Anonymous wrote: I would absolutely become a teacher for $70k+/year.

PP here. Your comment makes me wonder who else would enter teaching (primary or secondary) if salaries were higher relative to salaries of other graduates in the workforce, as they are in some other countries.

Business Insider: What Teacher Pay Looks Like In The Rest Of The World
http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-where-teachers-get-paid-more-2013-7

"US high school teachers are paid 72 percent as much as all college graduates in the workforce, while in other OECD countries, that figure is 90 percent (Exhibit 35)."

"Countries with exceptional student achievement treat teaching as a highly selective profession that is accorded tremendous prestige and competitive compensation," wrote the authors. "Only the very best students are admitted into teaching programs in Singapore, Finland, and South Korea, for example, and standards are especially high for elementary school teachers"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and work my tail off and don't make much more. Yet not one feels sorry for us.

+1. Lawyer for 3 years, $60k, one week off per year and no retirement contribution. To contribute to the education discussion, though, DH makes $58k as a 5th year professor of English at a large public university (not in DC, we are in NC), which I also find pretty meh.

Lawyer, Is your DH on the tenure track? Have you considered changing career paths to teach secondary level Social Studies? Or if your area of law is science-related, to teach Science?

He is, he will be up for tenure after next academic year, but the salary pump is only $5k and there will only be one more salary bump after that. $58k was his starting salary, and they were upfront that there would only be two raises of 4-5K each. As an attorney at a small-ish firm, the more money I bring in, the more money I will make - but I also have small kids and care about my quality of life, so I'm expecting a slow incline on the work front (at least until kids are older). I put in my best when I'm there, but I'm not working crazy hours to make partner or $$$. I've thought about teaching and do know some lawyers who now teach Civics or Social Studies, and one who became a principal (he'd been a teacher for some years before practicing law) - in my region, though, I'd cap at about 50k salary for middle/high school teaching. I'm amazed that some are pulling 70k-100k, which is more than my husband will ever hope to make as a professor. I would absolutely become a teacher for $70k+/year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and work my tail off and don't make much more. Yet not one feels sorry for us.

+1. Lawyer for 3 years, $60k, one week off per year and no retirement contribution. To contribute to the education discussion, though, DH makes $58k as a 5th year professor of English at a large public university (not in DC, we are in NC), which I also find pretty meh.

Lawyer, Is your DH on the tenure track? Have you considered changing career paths to teach secondary level Social Studies? Or if your area of law is science-related, to teach Science?

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Anonymous wrote:$50k is nice, but it's hard to support a family in this area without another income. It's ridiculous.

The salary is a bit misleading because of working 9 months. take the salary divide by nine then times 12 is the real salary, that ls not including the gold plated health and ension benifits.

Where do people come up with nine months? Around here teachers work through most of June and go back in September which leaves July and August when most teachers I know are taking continuing ed classes or material for the next year.

So true. I am out of my classroom around June 20 and back in around Aug 10. School in the District doesn't start after labor day. It usually starts around Aug 25. I work at camp in the summer. Take about three weeks off in July to be with my family at our lake cottage in upstate NY to rest and regain my sanity so I can start all over again. I teach Pre-K. It is physically and emotionally tiring, but I pretty much love it. Can't imagine being in a desk job.

I have tons of respect for teachers and think they are underpaid, undervalued etc but you know 3 weeks of straight vacation isn't possible in most other jobs, right? What an incredible perk!

It's not a "perk." It's unpaid. My contract was ten months. You can, of course, be paid in 12 installments, but you are working a ten-month job. Let's just be clear. You are also unpaid for countless hours on nights and weekends. There's nothing remotely gold-plated about teaching. I left, even though I loved it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$50k is nice, but it's hard to support a family in this area without another income. It's ridiculous.

The salary is a bit misleading because of working 9 months. take the salary divide by nine then times 12 is the real salary, that ls not including the gold plated health and ension benifits.

I'm replying before checking to see if someone else has, but please, by all means break it down by hours worked in AND out of the classroom during those 9 months and then any work during the 3 months "off" and see if it doesn't more than cover a traditional 12-month job...

You are funny, PP. Ive met tons and tons of stressed out nurses, doctors, lawyers and office workers. I am surrounded by teachers (mom, sister, best friend, my kids' teachers, and NONE of them are stressed. They live on easy street. Dont try to bs and say otherwise. But im in Cali, where they all make 80k+ and only work 180days (half the year!!).

They only work the days students are in the room? Plus you know for a fact that your kids' teachers aren't stressed. Wow. I'd like to be sol knowledgeable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and work my tail off and don't make much more. Yet not one feels sorry for us.

+1. Lawyer for 3 years, $60k, one week off per year and no retirement contribution. To contribute to the education discussion, though, DH makes $58k as a 5th year professor of English at a large public university (not in DC, we are in NC), which I also find pretty meh.

The starting salaries are comparable to most other professional careers. The problem is the lack of growth over the years.

Fair enough. I'm the PP and it's true that my potential for salary growth over time is much greater than my husband's.

His potential for better quality of life is greater than mine, however, as he does get two months off in the summer, does not have to account for every second of his day with billing, has a lot of flexibility with when and how he works, and will not have to contribute a large portion of his salary to retirement contributions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and work my tail off and don't make much more. Yet not one feels sorry for us.

+1. Lawyer for 3 years, $60k, one week off per year and no retirement contribution. To contribute to the education discussion, though, DH makes $58k as a 5th year professor of English at a large public university (not in DC, we are in NC), which I also find pretty meh.

The starting salaries are comparable to most other professional careers. The problem is the lack of growth over the years.

Anonymous wrote:I'll hit close to $100K by the year's end b/c they factored steps back into the system. I'll be at an 18 with a masters plus 30 (should be at a 21 but took childcare leave).

At this point I could never find a job that paid me that salary and gave fantastic benefits (health and retirement - And we fund our own, too.)

I've been offered jobs in the private sector, but nothing came close.

Holy crap, what and where do you teach?

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and work my tail off and don't make much more. Yet not one feels sorry for us.

+1. Lawyer for 3 years, $60k, one week off per year and no retirement contribution. To contribute to the education discussion, though, DH makes $58k as a 5th year professor of English at a large public university (not in DC, we are in NC), which I also find pretty meh.

Anonymous wrote:It is public knowledge. Any public school website has the information.

Here is MCPS. Teachers are on pg. 2 under "Teacher/Other MCEA Positions" If you know the # of years someone has been teaching, you will pretty much know their salary (except we are currently two steps behind. So if someone has been teaching for 12 years, they are making what 10 year teachers make).

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/ersc/employees/pay/schedules/Salary_Schedule_FY2014.pdf

Except there was a freeze on steps for the past 3 years. At least in MCPS.