You would have to pay three to four times as much tuition. Payroll is the most expensive line item by far in private school budgets. |
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| Sadly true. I’m a teacher and one of my children wants to be one. She is in college now and I have done everything to discourage her from teaching. It’s not possible to make a living wage. Unless you are married to a money maker it isn’t sustainable. I think I have succeeded. She just added a second major and is less excited about being a teacher. It’s too bad, she would be amazing as a teacher. |
They would just divert the money to managers, facilities, and fundraising. Private schools and tutoring companies exist to teach, but that's not where a lot of money goes. If 10 students generate $500k, the corresponding teacher gets less than 20%. Simple math. If you want to pay great teachers, hire them directly for that $120 an hour you think they deserve. |
| Interesting read. I just left DCPS and was @ top of the PhD payscale. I’m interviewing tomorrow at a big private here in the DC area. Sounds like with 15 years experience in the classroom and a PhD I should expect around $75-80? |
Can someone explain this to me? Harvard pays its professor an average salary of 226K/year on a 52.6K/year in tuition while Sidwell school tuition for upper school is almost 51.6K/year but I don't think Sidwell school pays its teachers 226K/year. I am sure Sidwell school also has wealthy donors just like Harvard. Where does the money go? |
To baseline a bit, $240 k/yr is a typical Principal Software Engineer salary in Silly Valley, usually meaning someone with 20-30 years experience and a Masters degree. Entry-level software engineers with a BSCS out there are a bit over $100 k/yr. There is a distinct pyramid shape to those industry job openings, as well… Question: Are the big 3 paying a noticeable salary supplement (or some kind of alternate pay scale) to faculty teaching STEM who have a STEM degree ? |
This is not accurate. My daughter works for Apple and my son works for Google, and they both have BS degrees in CS from University of Virginia in 2021. My son was paid 175K/yr by Google after graduation and my daughter was paid 165K/year by Apple in Software Engineering. Both of them are working remotely. Both of them also attended one of the big-3 schools. You don't need a Master degree with 20 - 30 years of experience to make 240K. I work in cyber security with 25 years of experience and my salary is 400K/yr. The point is that teachers at the big 3 should be compensated just like Google Software Engineers. It is ridiculous that teachers at a big 3 with many years of experience got paid less than a recent graduate Software Engineer. |
Sure, so you're going to go from 40k a year to 120k? I guess you could drastically reduce the size of the school and get rid of the pretense of serving anyone other than the truly wealthy and then pay teachers accordingly. |
Harvard has a $53 BILLION endowment that produces a few billion dollars per year in dividends at a minimum. They basically have an infinite pool of money to draw on, so overpaying anyone they like is easy. Maybe if more parents demanded accountability for private school spending, something could change. But most of it stays in the black box where only the board and a few administrators know all the details. The bottom line is that society values computer programmers and lawyers parsing contracts far above educating their children. Seems stupid but there it is. No denying the numbers. |
The bottom line is that parents choosing private want small class sizes. That leaves fewer students to spread the teacher salary across. Those parents also demand nice grounds and facilities and a high level of service both of which cost money. Would you be willing to pay double or triple to pay your child's teacher in a manner that you think is appropriate? Would you be willing to balloon their class sizes to get more tuition dollars to increase salaries? |
This was years ago and at the time I had twelve years of experience, and came in at Step 8 I think. Between the raise, the pension, and the health insurance, my overall package with MCPS is dramatically better. |
As parents with kids at a big 3 school, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get teachers' salaries to a competitive level. If I have to pay double the tuition I am paying now, so be it. What we need is smart people to become teachers, and paying them a salary like Google engineers will encourage more of them into teaching careers. Don't the big 3 schools have a big endowment and wealthy donors? I am sure they wouldn't mind giving money to the school to attract teaching talents. |
That average salary at Harvard, if it’s for FT, tenure-track faculty, will include faculty who hold endowed chairs. It may also include deans, it may include research faculty, etc. It’s not an apples to apples comparison. |
Private schools and tutoring companies exist to make money by charging as much as possible and paying as little as possible. |