How to help MCPS' lowest performing students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

[Anonymous]

On paper, they are making 60k. 7.5 percent comes out right off the bat for the pension system. Then there are union dues, nea dues, health care.
And the 60k is somewhat recent. Those of use who have been around for a while have only recently been making a good salary because the step scales were frozen for a bit, also salaries lagged before all the increases and cola. Just 10 years ago, I was making roughly 68k with 15 years of experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

Their salaries go up pretty quickly and most make 80-120K or more, same as police, fire, social workers and other government workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

On a two income family they should be fine but the problem is if they have kids child care can be more than their take home. I was in a similar position and I ended up quitting as child care was more than my take home and it wasn't a 9-5 steady job so a regular day care wouldn't work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

You can make it work. Many other professions have the same salary, really less as teachers are ten month employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

You can make it work. Many other professions have the same salary, really less as teachers are ten month employees.

And those people struggle too. (DP here.). No one is denying that there are many Montgomery County residents who make $60K or less-- we're saying it's really tough to raise a family in this county at that income and folks feel like they're barely getting by, and so teachers earning that income who have other better-paying options often will take them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

You can make it work. Many other professions have the same salary, really less as teachers are ten month employees.

And those people struggle too. (DP here.). No one is denying that there are many Montgomery County residents who make $60K or less-- we're saying it's really tough to raise a family in this county at that income and folks feel like they're barely getting by, and so teachers earning that income who have other better-paying options often will take them.

Understood but they don’t have to love in MoCo. Plenty of professionals don’t live where they work for the exact same reason. Instead they commute. Which is time consuming and yeah sucks but it’s reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

OP of the question- No I’m not asking why people struggle at 60K(or feel like it). I was more asking because the 60k is a starting salary and there are others in the area making similar salaries and they don’t get a guaranteed step each year +COLA. In fact, the Fed GS-8 Step 1 is about the same salary.

But I do understand a PPs response about this salary scale being fairly recent. I certainly sympathize with wanting to make more, I was trying to really understand, because I feel that sometimes salary discussions get lost beyond the norm vs comparisons with specific jobs like (docs, lawyers, or Tech SWE). And while I don’t believe that most CEOs and Executives are worth the salary they make, I know that’s not most people’s salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

You can make it work. Many other professions have the same salary, really less as teachers are ten month employees.

Easy for you to say. Go ahead and do tell them how. Do you expect them to live like drive-thru teenage workers or live in far end of WV and commute to MCPS schools? Talk is cheap. Show them the way since, obviously, you figured it out.

[Anonymous]

66k is not much once pension, healthcare, fed/state/Moco taxes, and (optional but not really) union dues are taken out. Don’t forget all the stuff teachers typically have to buy for their classrooms or to reward kids these days.

You are looking at about $4k a month in takehome income with no money from July to mid-September. Most unmarried teachers live paycheck to paycheck. That needs to cover housing (good luck!) student loans, food, etc.

When we do the math with high school students in class, everyone basically calculates that $80k is really the wage needed to live MoCo to account for all major and typical expenses.

[Anonymous]

If I lived any further, I wouldn’t make it in time to pick up my kids at daycare. They are there at 7am when it opens and most days I can make it there by 6pm when it closes unless there’s an accident. The owner is from a family of teachers and won’t charge me for being late. God love her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

You can make it work. Many other professions have the same salary, really less as teachers are ten month employees.

Easy for you to say. Go ahead and do tell them how. Do you expect them to live like drive-thru teenage workers or live in far end of WV and commute to MCPS schools? Talk is cheap. Show them the way since, obviously, you figured it out.

New poster here. I was an aide in DCPS, which ofcourse a little different from MCPS, finishing up my MA in ECE. My salary was $39k on paper, but I took home only $1020 every two weeks. I took the 403b contribution to the minimum and did not sign up for health unless it was done for me and is part of the reason my check was lower. There was a long list of 'benefits' I could not use at all. Free parking/help with commute were some examples.As a HH, I did not pay high taxes, so not sure where the money went. my tax refund wasn't different from my restaurant years.
Teachers have a lot more coming out of the paychecks than an aide would.
My $39k really felt like $24k. I stared at that peace of paper, but I will never figure out how $39k on the paper ended up $2040 take home a month. It had to do somewhat with the extra 2.5 summer months I didn't work, but I'm still missing a lot of pay.
Needless to say, I didn't stay and went back to the restaurant where I kept most of the money I saw on paper.
I had been low income earner (immigrant) since 1996. I'm a millionaire now. I developed money skills like no other. I could tell everyone how it's done. I survived on minimum wage or below at times for 25+ years as wage theft is normal in restaurants.
If anyone can do it, then it's the teachers as they are educated, learn all the time, and are resourceful.
I'm the only previously poor person I know that made it to UMC earning minimum wage, which tell me it can't be easy.
I managed to help my parents back at home to buy two homes and a car. I did way too much shopping, drinking, partying, some traveling in USA/ EU, and life included several financial mistakes. All on minimum wage and not even having a work permit the whole time.
Why can't a teacher who speaks English, has family/friends here for some support, and has a work permit, make it on low wage like I did? I cannot string two sentences together and I still made it.
Yes, I could tell everyone how it's done, but nobody would listen. I have tried. It is easier to say that I got lucky, than it is to learn and do the things I do. I learn something about money/personal finance every day. I had to. The money I take home, triples once at home. It's available to everyone.
Just like there's a snowball effect with debt, there's is one going up the hill making me money, but it's even bigger and stronger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:66k is not much once pension, healthcare, fed/state/Moco taxes, and (optional but not really) union dues are taken out. Don’t forget all the stuff teachers typically have to buy for their classrooms or to reward kids these days.

You are looking at about $4k a month in takehome income with no money from July to mid-September. Most unmarried teachers live paycheck to paycheck. That needs to cover housing (good luck!) student loans, food, etc.

When we do the math with high school students in class, everyone basically calculates that $80k is really the wage needed to live MoCo to account for all major and typical expenses.

Buying stuff for the classroom is a personal choice. If you can’t afford it, stop doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents working two jobs are your kids’ teachers.

I don’t stay after school because I work in another school’s after school program. It’s almost impossible to get a teaching spot at my school’s after school program because the teachers all need the money.

I think teachers should be paid more and support all initiatives for this. But MCPS teacher starting salary is 60k. There are lots of jobs in the DC area with similar or less. There is also plenty of outside tutoring opportunities available. How are teachers struggling in this area?

Asking seriously with no judgements.

I am not a teacher but are you "seriously" asking why someone who makes 60k/year struggles in this area? And your solution is "why don't you find additional work?" WTF PP??

You can make it work. Many other professions have the same salary, really less as teachers are ten month employees.

Easy for you to say. Go ahead and do tell them how. Do you expect them to live like drive-thru teenage workers or live in far end of WV and commute to MCPS schools? Talk is cheap. Show them the way since, obviously, you figured it out.

New poster here. I was an aide in DCPS, which ofcourse a little different from MCPS, finishing up my MA in ECE. My salary was $39k on paper, but I took home only $1020 every two weeks. I took the 403b contribution to the minimum and did not sign up for health unless it was done for me and is part of the reason my check was lower. There was a long list of 'benefits' I could not use at all. Free parking/help with commute were some examples.As a HH, I did not pay high taxes, so not sure where the money went. my tax refund wasn't different from my restaurant years.
Teachers have a lot more coming out of the paychecks than an aide would.
My $39k really felt like $24k. I stared at that peace of paper, but I will never figure out how $39k on the paper ended up $2040 take home a month. It had to do somewhat with the extra 2.5 summer months I didn't work, but I'm still missing a lot of pay.
Needless to say, I didn't stay and went back to the restaurant where I kept most of the money I saw on paper.
I had been low income earner (immigrant) since 1996. I'm a millionaire now. I developed money skills like no other. I could tell everyone how it's done. I survived on minimum wage or below at times for 25+ years as wage theft is normal in restaurants.
If anyone can do it, then it's the teachers as they are educated, learn all the time, and are resourceful.
I'm the only previously poor person I know that made it to UMC earning minimum wage, which tell me it can't be easy.
I managed to help my parents back at home to buy two homes and a car. I did way too much shopping, drinking, partying, some traveling in USA/ EU, and life included several financial mistakes. All on minimum wage and not even having a work permit the whole time.
Why can't a teacher who speaks English, has family/friends here for some support, and has a work permit, make it on low wage like I did? I cannot string two sentences together and I still made it.
Yes, I could tell everyone how it's done, but nobody would listen. I have tried. It is easier to say that I got lucky, than it is to learn and do the things I do. I learn something about money/personal finance every day. I had to. The money I take home, triples once at home. It's available to everyone.
Just like there's a snowball effect with debt, theirs is one going up the hill making me money, but it's even bigger and stronger.

And you raised kids alone on your salary and now have $$$&$? If so, share your ideas.