Unpopular opinion: DCPS teachers are super well paid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who feels adequately compensated.

Yesterday I fixed a toilet, picked up trash outside of my school, swept my classroom, provided my own paper and toner, ran a club during my lunch ‘break,’ contacted 15 parents, graded 100+ papers, and taught the children.

My school does not have enough teachers and for several years in a row multiple teachers have had to absorb kids from other groups.

We could be paid less if DC punished children more. The only thing keeping me in a place where I’ve been punched is $$.

+1 Fellow teacher who "fixes" the toilet daily, buys most of my own supplies, has been hit by children, gotten lice from comforting them, and is home sick today from contacting their viruses.

*contracting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

[Anonymous]

Keep your gift cards. Send your kids to school on time, engaged, and excited about learning. Ask the mayor to ensure I don’t have to spend my own money on things like copy paper, Kleenex, and expo markers.

Ensure your students don’t lose their tablets or chargers so that they can actually do work on Canvas. Stop texting and calling your kids during class. Ask the principal to provide and mandate cell phone locker usage so I don’t have to request that phones are put away multiple times during class. Teach your children to be respectful and not cursing like sailors. Stop your kids from skipping class and roaming the halls. Think about the grading policy and how it removes student accountability and the way it sets them up for failure in the future.

I don’t mind my salary because I know teachers in surrounding cities make much less. Here’s a thought, if we are so overpaid, why are there so many teacher vacancies at many schools? Five teachers have left my school since the start of the school year and I know of at least four more (including me) who don’t plan to return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

I don’t understand. The chart is literally a list of salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

Private sector, the number is usually around half. Taxes and benefits are expensive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

In the budget, they put the average total cost (which includes all the benefits and add ons). The average teacher salary isn't easy to find but it is listed as $93,823 here https://joindcps.dc.gov/become-a-dc-teacher. The starting salary is $63,373. In the budget, whether a teacher makes $63K or $93K, they are listed at the average "total cost" of about $130K.

For how they calculate the average total cost, see https://dcpsbudget.com/budget-model/average-position-cost/.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

Private sector, the number is usually around half. Taxes and benefits are expensive

Are you saying taxes and benefits are half of the cost of an employee? Like someone makes $50k, the insurance and taxes are also $50k?

One non-profit in DC lists a max salary of $115k and says it has a payroll tax of $8500 and benefits about $4500.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

Someone posted a chart. When I used to do a budget for a charter school I was told that of every dollar allocated for a position I could offer 60% in salary and the rest would go to training/PD, subs to cover sick leave and professional coverage (e.g. sub for IEP meeting) and benefits.

Someone else here posted that a 27% figure. I wasn’t sure if that person was in education. But anyway, that comes to 75K to 90K. Which is probably about right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

Private sector, the number is usually around half. Taxes and benefits are expensive

There have been multiple comments, including the one above, indicating that a salary number on a public website is not a teacher's actual salary, but the money allocated to the school to cover the teacher position, and includes money for "company provided benefits" (is that benefits provided by the school beyond the DCPS provided benefits like health insurance? I don't understand) and subs. So I am trying to understand how much a teacher actually makes them.

If a teacher is listed as making 126k on a website listing public employee salaries, then what is that teacher's actual salary before taxes? I have no idea what the teacher's step increase might be, and only vaguely know years of service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

Someone posted a chart. When I used to do a budget for a charter school I was told that of every dollar allocated for a position I could offer 60% in salary and the rest would go to training/PD, subs to cover sick leave and professional coverage (e.g. sub for IEP meeting) and benefits.

Someone else here posted that a 27% figure. I wasn’t sure if that person was in education. But anyway, that comes to 75K to 90K. Which is probably about right.

So are you saying that if a specific teacher is listed as making 126k on a website listing public employee salaries, that teacher is actually making 90k?

I ask because my spouse is a public employee (not a teacher) and their salary is listed online and it's their actual salary. So I assumed that the same was true for teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

Someone posted a chart. When I used to do a budget for a charter school I was told that of every dollar allocated for a position I could offer 60% in salary and the rest would go to training/PD, subs to cover sick leave and professional coverage (e.g. sub for IEP meeting) and benefits.

Someone else here posted that a 27% figure. I wasn’t sure if that person was in education. But anyway, that comes to 75K to 90K. Which is probably about right.

So are you saying that if a specific teacher is listed as making 126k on a website listing public employee salaries, that teacher is actually making 90k?

I ask because my spouse is a public employee (not a teacher) and their salary is listed online and it's their actual salary. So I assumed that the same was true for teachers.

You are confusing two things. Right now the outrage is because parents are seeing budgets and what a teacher “costs” which I believe is about $133k. This is the average actual cost to hiring a teacher and includes things like health insurance.

When you look up salaries in a public database you get the actual salary paid to the teacher. Which could be lower or higher than $133 because that’s an average.

The reason for averages is the district doesn’t want to incentivize hiring less experienced teachers to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

In the budget, they put the average total cost (which includes all the benefits and add ons). The average teacher salary isn't easy to find but it is listed as $93,823 here https://joindcps.dc.gov/become-a-dc-teacher. The starting salary is $63,373. In the budget, whether a teacher makes $63K or $93K, they are listed at the average "total cost" of about $130K.

For how they calculate the average total cost, see https://dcpsbudget.com/budget-model/average-position-cost/.

I'm not talking about a line in a budget, I'm talking about something like this, that lists salaries by name:

https://dchr.dc.gov/public-employee-salary-information

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

Someone posted a chart. When I used to do a budget for a charter school I was told that of every dollar allocated for a position I could offer 60% in salary and the rest would go to training/PD, subs to cover sick leave and professional coverage (e.g. sub for IEP meeting) and benefits.

Someone else here posted that a 27% figure. I wasn’t sure if that person was in education. But anyway, that comes to 75K to 90K. Which is probably about right.

So are you saying that if a specific teacher is listed as making 126k on a website listing public employee salaries, that teacher is actually making 90k?

I ask because my spouse is a public employee (not a teacher) and their salary is listed online and it's their actual salary. So I assumed that the same was true for teachers.

Teacher here-My salary is lower than what’s listed for sure. Also keep in mind that we are not paid for 12 months of work for 26 checks. Money is taken from our checks each pay period to cover our summer pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our school budget. Our librarian makes $140k. Most teachers make about $130k and they work for 9 months per year and they get a pension.
I am happy for them but people have to stop with pressuring parents to give them gift cards, valentine presents and all the talk about them not being well paid.
By

This is not valid in other states. I am just talking about DCPS and probably DC metro and other big cities.

That’s it 🙂

Yup. I have 20 years experience and am in a senior role at my large nonprofit and make $126. We have had some lovely, lovely teachers and assistants when my kids were at a title 1 elementary, and I was generous with the gifts. But I no longer go overboard or give gifts to individual teachers in middle and hs. They are professionals!

Do you get $126 gross pay, or is $126 allocated for your salary, any benefits your company employer pays, subs if you are absent etc . . .?

Because a line item in a budget is not a salary.

If 126k is allocated for a teacher, approximately what is their actual salary (pre-tax)?

You managed to not see it posted twice.

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/page_content/attachments/WTU%20FY20-FY23.pdf

This does not answer my question.

Private sector, the number is usually around half. Taxes and benefits are expensive

Are you saying taxes and benefits are half of the cost of an employee? Like someone makes $50k, the insurance and taxes are also $50k?

One non-profit in DC lists a max salary of $115k and says it has a payroll tax of $8500 and benefits about $4500.

Those benefits are terrible. Good health insurance for a family can cost an employer 20k a year