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Teacher Salaries By State

Should teacher salaries in your state increase, decrease of stay the same?

  • They should be higher.

    Votes: 14 46.7%
  • They should be lower.

    Votes: 6 20.0%
  • They should stay the same.

    Votes: 10 33.3%

  • Total voters
    30
Yes, I'll be interested in some back up for that figure as well.

Teachers in California negotiate salaries with the individual school districts. I've never heard of any district anywhere in the state offering a top teacher salary of $160 grand. The supertintendent may make that or more, but then, he's a politician rather than an educator.

The retirement benefits are pretty good, but nowhere near that 3% per year and being able to retire at the tender age of 52. Here, if you quit before the age of 61 and a half (63 with less than 30 years) you get a pittance.

As for those health bennies, yes, they're great. A few districts used to pay for retirees health insurance, back when health care wasn't so expensive. That perk has gone out the window.

Teachers who are doing the job they have contracted to do, and that includes most of them, are worth a lot more than they are being paid. Teachers are expected to take on all comers, whether or not they are prepared for class or have any interest in learning or any back up at home, show progress with gang bangers and crack babies, keep order among children who have no other order in their lives, and put up with incompetent administration and a dozen layers of incompetent bureaucracy making assinine rules to live by. Teachers are grossly underpaid for what they have to do.

Ditto Head -- return the favor. Where's a link that shows me you even KNOW what teachers in California are paid. Other than "averages," I don't think you have a watchdog group who posts this very telling information. (Call Rush. He'll agree with me. Ha!)
 
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Yes, I'll be interested in some back up for that figure as well.

Teachers in California negotiate salaries with the individual school districts. I've never heard of any district anywhere in the state offering a top teacher salary of $160 grand. The supertintendent may make that or more, but then, he's a politician rather than an educator.

The retirement benefits are pretty good, but nowhere near that 3% per year and being able to retire at the tender age of 52. Here, if you quit before the age of 61 and a half (63 with less than 30 years) you get a pittance.

As for those health bennies, yes, they're great. A few districts used to pay for retirees health insurance, back when health care wasn't so expensive. That perk has gone out the window.

Teachers who are doing the job they have contracted to do, and that includes most of them, are worth a lot more than they are being paid. Teachers are expected to take on all comers, whether or not they are prepared for class or have any interest in learning or any back up at home, show progress with gang bangers and crack babies, keep order among children who have no other order in their lives, and put up with incompetent administration and a dozen layers of incompetent bureaucracy making assinine rules to live by. Teachers are grossly underpaid for what they have to do.

You are overgeneralizing. Many teachers have to deal with unruly kids, but I can't imagine many have to deal with gangbangers and crack babies with the possible exception of of inner city schools. Yes, students are often uninterested in learning, but the teacher's job is to make sure they learn regardless of how difficult it is. Even if that means taking an unorthodox approach it is still part of the job. Public defendants have to defend murderers, rapists, etc so by your rationale they should be very highly paid.

To be completely honest, I found at my school many of the teachers worked there to make students' lives a living hell. Many were totally irrational and either lacking in the material they were suppose to teach or poor teachers. Yes, there are good teachers, but I think a large amount of teachers do a poor job. Of course why do a good job? With tenure you would have to murder a student to get fired...
 
Here are a couple copied right off the website. I'm obviously not going to post the teacher's names. Take it or leave it. There's a link to the site in one of my earlier posts. Do your homework. You'll see it. I don't lie.

Wow, Maggie. That's some serious cash there. Did they have extra jobs in the district?
 
Here are a couple copied right off the website. I'm obviously not going to post the teacher's names. Take it or leave it. There's a link to the site in one of my earlier posts. Do your homework. You'll see it. I don't lie.

Wow! I don't know whether to be outraged that some teachers make so much, or envious. I'd have to agree that is really a hefty salary for a high school teacher.
 
Wow! I don't know whether to be outraged that some teachers make so much, or envious. I'd have to agree that is really a hefty salary for a high school teacher.

It's a well-kept secret, Ditto. Teachers make a very VERY good living for their nine months' work. Be outraged. You're paying for it.
 
Ditto Head -- return the favor. Where's a link that shows me you even KNOW what teachers in California are paid. Other than "averages," I don't think you have a watchdog group who posts this very telling information. (Call Rush. He'll agree with me. Ha!)

LOL! You're talking to a retired teacher with 38 years experience. I know all about retirement and salaries in California. Still, obviously I don't know about salaries in other states. Those Chicago salaries blew me away!

Here is a link to STRS.
If it doesn't go directly, just click "calculator." You can plug in figures including the age of the retiree, the final salary, years of teaching, and come up with a pension from that. I did it many times just before retiring. It's easy.

Here is a retirement benefit for a hypothetical teacher making $66,000, which is pretty typical here:


Here's the information you entered: You plan to retire in 2011
Your age at retirement will be 62 years, 6 months.
Your Years of Credited Service will be 35.541
Your Age Factor based on your birth date, including career bonus, will be 0.02400
Your average monthly salary will be $ 5500

Your estimated benefit includes a Longevity Bonus of $ 400

The unmodified monthly benefit shown below is calculated by multiplying your average salary by your years of credited service and the age factor at the time of your retirement.
Credited Service X Age Factor X Average Monthly Salary = Unmodified Monthly Benefit

YOUR ESTIMATED UNMODIFIED MONTHLY BENEFIT:
$5091.41

Unmodified means that is before taxes and doesn't include a survivor benefit. The retiree can opt to accept less, but pass on the pension to a spouse.
 
It's a well-kept secret, Ditto. Teachers make a very VERY good living for their nine months' work. Be outraged. You're paying for it.

Not in California.

So, I'm not paying for it. Taxpayers in Illinois are.

And that nine months is a myth, BTW. You don't get ahead by only working the school year, which is already more than nine months, at least here.

But, I'm not complaining. Even working 185 days plus a few weeks of teaching and/or attending summer school is not that long.
 
LOL! You're talking to a retired teacher with 38 years experience. I know all about retirement and salaries in California. Still, obviously I don't know about salaries in other states. Those Chicago salaries blew me away!

Here is a link to STRS.
If it doesn't go directly, just click "calculator." You can plug in figures including the age of the retiree, the final salary, years of teaching, and come up with a pension from that. I did it many times just before retiring. It's easy.

Here is a retirement benefit for a hypothetical teacher making $66,000, which is pretty typical here:




Unmodified means that is before taxes and doesn't include a survivor benefit. The retiree can opt to accept less, but pass on the pension to a spouse.

Sweet, though, nonetheless. What other job would pay a retirement benefit of $60K on an exit salary of $66K? Not bad, really. ;-) I don't know how California can be #1 "on the brink" when Illinois has such a handsome lead with teacher salaries!! :lol:
 
The salaries listed then are fairly low then in my opinion

Yeah - considering that there are countless jobs that equal that same pay with *no* bachelors required - it's a tight sqeeze . . . also consider that for countless years many teachers will be paying back school loans.

I think they're paid relatively decent in Arkansas - but low for their education and importance.
 
Sweet, though, nonetheless. What other job would pay a retirement benefit of $60K on an exit salary of $66K? Not bad, really. ;-) I don't know how California can be #1 "on the brink" when Illinois has such a handsome lead with teacher salaries!! :lol:

Yes, it is a good plan.

When you compare it to Social Security, it is quite revealing:

Teachers in the state of California pay 8% of their salary into the system. That 8% is matched by employers, for 16%.

Very similar to Social Security, but there is a difference:

The STRS fund, unlike the SS fund is not in the general fund. The money that doesn't get paid out in pensions, then, gets invested in secure assets.

Had the federal government placed SS funds into secure assets, rather than using the money to fund the day to day expenses of government, and had it not used the money to pay for people who didn't pay into the system, then everyone covered by SS could now get a pension similar to what teachers get in California.

How sweet would that be, and how angry should the retirees who paid into SS all of those years be now?

The state wanted to put the pensions into the general fund at one point, and that horrible, terrible, socialistic entity, the teacher's union, put a stop to it. How terrible. Why, the state could have balanced its budget without that terrible pinko commie union!

Of course, then teaches' pensions would be much like Social Security.
 
Yeah - considering that there are countless jobs that equal that same pay with *no* bachelors required - it's a tight sqeeze . . . also consider that for countless years many teachers will be paying back school loans.

I think they're paid relatively decent in Arkansas - but low for their education and importance.

How much does it cost for a bachelor's degree in education? You can go to a your state school for $15,000-20,000 a year. High paying jobs normally require something more then just a bacherlors. I plan on going to law school which could potentially cost $150,000 on top of my undergradute debt.
 
You can go to school for what is essentially free and come out with no debt.
Educational debt is a non issue for teachers, they wanted to take the job and they took on the debt.

Big freakin deal. :violin
 
How much does it cost for a bachelor's degree in education? You can go to a your state school for $15,000-20,000 a year. High paying jobs normally require something more then just a bacherlors. I plan on going to law school which could potentially cost $150,000 on top of my undergradute debt.

You'd have to pay me a hell of a lot more than $42,000 a year to just baby-sit 20 kids . . . let alone try to teach them things at the same time.

Being a teacher is a very important yet thankless and stressful job - they should paid far more than what they do.
 
How much does it cost for a bachelor's degree in education? You can go to a your state school for $15,000-20,000 a year. High paying jobs normally require something more then just a bacherlors. I plan on going to law school which could potentially cost $150,000 on top of my undergradute debt.

It takes more than a BA to get a teaching credential in California, and more yet to go up the salary scale to make a decent salary. Most teachers have at least an MA now.
 
You can go to school for what is essentially free and come out with no debt.
Educational debt is a non issue for teachers, they wanted to take the job and they took on the debt.

Big freakin deal. :violin

We used to be able to go to school here in Cali for practically nothing, but no more.

Still, it isn't a big deal to those who establish teaching careers. For the half or so who put thousands into a credential, then don't make it, it is a big deal.
 
We used to be able to go to school here in Cali for practically nothing, but no more.

Still, it isn't a big deal to those who establish teaching careers. For the half or so who put thousands into a credential, then don't make it, it is a big deal.

Life is about risk, sometimes your plans don't work.
Sucks for them.
I've been going to school on and off for a couple of years with federal grants.
The most it has cost me is a few hundred dollars in gas and car maintenance.

I don't suck up to teachers(I'll admit I'm biased).
They are people, not sacred cows and saints.
 
Life is about risk, sometimes your plans don't work.
Sucks for them.
I've been going to school on and off for a couple of years with federal grants.
The most it has cost me is a few hundred dollars in gas and car maintenance.

I don't suck up to teachers(I'll admit I'm biased).
They are people, not sacred cows and saints.

You're lucky to have those federal grants. A lot of people go on loans, and then owe thousands when they get out.

and no, teachers aren't sacred cows or saints, just people who have taken on a difficult job.
 
You're lucky to have those federal grants. A lot of people go on loans, and then owe thousands when they get out.

Pell grant is available nationwide.
It's not luck, just the fact that some people believe I'm poor(I'm really not), based on my income.

and no, teachers aren't sacred cows or saints, just people who have taken on a difficult job.

Every job has some sort of difficulty to it.
If teaching was so difficult vs. pay, there would be a huge shortage of teachers.
I'm not buying it, I think it is mostly self pity.
 
Pell grant is available nationwide.
It's not luck, just the fact that some people believe I'm poor(I'm really not), based on my income.



Every job has some sort of difficulty to it.
If teaching was so difficult vs. pay, there would be a huge shortage of teachers.
I'm not buying it, I think it is mostly self pity.

That's because you've never tried it yourself.

A lot of people think that teaching is an easy gig. None of them have tried it themselves.

About half of new teachers quit and find something less difficult to do.
 
That's because you've never tried it yourself.

A lot of people think that teaching is an easy gig. None of them have tried it themselves.

I didn't say it was easy, jobs aren't really supposed to be easy.
That's why they pay you to do them.

A lot of people couldn't hack it at my work(manufacturing), I'm not crying about it.
I mean it's physically intensive, with a typical air temperature of 85F.
Hell work in a paint booth where I am, usually 100F, covered in paint.

I, nor the rest of my coworkers, get 35k a year(typical average wage is approximately 25k).
That's life, not everyone is supposed to get the big bucks.


About half of new teachers quit and find something less difficult to do.

That's because people idolize teaching/teachers, when it shouldn't be.
Just sayin. :shrug:
 
I didn't say it was easy, jobs aren't really supposed to be easy.
That's why they pay you to do them.

A lot of people couldn't hack it at my work(manufacturing), I'm not crying about it.
I mean it's physically intensive, with a typical air temperature of 85F.
Hell work in a paint booth where I am, usually 100F, covered in paint.

I, nor the rest of my coworkers, get 35k a year(typical average wage is approximately 25k).
That's life, not everyone is supposed to get the big bucks.




That's because people idolize teaching/teachers, when it shouldn't be.
Just sayin. :shrug:

That's because it is a lot harder than they thought it would be.

Sure, other jobs have their difficulties, too. What gets me are the people who seem to think that teachers have a soft life, and proceed to go on about only working nine months, good pay for a part time job, and so on. That simply isn't true.

If it were, there wouldn't be so many teaching credentials not being used.
 
That's because it is a lot harder than they thought it would be.

Sure, other jobs have their difficulties, too. What gets me are the people who seem to think that teachers have a soft life, and proceed to go on about only working nine months, good pay for a part time job, and so on. That simply isn't true.

If it were, there wouldn't be so many teaching credentials not being used.

Well like I said, I am definitely biased on this subject.
I won't hide it.
I completely disagree with the educational establishment and their procedures on "educating" children.

The hours for teachers are pretty soft, even if you have to take work home.
Sorry that's being part of the real world.

Teachers get lots of free time, even attending classes to keep up the certification is like a little vacation for the rest of us regular workers.
 
Yes, it is a good plan.

When you compare it to Social Security, it is quite revealing:

Teachers in the state of California pay 8% of their salary into the system. That 8% is matched by employers, for 16%.

Very similar to Social Security, but there is a difference:

The STRS fund, unlike the SS fund is not in the general fund. The money that doesn't get paid out in pensions, then, gets invested in secure assets.

Had the federal government placed SS funds into secure assets, rather than using the money to fund the day to day expenses of government, and had it not used the money to pay for people who didn't pay into the system, then everyone covered by SS could now get a pension similar to what teachers get in California.

How sweet would that be, and how angry should the retirees who paid into SS all of those years be now?

The state wanted to put the pensions into the general fund at one point, and that horrible, terrible, socialistic entity, the teacher's union, put a stop to it. How terrible. Why, the state could have balanced its budget without that terrible pinko commie union!

Of course, then teaches' pensions would be much like Social Security.

Before you brag too much, read this:

The CalSTRS board may cut its investment earnings forecast, a small move that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the current $4 billion annual shortfall needed for full funding. The nation’s second largest public pension fund, with assets valued at $131 billion at the end of January, began to consider the issue last month and may act in September or even sooner.

The fund is down $43 billion and is 23% under-funded. So much for so-called secure investments. California teachers? pension fund faces $43 billion shortfall

And this:

In order to meet its pension obligations, the fund will have ask the state legislature to increase contributions from California’s 1,043 school districts by as much as 14 percent of what they already pay in employee retirement benefits.

And that nine months is a myth, BTW. You don't get ahead by only working the school year, which is already more than nine months, at least here.

Please do not tell me that you aren't paid for that extra work in the summer 'cause I won't believe you.

Be very grateful for the excellent pension benefits that your next-door neighbors are funding. If they knew what I've posted here, they'd be marchin' in the streets. Most people have nooooo idea. "Teachers are underpaid. Boo-freakin'-Hoo."
 
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You'd have to pay me a hell of a lot more than $42,000 a year to just baby-sit 20 kids . . . let alone try to teach them things at the same time.

Being a teacher is a very important yet thankless and stressful job - they should paid far more than what they do.

You could make that argument about any job. I worked as a telemarketer. I had to listen to people tell me to eat **** and die. There are a lot of jobs I would not want to do. That is why I don't do them. I don't think teachers have it that bad and I don't know what job you have, but I would babysit 20 kids for $42,000 in a heartbeat!
 
Well like I said, I am definitely biased on this subject.
I won't hide it.
I completely disagree with the educational establishment and their procedures on "educating" children.

The hours for teachers are pretty soft, even if you have to take work home.
Sorry that's being part of the real world.

Teachers get lots of free time, even attending classes to keep up the certification is like a little vacation for the rest of us regular workers.

I don't understand why teachers having to do work at home is being looked upon as such a tragedy. With technology these days there are a ton of jobs where a 9 to 5 no longer exists.
 
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