Arizona teachers always complain they are underpaid. A national study released Wednesday shows they may have a point, reporter Pat Kossan writes.
In her article posted today, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0109stategrade0109-ON.html
Pat shares that when it comes to training and rewarding its K-12 teachers, a leading annual study titled "Quality Counts 2008" gave Arizona a D+
She notes that public school teachers make about 81 cents for every dollar earned by Arizona residents in comparable careers, such as accountants, computer programmers, and nurses. Teacher salaries have been rising slowly in Arizona, with an average teacher pay of $42,967, about $4,800 less than the national average.
The entire report is at www.edweek.org.
Money is not the only reason that teachers don't stay in the field. State Superintendent Tom Horne is asking teachers what he can do to make their lives easier. In another article by Pat, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0108stateofed0108.html
Horne is asking teachers to email him with suggestions on how he can improve teachers' lives. The email addres is: makemylifeeasier@azed.gov .
What do you think? Should teachers be paid more? Why or why not?
Lori Baker is mom to two daughters, 21 and 23 years old. She is
editor for the Valley and State section's Education and Environment pages in the Arizona Republic.
40th out of 50, wow. What
40th out of 50, wow. What does a teacher make starting out in most districts in Phoenix??
Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.
I'm not sure. When I
I'm not sure. When I started in the Peoria District in 2003 my starting salary was $30, 250. I think the starting salary has gone up a tad since then. I think that's about average for the state.
As a teacher (until this year when I became a SAHM because daycare for my newborn twins would have been my entire paycheck) of course I think teachers should get paid more. We go to college, get certified, take extra classes to keep our certification up (which we pay for) and make less than our counterparts in other careers as the original poster explained. Plus, we often have to spend money out of our pocket for classroom supplies. A lot of people who are not familiar with our jobs, say that we get paid enough because we don't work 12 months a year. That just aggravates me to no end. Most teachers do, in fact, work during the summer to take classes and workshops to help your children be more successful. Plus, during the school year I probably worked 65 hours per week or more. I worked for hours at home every night to create/revise lesson plans plus there's the neverending grading. I graded evenings and weekends. There were many weekends when I couldn't do things with my family because I had 8 hours worth of lab reports to grade. (I was a high school science teacher). So the "teachers get off work by 3pm everyday and only work 9 months a year" is such an ignorant comment and truly is a crock.
I want my children to have the best teachers money can buy, so to speak. So if that means a little more money out of my pocket in taxes and/or putting pressure on my legislators and school boards, then so be it. My kids are worth it.
More people need to go and
More people need to go and observe in a classroom with 25-30 kids per room, and answer your own question whether or not a teacher needs to get paid more.
One Happy Mom in Arizona.
Highway patrol starts at
Highway patrol starts at about $44,000 and you don't need a college degree. Seems teachers should be valued as much (if not more) for their service to society.
(Not to start an argument about Highway Patrol, just to find a comparison.)
Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.
Teachers should be valued
Teachers should be valued and paid what they are worth...but on the flip side, they know what the job pays when they take it, and if they truly love what they are doing pay should not be an issue, $42,000 a year to start is a really good job in todays economy. You also need to look @ the big picture and figure in all of the state paid benefits they receive and will continue to receive after they retire.
Jaxon's Mom
I do think many are
I do think many are underpaid, but that said, this is a yearly salary and they don't work 48-50 weeks a year like most of us. They do get a long break in the summer that I and I'm sure other mothers envy. I'm thinking a month or two off without pay may totally be worth it for my sanity. Plus, they don't have to fight to get on the vacation books over the much sought after winter break (between Christmas and New Years).
I'm not sure if teachers opt to be paid that wage throughout the year or just during the 10 months they work, so I'm not sure how this annual salary affects cash flow. I remember growing up, a few of my teachers did take summer jobs to supplement their income. Do some teachers still do that today because they can't make do with their pay?
From what I was told
From what I was told teachers can opt to have money taken out of each check and put in a fund , so durning the summer break they will still recieve a check.
I think teachers should get paid more.
One of my famliy members is going to school to become a teacher and her day job is a nanny.She gets paid 36k a year for being a nanny.She most likely won't start at 36k her first year of teaching...makes you think.....
Hello! I am a mom and a
Hello! I am a mom and a teacher, and because I am a mom, I am a teacher. But I have a few comments on this line that I'd like to bring up.
Yes, we get a summer vacation. I think we do because most of us wouldn't come back otherwise -- especially in the first few years (1-4) of teaching, when we're working 50-60 hours a week just to keep our heads above water. I should also mention that summer vacation gets shorter every year, with the AZ lawmakers adding on more days year by year.
When I began here in rural Arizona in 2002, the starting pay for a new college grad was about 23K a year. With my PhD in Biology, I think I almost made 30K that year. Until the over-ride passed this last year, I made less than 40K every year since then. Supposedly athe 'average' teacher in Arizona is paid some 44K. Last year, before our override went into effect, you had to work 24 years in the district and have MA + 36 college hours (at your own expense) or a BA + 84 hours in order to make $46K in my district. A doctorate degree got an extra $750 on the base salary (certainly a real incentive to go for higher education!).
BUT... We are teaching the same number of kids as other teachers in the state, we are teaching the same standards to the same degree of excellence, we are attending the same courses and paying into the same retirement system and we have the same certification requirements as other teachers, but we do NOT have the same payscale. The sum of this is that the rural communities tend not to be able to attract the same numbers of applicants (we have been very lucky with the quality of our applicants, though -- we currently have three PhDs teaching at the high school, in math and science).
Like being told 'you have summers off', we are told, 'but you get to live in this community'. This particular community is a tourist hot-spot, and thus, prices are much higher than in the metropolitan areas of PHX and Tucson, gas is much higher (and we have to use a lot more of it to get to the grocery store or the post office or whatever), houses are not much cheaper and we have a rapidly dwindling middle class. Our counties top the charts in terms of meth users, homeless families and substance abuse on and off the reservations, yet we are paid much, much less than many of the same professionals doing the same state job in other parts of the state.
Not only should teachers be paid more (I totally agree with the gal above who states that teachers should be paid more because my kid is worth the price of an excellent teacher), but the state needs to realize the absolute injustice in having the local communities (most of whom actually live here and who are not tourists) shoulder overrides simply so that their teachers can live on their wages.
We find recruitment difficult; what college graduate with loans to pay off wants to start off at what is now about 26K where, the median house price is $200 K. Many of our teachers are retired, have other businesses or are married to a 'real' professional who can support the family; the teachers' wages tend to be secondary.
Thanks for reading. :)
Wow...30 or 40k is nothing
Wow...30 or 40k is nothing these days. How are people supposed to live on that? I suppose if you are a teacher you had better have a spouse that makes up the difference.
In today's economy you need more than twice that to do more than just get by, and be putting a little in the bank.
Teachers should always get
Teachers should always get paid regarding their studies and performances in my opinion. If he shows the students and the parents that he deserves more, then I think they should get their reward. It`s too bad because, indeed, more and more teachers search for better paid jobs. The only thing we can hope for is some economical increase in Arizona.
Canal holidays