How to help MCPS' lowest performing students?

[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.

[Anonymous]

Why? Take your money advice to Money forum.

[Anonymous]

I guess they think teachers are easily manipulated to fudge the numbers bc they are so desperate for money and keeping a roof over their head. Admin can make them jump through any hoops and the new ones don't have any job security. It's a horrible place to be in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yeah. This sounds like one of those anecdotes presented to suggest things aren't really as they seem...until you see the detail and realoze that the conditions are so idiosyncratic as to be irreproduceable without significant hardship.

I can see why people might not want to pay teachers well, as they are the main interface most have with the disappointments, justified or not, they experience in education, and the pay comes from the tax base. I can see where some teachers are deserving of criticism. I can see where a higher teaching standard should be sought, and where the union tends to foil such initiatives.

You get what you pay for, though, and, while you can get individual excellence in a few cases in spite of a low pay scale (societally speaking, not in comparison to other districts but considering the remuneration available in alternate careers), broadly high quality teaching requires broadly high pay, and broadly good working conditions, to boot -- reasonable student discipline policies, properly compensated trainings, well supplied classrooms, decent facility conditions, manageable workloads, etc.

Again, with the union there protecting those who might not thrive with performance-based compensation, and with that not going away any time soon, I'd think that the system might pursue a non-bargaining-unit, incentive-laden payscale for those willing to take on the challenge of addressing the needs of those students/school communities struggling most.

Of course, there is a significant resident population who have less vested interest in providing a high-quality public education (perhaps no kids/kids already grown, disregarding the societal benefits of educating others that accrue to them) who might have to be convinced to foot the bill.

[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.

It’s better than what county workers get paid. They can spread out their checks over 12 months and take summer jobs. This isn’t anything new. Many of us made that much or less starting out. We got roommates, carefully grocery shopped, etc. no different now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess they think teachers are easily manipulated to fudge the numbers bc they are so desperate for money and keeping a roof over their head. Admin can make them jump through any hoops and the new ones don't have any job security. It's a horrible place to be in.

It’s no different than working a county job except MCPS pays better, ten month job, and better benefits. This is why you see a number of teachers, social workers, and others stop working when they have kids. They cannot afford child care. Years ago the county talked about building work force child care but did nothing. At my job anyone married usually quit to stay home after a child as day care was as much as take home and no god way to make it work as there were often long days and day cares stopped at 6 or so, etc. I couldn’t afford to work and child care was an issue as my spouse worked an hour away and with traffic couldn’t get to the day care on time.

[Anonymous]

And I just want to add to this that many of the young teachers are in student debt. And if they are starting out fresh out of undergrad, they have to get their masters degree within a certain time frame, so they are doing classes at night and they are also doing tutoring to make ends meet. With the new pay scale and (hopefully) the opportunity to continue to get National Board Certification, more teachers will stay because in the later years, the salary is good. My daughter has had some wonderful teachers, many coming out of Towson.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So can't reduce class size. Then increase number of teachers in each classroom.

Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. You are lucky is you actually have a trained teacher in your kid’s classroom these days. So many random subs.

If teachers knew they were going to have an extra person in the classroom everyday, many would be happier and not looking to exit. It would ease their work load.

Our daughter went to RHES past two years (K and 1). Their class size was about 24-26 students and both years they had a teacher assistant present. Seniors from Universities. Not for the whole year, but for large amount of time. We thought it’s a common practice at all ES in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So can't reduce class size. Then increase number of teachers in each classroom.

Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. You are lucky is you actually have a trained teacher in your kid’s classroom these days. So many random subs.

If teachers knew they were going to have an extra person in the classroom everyday, many would be happier and not looking to exit. It would ease their work load.

Our daughter went to RHES past two years (K and 1). Their class size was about 24-26 students and both years they had a teacher assistant present. Seniors from Universities. Not for the whole year, but for large amount of time. We thought it’s a common practice at all ES in MoCo.

It common. That’s a student teacher not assistant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I just want to add to this that many of the young teachers are in student debt. And if they are starting out fresh out of undergrad, they have to get their masters degree within a certain time frame, so they are doing classes at night and they are also doing tutoring to make ends meet. With the new pay scale and (hopefully) the opportunity to continue to get National Board Certification, more teachers will stay because in the later years, the salary is good. My daughter has had some wonderful teachers, many coming out of Towson.

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.

The extra pay for National Board is only funded through 2032 or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So can't reduce class size. Then increase number of teachers in each classroom.

Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. You are lucky is you actually have a trained teacher in your kid’s classroom these days. So many random subs.

If teachers knew they were going to have an extra person in the classroom everyday, many would be happier and not looking to exit. It would ease their work load.

Our daughter went to RHES past two years (K and 1). Their class size was about 24-26 students and both years they had a teacher assistant present. Seniors from Universities. Not for the whole year, but for large amount of time. We thought it’s a common practice at all ES in MoCo.

It common. That’s a student teacher not assistant.

Not nearly as many student teachers around as there used to be. Soon there won’t be more than a few each year. Years ago enrollment in teacher prep programs was down by 30% and that was before Covid.