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Teachers are not paid based on supply and demand. We all get paid the same amount (by district) based purely on years of teaching experience. With little perks

Teachers are not paid based on supply and demand. We all get paid the same amount (by district) based purely on years of teaching experience. With little perks for masters degrees ($1000 per year on my district) or teaching a CTE class like computer science ($2500 per year but 5 extra work days), and I even got a few extra steps on the ladder for industry experience (9 years experience for me, about $5000 up the ladder) Some districts are doing a Pay For Performance situation, where "good teachers" can earn lots more... But I have a feeling the average teacher wage is lower in those districts and is highly dependent on what classes and mix of students your administrators give you (the AP calc teacher is going to have higher achieving students than the class full of seniors that are just taking algebra 1) it all depends on how "performance" is measured..

humanrebar 6y ago
It's worth noting that the private sector doesn't have performance based pay figured out either. But it has a lot less ability to utterly deny pressure from the supply of labor or the demand for services. At any rate, it's a shame. And folks will blame systemic educational failures on a lot of things, but this basically boils down to an entrenched bureaucratic culture that really has a regressive outcome. Rich parents, parents in university towns, and parents who are engineers will get their children access.
bsder 6y ago
> Teachers are not paid based on supply and demand. Actually, they are. There's just lots of crappy supply. Pennsylvania got wonderfully hosed by this. Back in the late 1990s(?) Pennsylvania put up a real teacher's test. The problem was that almost half the teachers and would-be teachers failed the test. When Pennsylvania was about to have to face the reality of supply and demand (lots of money to pull in teachers who could actually pass the test), they simply scrapped the testing plan instead. People only care about education quality until they have to pay for it.
- hdctambien 6y ago
  I think we agree. It has become clear to me that my job is to babysit first, and educate second. If all you really want are babysitters, then you can get away with paying babysitter wages. And you'll be supplied with babysitters. Babysitting at scale is actually pretty cheap. I get about $1.33 per student per hour, if you only count the time I am in the room with kids.

humanrebar 6y ago

It's worth noting that the private sector doesn't have performance based pay figured out either. But it has a lot less ability to utterly deny pressure from the supply of labor or the demand for services. At any rate, it's a shame. And folks will blame systemic educational failures on a lot of things, but this basically boils down to an entrenched bureaucratic culture that really has a regressive outcome. Rich parents, parents in university towns, and parents who are engineers will get their children access.

bsder 6y ago

> Teachers are not paid based on supply and demand. Actually, they are. There's just lots of crappy supply. Pennsylvania got wonderfully hosed by this. Back in the late 1990s(?) Pennsylvania put up a real teacher's test. The problem was that almost half the teachers and would-be teachers failed the test. When Pennsylvania was about to have to face the reality of supply and demand (lots of money to pull in teachers who could actually pass the test), they simply scrapped the testing plan instead. People only care about education quality until they have to pay for it.

hdctambien 6y ago
I think we agree. It has become clear to me that my job is to babysit first, and educate second. If all you really want are babysitters, then you can get away with paying babysitter wages. And you'll be supplied with babysitters. Babysitting at scale is actually pretty cheap. I get about $1.33 per student per hour, if you only count the time I am in the room with kids.