduated with a BS in Math and Secondary Ed (student taught, obtained a teacher's license.). Working at a Catholic high school in the DMV. $55,000 per year.

We need good teachers. How can this low salary encourage young people to seek out career in education?

It doesn’t.

I was a career changer who got a graduated degree in education. It was a terrible investment, and I was upset with myself for not doing more research about salaries. I took a $10k salary cut when I went from a non-teaching admin job at a private school to a teaching job at a private school down the road. It’s not like the admin position paid a lot either. After years of paltry salaries, costly health insurance, and sad retirement savings, I went back to the business world. There’s a reason why so many private school teachers are white women who come from wealthy families and are married to high earning men.

A lot of people don’t understand the economics of private school operations. Any school costs a lot to run. DCPS has an average operating cost of $24k/student/year. This excludes central office admin costs—marketing, PR, HR, technology, insurances. Public schools often rely on donations for classroom materials—everything from new science tools, to photocopier paper, to tissues—whereas your private school provides these things as well as a classroom supplies budget of between $200 and $1000 per teacher per year. Your private school has a greater teacher-student ratio, so faculty expense is higher. The large, attractive campuses with great sports facilities are expensive to maintain too, especially as electricity costs skyrocket. Field trips, particularly overnights are bonkers expensive, especially when an outside tour operator or facilitator is engaged. Yet, in the privates where I have worked, I was expected to have at least two field trips per year. Costs of employee benefits have been crushing privates for all of the 21st century. Unlike publics, which use state pension schemes where a sizable portion of staff never vest, privates have to administer 403(b)s. Health insurance costs are also very high for these small risk pools (fewer than 100 employees, skews older). Curriculum, whether books or tech-based, is also very, very expensive. A lot of educational software subscriptions are $10k/year or more for between 300 and 400 licenses. Schools will have multiple subscriptions for the whole school and a few that are specific to a grade level or department. And that’s before you factor in the hardware—a $1k Thinkpad or MacBook for every student and teacher and smartboards in classrooms. (There are some bulk purchasing discounts, however.) In short, the attractive campuses, variety of courses, and smaller classes that sell families on private schools carry a lot of associated costs.

And yet these elite private schools are so competitive and the student body is so insanely rich. All the time the school show how they promote some DEI and inclusiveness on paper. Why can’t they start with paying the teachers more?

It feels wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23 year old who just graduated with a BS in Math and Secondary Ed (student taught, obtained a teacher's license.). Working at a Catholic high school in the DMV. $55,000 per year.

We need good teachers. How can this low salary encourage young people to seek out career in education?

It doesn’t.

I was a career changer who got a graduated degree in education. It was a terrible investment, and I was upset with myself for not doing more research about salaries. I took a $10k salary cut when I went from a non-teaching admin job at a private school to a teaching job at a private school down the road. It’s not like the admin position paid a lot either. After years of paltry salaries, costly health insurance, and sad retirement savings, I went back to the business world. There’s a reason why so many private school teachers are white women who come from wealthy families and are married to high earning men.

A lot of people don’t understand the economics of private school operations. Any school costs a lot to run. DCPS has an average operating cost of $24k/student/year. This excludes central office admin costs—marketing, PR, HR, technology, insurances. Public schools often rely on donations for classroom materials—everything from new science tools, to photocopier paper, to tissues—whereas your private school provides these things as well as a classroom supplies budget of between $200 and $1000 per teacher per year. Your private school has a greater teacher-student ratio, so faculty expense is higher. The large, attractive campuses with great sports facilities are expensive to maintain too, especially as electricity costs skyrocket. Field trips, particularly overnights are bonkers expensive, especially when an outside tour operator or facilitator is engaged. Yet, in the privates where I have worked, I was expected to have at least two field trips per year. Costs of employee benefits have been crushing privates for all of the 21st century. Unlike publics, which use state pension schemes where a sizable portion of staff never vest, privates have to administer 403(b)s. Health insurance costs are also very high for these small risk pools (fewer than 100 employees, skews older). Curriculum, whether books or tech-based, is also very, very expensive. A lot of educational software subscriptions are $10k/year or more for between 300 and 400 licenses. Schools will have multiple subscriptions for the whole school and a few that are specific to a grade level or department. And that’s before you factor in the hardware—a $1k Thinkpad or MacBook for every student and teacher and smartboards in classrooms. (There are some bulk purchasing discounts, however.) In short, the attractive campuses, variety of courses, and smaller classes that sell families on private schools carry a lot of associated costs.

And yet these elite private schools are so competitive and the student body is so insanely rich. All the time the school show how they promote some DEI and inclusiveness on paper. Why can’t they start with paying the teachers more?

It feels wrong.

Thank you for this. Very insightful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23 year old who just graduated with a BS in Math and Secondary Ed (student taught, obtained a teacher's license.). Working at a Catholic high school in the DMV. $55,000 per year.

We need good teachers. How can this low salary encourage young people to seek out career in education?

It doesn’t.

I was a career changer who got a graduated degree in education. It was a terrible investment, and I was upset with myself for not doing more research about salaries. I took a $10k salary cut when I went from a non-teaching admin job at a private school to a teaching job at a private school down the road. It’s not like the admin position paid a lot either. After years of paltry salaries, costly health insurance, and sad retirement savings, I went back to the business world. There’s a reason why so many private school teachers are white women who come from wealthy families and are married to high earning men.

A lot of people don’t understand the economics of private school operations. Any school costs a lot to run. DCPS has an average operating cost of $24k/student/year. This excludes central office admin costs—marketing, PR, HR, technology, insurances. Public schools often rely on donations for classroom materials—everything from new science tools, to photocopier paper, to tissues—whereas your private school provides these things as well as a classroom supplies budget of between $200 and $1000 per teacher per year. Your private school has a greater teacher-student ratio, so faculty expense is higher. The large, attractive campuses with great sports facilities are expensive to maintain too, especially as electricity costs skyrocket. Field trips, particularly overnights are bonkers expensive, especially when an outside tour operator or facilitator is engaged. Yet, in the privates where I have worked, I was expected to have at least two field trips per year. Costs of employee benefits have been crushing privates for all of the 21st century. Unlike publics, which use state pension schemes where a sizable portion of staff never vest, privates have to administer 403(b)s. Health insurance costs are also very high for these small risk pools (fewer than 100 employees, skews older). Curriculum, whether books or tech-based, is also very, very expensive. A lot of educational software subscriptions are $10k/year or more for between 300 and 400 licenses. Schools will have multiple subscriptions for the whole school and a few that are specific to a grade level or department. And that’s before you factor in the hardware—a $1k Thinkpad or MacBook for every student and teacher and smartboards in classrooms. (There are some bulk purchasing discounts, however.) In short, the attractive campuses, variety of courses, and smaller classes that sell families on private schools carry a lot of associated costs.

I meant this post is very insightful.

And yet these elite private schools are so competitive and the student body is so insanely rich. All the time the school show how they promote some DEI and inclusiveness on paper. Why can’t they start with paying the teachers more?

It feels wrong.

Thank you for this. Very insightful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23 year old who just graduated with a BS in Math and Secondary Ed (student taught, obtained a teacher's license.). Working at a Catholic high school in the DMV. $55,000 per year.

We need good teachers. How can this low salary encourage young people to seek out career in education?

It doesn’t.

I was a career changer who got a graduated degree in education. It was a terrible investment, and I was upset with myself for not doing more research about salaries. I took a $10k salary cut when I went from a non-teaching admin job at a private school to a teaching job at a private school down the road. It’s not like the admin position paid a lot either. After years of paltry salaries, costly health insurance, and sad retirement savings, I went back to the business world. There’s a reason why so many private school teachers are white women who come from wealthy families and are married to high earning men.

A lot of people don’t understand the economics of private school operations. Any school costs a lot to run. DCPS has an average operating cost of $24k/student/year. This excludes central office admin costs—marketing, PR, HR, technology, insurances. Public schools often rely on donations for classroom materials—everything from new science tools, to photocopier paper, to tissues—whereas your private school provides these things as well as a classroom supplies budget of between $200 and $1000 per teacher per year. Your private school has a greater teacher-student ratio, so faculty expense is higher. The large, attractive campuses with great sports facilities are expensive to maintain too, especially as electricity costs skyrocket. Field trips, particularly overnights are bonkers expensive, especially when an outside tour operator or facilitator is engaged. Yet, in the privates where I have worked, I was expected to have at least two field trips per year. Costs of employee benefits have been crushing privates for all of the 21st century. Unlike publics, which use state pension schemes where a sizable portion of staff never vest, privates have to administer 403(b)s. Health insurance costs are also very high for these small risk pools (fewer than 100 employees, skews older). Curriculum, whether books or tech-based, is also very, very expensive. A lot of educational software subscriptions are $10k/year or more for between 300 and 400 licenses. Schools will have multiple subscriptions for the whole school and a few that are specific to a grade level or department. And that’s before you factor in the hardware—a $1k Thinkpad or MacBook for every student and teacher and smartboards in classrooms. (There are some bulk purchasing discounts, however.) In short, the attractive campuses, variety of courses, and smaller classes that sell families on private schools carry a lot of associated costs.

And yet these elite private schools are so competitive and the student body is so insanely rich. All the time the school show how they promote some DEI and inclusiveness on paper. Why can’t they start with paying the teachers more?

It feels wrong.

The whole premise of DEI is wrong. There are a lot of groups excluded from DEI such a Hispanics and Asian Americans. They are never considered minorities or disadvantaged. I never heard even once our school to say anything about the illegally deported Hispanics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you share your salary and school anonymously? I work at FCPS and am wondering how much local privates are paying their teachers. I’m getting sick of the endless demands at my current job and would love having the more manageable workload of a private school.

My salary went up by 50% when I went from private to MCPS.

What about your work load? Did it increase significantly in MCPS. And do you miss the warm and cozy private school environment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I 100% support paying teachers in all sectors more, I would never in a million years want to be them or to be an admin in a school. As long as curriculum and college admissions remain strong, I encourage the board to compensate the HoS at privates and other senior officials as much as they deem reasonable. If that includes housing, free tuition for their own children , and other perks, so be it.

You don’t care that the teachers are treated like serfs? They are also part of the school community that you deem so precious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am fortunate to have a spouse who is the primary earner in our household so I have the option of taking a job that pays less at a private school. I genuinely enjoy the community and freedom I have at my school and I don’t think I’d be able to handle the class sizes, bureaucracy, discipline, etc issues at public. Yes I would make more money but day to day experience would be far less rewarding/enjoyable. I realize I am in a fortunate position because my spouse makes enough money so I don’t need to worry about my paycheck. Agree that it’s frustrating.

Know your worth and don’t settle for less than you deserve

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I 100% support paying teachers in all sectors more, I would never in a million years want to be them or to be an admin in a school. As long as curriculum and college admissions remain strong, I encourage the board to compensate the HoS at privates and other senior officials as much as they deem reasonable. If that includes housing, free tuition for their own children , and other perks, so be it.

You don’t care that the teachers are treated like serfs? They are also part of the school community that you deem so precious.

That was definitely an admin posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23 year old who just graduated with a BS in Math and Secondary Ed (student taught, obtained a teacher's license.). Working at a Catholic high school in the DMV. $55,000 per year.

We need good teachers. How can this low salary encourage young people to seek out career in education?

It doesn’t.

I was a career changer who got a graduated degree in education. It was a terrible investment, and I was upset with myself for not doing more research about salaries. I took a $10k salary cut when I went from a non-teaching admin job at a private school to a teaching job at a private school down the road. It’s not like the admin position paid a lot either. After years of paltry salaries, costly health insurance, and sad retirement savings, I went back to the business world. There’s a reason why so many private school teachers are white women who come from wealthy families and are married to high earning men.

A lot of people don’t understand the economics of private school operations. Any school costs a lot to run. DCPS has an average operating cost of $24k/student/year. This excludes central office admin costs—marketing, PR, HR, technology, insurances. Public schools often rely on donations for classroom materials—everything from new science tools, to photocopier paper, to tissues—whereas your private school provides these things as well as a classroom supplies budget of between $200 and $1000 per teacher per year. Your private school has a greater teacher-student ratio, so faculty expense is higher. The large, attractive campuses with great sports facilities are expensive to maintain too, especially as electricity costs skyrocket. Field trips, particularly overnights are bonkers expensive, especially when an outside tour operator or facilitator is engaged. Yet, in the privates where I have worked, I was expected to have at least two field trips per year. Costs of employee benefits have been crushing privates for all of the 21st century. Unlike publics, which use state pension schemes where a sizable portion of staff never vest, privates have to administer 403(b)s. Health insurance costs are also very high for these small risk pools (fewer than 100 employees, skews older). Curriculum, whether books or tech-based, is also very, very expensive. A lot of educational software subscriptions are $10k/year or more for between 300 and 400 licenses. Schools will have multiple subscriptions for the whole school and a few that are specific to a grade level or department. And that’s before you factor in the hardware—a $1k Thinkpad or MacBook for every student and teacher and smartboards in classrooms. (There are some bulk purchasing discounts, however.) In short, the attractive campuses, variety of courses, and smaller classes that sell families on private schools carry a lot of associated costs.

And yet these elite private schools are so competitive and the student body is so insanely rich. All the time the school show how they promote some DEI and inclusiveness on paper. Why can’t they start with paying the teachers more?

It feels wrong.

The whole premise of DEI is wrong. There are a lot of groups excluded from DEI such a Hispanics and Asian Americans. They are never considered minorities or disadvantaged. I never heard even once our school to say anything about the illegally deported Hispanics.

I thought the whole DEI is going away. Didn't they say Harvard Admits more Asian students and less African Americans this year? Supposedly that will affect elite private schools to follow suits? After all, aren't they all just want to send more grads into top 30?

On the other hand, the area Public Schools in DC NW is not diverse at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you share your salary and school anonymously? I work at FCPS and am wondering how much local privates are paying their teachers. I’m getting sick of the endless demands at my current job and would love having the more manageable workload of a private school.

My salary went up by 50% when I went from private to MCPS.

What about your work load? Did it increase significantly in MCPS. And do you miss the warm and cozy private school environment?

At my private I was the only one teaching multiple grades of my subject. I now have a co planning teaching team for a single grade level (same subject). My workload has drastically reduced, even with nearly 3x the students!!

I do miss the people, but not the environment as much as you’d think. My particular school has a wonderful teaching community. I know not everyone switching to MCPS is as lucky.

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried about teacher salaries at our private school. They have great students, summers off, and they get crazy generous financial aid for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am fortunate to have a spouse who is the primary earner in our household so I have the option of taking a job that pays less at a private school. I genuinely enjoy the community and freedom I have at my school and I don’t think I’d be able to handle the class sizes, bureaucracy, discipline, etc issues at public. Yes I would make more money but day to day experience would be far less rewarding/enjoyable. I realize I am in a fortunate position because my spouse makes enough money so I don’t need to worry about my paycheck. Agree that it’s frustrating.

THIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23 year old who just graduated with a BS in Math and Secondary Ed (student taught, obtained a teacher's license.). Working at a Catholic high school in the DMV. $55,000 per year.

We need good teachers. How can this low salary encourage young people to seek out career in education?

It doesn’t.

I was a career changer who got a graduated degree in education. It was a terrible investment, and I was upset with myself for not doing more research about salaries. I took a $10k salary cut when I went from a non-teaching admin job at a private school to a teaching job at a private school down the road. It’s not like the admin position paid a lot either. After years of paltry salaries, costly health insurance, and sad retirement savings, I went back to the business world. There’s a reason why so many private school teachers are white women who come from wealthy families and are married to high earning men.

A lot of people don’t understand the economics of private school operations. Any school costs a lot to run. DCPS has an average operating cost of $24k/student/year. This excludes central office admin costs—marketing, PR, HR, technology, insurances. Public schools often rely on donations for classroom materials—everything from new science tools, to photocopier paper, to tissues—whereas your private school provides these things as well as a classroom supplies budget of between $200 and $1000 per teacher per year. Your private school has a greater teacher-student ratio, so faculty expense is higher. The large, attractive campuses with great sports facilities are expensive to maintain too, especially as electricity costs skyrocket. Field trips, particularly overnights are bonkers expensive, especially when an outside tour operator or facilitator is engaged. Yet, in the privates where I have worked, I was expected to have at least two field trips per year. Costs of employee benefits have been crushing privates for all of the 21st century. Unlike publics, which use state pension schemes where a sizable portion of staff never vest, privates have to administer 403(b)s. Health insurance costs are also very high for these small risk pools (fewer than 100 employees, skews older). Curriculum, whether books or tech-based, is also very, very expensive. A lot of educational software subscriptions are $10k/year or more for between 300 and 400 licenses. Schools will have multiple subscriptions for the whole school and a few that are specific to a grade level or department. And that’s before you factor in the hardware—a $1k Thinkpad or MacBook for every student and teacher and smartboards in classrooms. (There are some bulk purchasing discounts, however.) In short, the attractive campuses, variety of courses, and smaller classes that sell families on private schools carry a lot of associated costs.

And yet these elite private schools are so competitive and the student body is so insanely rich. All the time the school show how they promote some DEI and inclusiveness on paper. Why can’t they start with paying the teachers more?

It feels wrong.

Another perk to leaving a Big Three for MCPS: My spouse no longer feels like The Help.

[Anonymous]

Look at the heaviness of your school’s admin team. That’s where the money goes. The discrepancy between HOS salary and a teacher’s salary is just gross. Plus, the HOS often gets a house and possibly a car. Admins often get a month off in the summer. And I have taught in several DMV independent schools - while the HOS has to handle the headaches, the job is not comparable to that of a business exec. They surround themselves with other well-paid administrators who handle much of the work. It’s really disgraceful how little the teachers make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at the heaviness of your school’s admin team. That’s where the money goes. The discrepancy between HOS salary and a teacher’s salary is just gross. Plus, the HOS often gets a house and possibly a car. Admins often get a month off in the summer. And I have taught in several DMV independent schools - while the HOS has to handle the headaches, the job is not comparable to that of a business exec. They surround themselves with other well-paid administrators who handle much of the work. It’s really disgraceful how little the teachers make.

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