6 ms·

I'm not saying teachers don't deserve to be paid more, but I was surprised to see how much Bay Area teachers make. It's public info for public schools.[1] In S

by gundmc 7y ago

I'm not saying teachers don't deserve to be paid more, but I was surprised to see how much Bay Area teachers make. It's public info for public schools.[1] In Santa Clara County, with no experience, starting salary is $71000. It increases on a schedule each year up to over $131000. Honestly, the job security, structured pay, and 3 months vacation per year is a pretty darn good deal. [1] - https://www.santaclarausd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1212&dataid=4345&FileName=TEACHERS%20188%20DAYS-3_1-8-19.pdf https://www.santaclarausd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ash...

rockinghigh 7y ago
You picked an outlier. Most schools districts in the Bay Area (including San Francisco) have starting salaries for teachers in the $50k-$60k range. And in my experience, teachers work a lot more than 40 hours a week. I picked 3 randomly below: Redwood City: https://www.rcsdk8.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=2086&dataid=35170&FileName=RCTA%202019.07.01.pdf https://www.rcsdk8.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?modul... San Mateo: http://www.smfcsd.net/en/assets/files/Employment%20and%20HR/Salary%20Schedules/19-20%20SMETA%20Salary%20Schedules%20Final%20Board%20Approve%20Jan%2010%202019.pdf http://www.smfcsd.net/en/assets/files/Employment%20and%20HR/... San Francisco: https://archive.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/contract%20and%20salary%20schedules/19-20%20salary%20schedule%20K-12%20teachers.pdf https://archive.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/contract%20a...
- gundmc 7y ago
  Thanks for the additional data points!
- archi42 7y ago
  Enen with tech workers complaining about the high rents, I wonder how bad teachers fare? Or are these districts in "cheap" areas?
  - chris11 7y ago
    San Mateo and Redwood City are both expensive, but not as bad as SF. One article reported median rents were about 2.4k, which makes sense. There a few places advertising lower rents, but not many, and at that price you are giving stuff up. SF is worse. Another issue is the commute. Traffic is really bad, so finding a cheaper place farther away from work will cost you in time and energy, especially if you have to cross a bridge. It's so bad that some districts, including San Mateo, are building their own housing for teachers. https://edsource.org/2019/in-need-of-teacher-housing-more-california-school-districts-building-their-own/611220 https://edsource.org/2019/in-need-of-teacher-housing-more-ca... https://sf.curbed.com/2019/8/20/20814179/housing-crisis-teachers-educators-san-francisco-average-rent https://sf.curbed.com/2019/8/20/20814179/housing-crisis-teac...
    - notfromhere 7y ago
      2.4k on rent when you're making between 31-3700 post-tax is kinda brutal.
- piterdevries 7y ago
  "Teachers work" LOL good one
crooked-v 7y ago
> 3 months vacation per year This perception is usually pretty inaccurate. There's no time given during the school year for essentials like curriculum development, continuing education requirements, training new teachers, etc, so that eats up time during the summer 'break'. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/myth-of-teacher-summer-vacation/397535/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/myth-o... > Klem says she’s spending the rest of her summer this year attending meetings, developing school curriculum, helping train new teachers, and contacting families of her students, among other tasks. Past summers, she says, have been equally busy: graduate-school coursework to complete her master’s degree (which isn’t required but can mean higher pay), classroom organization or relocation, and so on. While some of these responsibilities come with a stipend, teachers say they’re relatively negligible given how much time they take—no more than $1,000. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/hold-on-before-you-get-too-jealous-of-teachers-having-the-summers-off.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/hold-on-before-you-get-too-j... > As an educator you constantly have to be on top of trends, so it’s not like it’s just six weeks of me laying by the pool,” said Sara Holloway, a fifth-grade English language arts teacher from Monongahela, Pa. > “You are taking classes in the summer, or you are reading material, or you are conferencing or blogging with other teachers, you are planning for the next year,” she said.
- ultrarunner 7y ago
  I appreciate the perspective that you’re coming from, but I come from a family of educators. They do have occasional in service days over the summer and obviously are expected back at work a week or so before classes start. Other than that, it very much is a three-month vacation, one that shaped a large part of my childhood.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    The distribution seems bi-modal. My wife was a teacher, and she had maybe one free week the whole summer, between development classes, curriculum work, and so on. On some summer days I would leave work at 7pm and then join her in her classroom until 8 or 9pm where she was just finishing up a 12 hour day. Then there were other teachers at the school who took off on the last day of school and you didn't see them again until the week before school started. Those were the teachers that were still teaching material from 30 years ago that all the parents dreaded their kids getting.
chrischen 7y ago
My teachers in suburban Michigan had starting salaries in the $70ks... in 2007.
- eitally 7y ago
  Starting salaries in North Carolina -- in 2019 -- are $35,000 for first year teachers. The top end is $58k. It's embarrassing. http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/fbs/finance/salary/schedules/2018-19schedules.pdf http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/fbs/finance/salary/sched...
sprague 7y ago
Also, for a married couple raising a family, it's hard to beat a job that, by definition, coincides with the kids' schedule. If one spouse has a decent full-time job, the additional income from teaching is almost incidental compared to the flexibility of working the same hours and location as the kids.

by gundmc 7y ago

rockinghigh 7y ago

You picked an outlier. Most schools districts in the Bay Area (including San Francisco) have starting salaries for teachers in the $50k-$60k range. And in my experience, teachers work a lot more than 40 hours a week. I picked 3 randomly below: Redwood City: https://www.rcsdk8.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=2086&dataid=35170&FileName=RCTA%202019.07.01.pdf https://www.rcsdk8.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?modul... San Mateo: http://www.smfcsd.net/en/assets/files/Employment%20and%20HR/Salary%20Schedules/19-20%20SMETA%20Salary%20Schedules%20Final%20Board%20Approve%20Jan%2010%202019.pdf http://www.smfcsd.net/en/assets/files/Employment%20and%20HR/... San Francisco: https://archive.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/contract%20and%20salary%20schedules/19-20%20salary%20schedule%20K-12%20teachers.pdf https://archive.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/contract%20a...

gundmc 7y ago
Thanks for the additional data points!
archi42 7y ago
Enen with tech workers complaining about the high rents, I wonder how bad teachers fare? Or are these districts in "cheap" areas?
- chris11 7y ago
  San Mateo and Redwood City are both expensive, but not as bad as SF. One article reported median rents were about 2.4k, which makes sense. There a few places advertising lower rents, but not many, and at that price you are giving stuff up. SF is worse. Another issue is the commute. Traffic is really bad, so finding a cheaper place farther away from work will cost you in time and energy, especially if you have to cross a bridge. It's so bad that some districts, including San Mateo, are building their own housing for teachers. https://edsource.org/2019/in-need-of-teacher-housing-more-california-school-districts-building-their-own/611220 https://edsource.org/2019/in-need-of-teacher-housing-more-ca... https://sf.curbed.com/2019/8/20/20814179/housing-crisis-teachers-educators-san-francisco-average-rent https://sf.curbed.com/2019/8/20/20814179/housing-crisis-teac...
  - notfromhere 7y ago
    2.4k on rent when you're making between 31-3700 post-tax is kinda brutal.
piterdevries 7y ago
"Teachers work" LOL good one

crooked-v 7y ago

> 3 months vacation per year This perception is usually pretty inaccurate. There's no time given during the school year for essentials like curriculum development, continuing education requirements, training new teachers, etc, so that eats up time during the summer 'break'. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/myth-of-teacher-summer-vacation/397535/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/myth-o... > Klem says she’s spending the rest of her summer this year attending meetings, developing school curriculum, helping train new teachers, and contacting families of her students, among other tasks. Past summers, she says, have been equally busy: graduate-school coursework to complete her master’s degree (which isn’t required but can mean higher pay), classroom organization or relocation, and so on. While some of these responsibilities come with a stipend, teachers say they’re relatively negligible given how much time they take—no more than $1,000. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/hold-on-before-you-get-too-jealous-of-teachers-having-the-summers-off.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/hold-on-before-you-get-too-j... > As an educator you constantly have to be on top of trends, so it’s not like it’s just six weeks of me laying by the pool,” said Sara Holloway, a fifth-grade English language arts teacher from Monongahela, Pa. > “You are taking classes in the summer, or you are reading material, or you are conferencing or blogging with other teachers, you are planning for the next year,” she said.

ultrarunner 7y ago
I appreciate the perspective that you’re coming from, but I come from a family of educators. They do have occasional in service days over the summer and obviously are expected back at work a week or so before classes start. Other than that, it very much is a three-month vacation, one that shaped a large part of my childhood.
- jedberg 7y ago
  The distribution seems bi-modal. My wife was a teacher, and she had maybe one free week the whole summer, between development classes, curriculum work, and so on. On some summer days I would leave work at 7pm and then join her in her classroom until 8 or 9pm where she was just finishing up a 12 hour day. Then there were other teachers at the school who took off on the last day of school and you didn't see them again until the week before school started. Those were the teachers that were still teaching material from 30 years ago that all the parents dreaded their kids getting.

chrischen 7y ago

My teachers in suburban Michigan had starting salaries in the $70ks... in 2007.

eitally 7y ago
Starting salaries in North Carolina -- in 2019 -- are $35,000 for first year teachers. The top end is $58k. It's embarrassing. http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/fbs/finance/salary/schedules/2018-19schedules.pdf http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/fbs/finance/salary/sched...

sprague 7y ago

Also, for a married couple raising a family, it's hard to beat a job that, by definition, coincides with the kids' schedule. If one spouse has a decent full-time job, the additional income from teaching is almost incidental compared to the flexibility of working the same hours and location as the kids.