Teachers: how much do you get paid?

amother

Caramel

Wed, May 25 2022, 5:09 pm

Playgroup teacher here.
I work 6 hours and 15 mins a day, half day on Fridays. I have prep work, too.
No summers bh. When I started, I made 24k. I now make about 30k.

amother

Sienna

Wed, May 25 2022, 6:19 pm

What would be a decent salary? Do you consider the hourly pay or the annual pay?
With reduced hours, a second job or tutoring is an option, while those in full time job dont have that.
Tutors can charge $60/ hour - often while working at home, seeing 1 kid after the next. Tax free. (Thats what I pay)

I have said this before on other places - I don't agree all these additional 'breaks' and extras that some get, but not others. No teacher should get free tuition. Its a great perk for those that get it, but there is no fairness. Pay teachers a decent enough wage that they can afford to send their children to your school, or choose the school of their choice.

I work in a professional office. Never get bonus. Have to take time off to see my kids plays. Never get additional days off before YT. B"H I have the option to choose my vacation days, but vacation days get used up pretty quickly when YT falls out mid week and often had to take unpaid leave. B"H my office is accommodating to at least that.

amother

DarkRed

Wed, May 25 2022, 6:21 pm

High school, 15 years of experience.
17 periods, $35/hr- and this is the highest paid. For years it's been 26. Only get paid for the amount of weeks that school is in session, divided over 12 months.
The prep and grading isn't just "take home work" but brutal sleepless nights night after night (since it isn't one class you are with the whole time like in elementary, you could be testing class after class with many tests/assignments to grade at a time.) It comes out to about 1700 pre-tax/month.
The smaller the school, the less of a chance of teaching the same material to different classes.

amother

Amethyst

Wed, May 25 2022, 6:59 pm

amother [ DarkRed ] wrote:

Right. So this is what I don’t get. I currently earn very little because I only teach five classes a week. And those five classes- technically less than five hours a week!- take over my life. Maybe it’s because it’s just my first year back (I took a long break working in various offices when my husband was in kollel and started teaching again once he went to work) but there is so much prep. So many reports. The grading is insane. I suppose if I taught 20 classes a week then my salary would be significant (about $760 a week pre tax) but how does everyone have the brain space for so much work? My school is small so it would mean multiple subjects, which means double or triple the prep instead of teaching the same class multiple times. And even if it was the same class, marking 120 essays versus 30 means hours and hours more of home time. How do you all do it?
With inflation and all, I think my teaching stint is short lived. The school schedule is amazing- I hate signing my kids up for every in between camp at thousands of extra dollars a year and they cry when they go as well. But it’s so hard. My side business is doing way worse because I don’t have the head for it- I was doing better on my side job when I worked 10-3 with no take-home stress than my “measly five hours” now.

I love teaching. I always said I’d go back to it when I could afford it. Well, looks like I’ve got to be rich enough to be a sahm in order to teach without financial stress…

amother

Burlywood

Wed, May 25 2022, 8:09 pm

amother [ Sunflower ] wrote:

Many morahs can only work part time because we are mothers first. Pregnancy and postpartum, raising a family, are not exactly ideal conditions for working full time.
The Rebbis need to answer this poll, they have full time salaries.

Most families need two full time incomes to manage. We are mothers, too, and somehow we manage.

DVOM

Wed, May 25 2022, 9:18 pm

banana123 wrote:

I love how every thread on teachers' salaries turns into a bash-fest about how teachers don't deserve even the salary they are earning and certainly don't deserve to be paid more.

I think we'd all be delighted to have teachers paid more, so long as the extra salary wasn't literally coming out of our pockets. It's the assumption that teachers need and deserve raises more than anyone else, are struggling more than anyone else, and schools can therefore raise tuition across the board that's getting everyone's panties in a twist.

amother

Pink

Wed, May 25 2022, 9:37 pm

amother [ Phlox ] wrote:

You should really research it well before you switch. I know someone who just left public school and walked away from all the benefits because she could not take it anymore

The hours are brutal. There is no flexibility or understanding. I know people who have worked the day of their child's wedding and the day after. You won't be able to go to your kids school events. You will not be able to leave early to pick up a sick kid. You will not be able to schedule any appointments during school hours.
The pressure from the administration is enormous. There is a huge amount of paperwork required (way more than any Jewish school).
You will have to pay extra for childcare for all the days when jewish schools have off and you do not (such as the week before pesach, last 2 weeks of june etc).
Your dh needs to be really on board with this because he will be picking up the slack. All the women I know in PS have dh's with super flexible schedules

This. I am walking away from my $83k salary (NYC) and 10 months of work at the end of this school year. I've reached the end of my rope after six brutal years.

Besides all of the things you mentioned, there's also the fact that in many public schools, you're teaching kids at such a low level that it becomes a mental and emotional drain. Teaching kids who can barely do 2 + 2 at a high school level and don't have an IEP sucked all the joy out of my day. Maybe that means I shouldn't be teaching, since ideally I should be prepared to cater to all students regardless of their level. But I see this level of burnout across the board. Yes, there are better schools, but this is the reality in a typical NYC public school.

dancingqueen

Wed, May 25 2022, 10:04 pm

DVOM wrote:

Until now RW schools have been a lot less expensive. MO schools are a lot more partially because they pay the teachers better. It sounds like things might be starting to change.

amother

Phlox

Wed, May 25 2022, 10:14 pm

dancingqueen wrote:

Until now RW schools have been a lot less expensive. MO schools are a lot more partially because they pay the teachers better. It sounds like things might be starting to change.

One difference is that MO schools provide a much better education. I don't think the RW schools are improving the quality of their education. They're just charging more for the same thing.

amother

Strawberry

Thu, May 26 2022, 1:13 am

amother [ Phlox ] wrote:

One difference is that MO schools provide a much better education. I don't think the RW schools are improving the quality of their education. They're just charging more for the same thing.

I don't know that RW parents want an improvement in the education. Look at the chinuch thread...

banana123

Thu, May 26 2022, 1:27 am

DVOM wrote:

No one assumes that teachers deserve raises more than anyone else. But teachers across the board are severely underpaid. So are some other professions, like (at least in Israel) speech therapists and occupational therapists, and I think we all support for them to be given raises as well.

Look, there are low-paying jobs and high-paying jobs. But the three professionals I mentioned all pay for degrees, sometimes above the standard BA, and their pay should be commensurate with that - but it's not. They all also don't receive raises annually and pretty much can't, unlike in many other professions, which do receive regular raises commensurate with experience.

No one is saying teachers deserve it more, only that teachers deserve it just like everyone else and across the board aren't getting it.

When a private OT needs a raise she charges her clients more. For lawyers to get a raise they charge their clients more. For hi-tech workers to get a raise their companies need to be bringing in more revenue. This really works across the board. Graphic design offices change their prices too, over the years.

Teachers work in schools, schools' clients are the parents, and so the client is the one asked to foot the bill for the raise.

Is it fair? Yes, from a professional perspective.
Is it easy for parents? No, not at all.
Are both teachers and parents struggling? Yes, of course.
Can we help both teachers and parents at the same time? Not usually - usually when there are tuition cuts it means less money to pay the teachers, and in many religious schools the teachers don't actually get paid regularly and they keep teaching anyways.
Not paying teachers a competitive salary will impact who goes into teaching and how many quality teachers stay in the field.
Not charging enough tuition will influence how much the schools can offer the students and their families. (Security guard? School counselor? In-school psychologist for the kids? School nurse? Phys ed or art? Field trips? New textbooks? A working a/c in every classroom?)

The biggest issue here is that while not everyone hires a lawyer in their lifetime, and not everyone hires a graphic designer, and not everyone pays out of pocket for hi-tech products, and not everyone pays out of pocket for ST or OT, every single parent out there needs a school for his/her children. And for religious families that means that every single child in a large family needs to attend an expensive private school. (For ST or OT, if there were no subsidized options then everyone would be paying for the raise out of pocket, but still not every child needs ST or OT, and even those who do can "do without" more easily than they can do without school. If DOE or another government entity pays for the raise then they'll either cut something else or taxes will be raised, but that is less "felt" than a more direct increase in cost.)

The issue here isn't that teachers shouldn't have a raise, or who deserves a raise, or anything like that.

The issue is that unlike in other professions, a raise for teachers impacts every. single. family. in a community, in a very direct way.

And that is nobody's fault. But there is also nothing anyone can do about it, so long as the schools aren't funded by the government.

amother

Clematis

Thu, May 26 2022, 9:18 am

amother [ Sunflower ] wrote:

Um so all moms who work at non teaching jobs arent "mothers first"? Or dont have pregnancy, post partum, arent raising their children...?
I work full time at a non teaching job and do ALL that. I only work to support my kids and pay tuition. Literally - if tuition didnt exist I could definitely cut back my hours to part time and still "make it".

But your salary should not be increased for your life choices. Besides being illegal, you shouldnt make more because you are married, have kids, are older...

Despite what some moms out there think- you CAN work full time and be a mom. You can prioritize your family while working outside the home.

amother

Brass

Thu, May 26 2022, 9:57 am

Everyone seems to be missing the glaring point here. Life is not about right, wrong, or fair. If Noone wants to teach, we won't have teachers unless we pay them enough to want to.
I don't think my cleaning lady deserves $20 an hour, but if I want the cleaning help I will have to pay it.
This idea that 'the school' should fundraise etc is absurd. A school (definitely in lkwd) is a business. The main guy at the top is either working hard for your school or not. But you don't really have much choice in the matter especially being that it is so difficult to even get into a school. The reality is awful but I don't see how anyone can get around it.

amother

Sunflower

Thu, May 26 2022, 10:04 am

amother [ Clematis ] wrote:

Not every woman has the stamina to be a mother and work full time.
Regardless my quote is taken out of context. I was explaining why this poll doesn't make sense.

amother

Electricblue

Thu, May 26 2022, 5:35 pm

Did you realize that free tuition is tax free

amother

Tomato

Thu, May 26 2022, 6:54 pm

amother [ Electricblue ] wrote:

Did you realize that free tuition is tax free

Obviously. I count that towards my salary every year as I make my decision.

amother

Grape

Thu, May 26 2022, 6:56 pm

amother [ Strawberry ] wrote:

I don't know that RW parents want an improvement in the education. Look at the chinuch thread...

I think ppl want it on our terms.
Not the government.