The Reality of Teachers' Salaries

In a week or so, most school-aged children will go back to school. It will mark the second year since I resigned from my teaching position. I miss the kids. But the educational system continues to hack me off.

An opinion piece in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram discusses the increased pay for first-year teachers. School districts have been making huge increases in starting salaries for teachers so that they can actually acquire teachers. Okay, that's fine. I'm a little annoyed that it's a huge amount more than what I got as a first-year teacher, but hey--that's life, right? You win some, you lose some.

Here's the problem....

There isn't much of a difference between what a new teacher makes and what a fifth-year teacher makes. I mean, there's really not much of a difference. This has always been the case, at least in my experience. So, the public school system may acquire teachers, but is it keeping them? If you get only about a $100 a year pay increase each year, what's the point of staying? Fortunately, many teachers teach because they care about what they do. But in today's world of growing class sizes, limited budgets, high-stakes testing, discipline problems, and all the family issues that factor into students' lives, sometimes it can be too much. And good teachers leave the field of education.

Here's another problem....
If you're a good teacher, you have pretty much only one option for advancement and higher pay: administration. But shouldn't the quality teachers stay in the classroom, doing what they are talented in? Even if excellent teachers go into training positions, they need to stay in the classroom in order to not lose touch with, as I heard so often when I was a teacher, "the ones in the trenches." And veteran teachers should not be expected to train other teachers without monetary compensation. That's one of the problems with teachers--they care so much about students, that they'll do whatever is needed--without being compensated. And eventually, they'll get worn out. And education will lose the best teachers.

Another school year is about to start. And I'm not one of the ones in the trenches anymore. But I'm still mad. And there are more things I'm mad about related to education. But I'll stop here for now.