The Salary of a Teacher

I got this from a blog called, "Teaching in South San Francisco." Something for non-teachers to think about:

SICK OF THOSE HIGH PAID TEACHERS?

I, for one, am sick and tired of those high paid teachers. Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work nine or ten months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do. Baby-sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. I would give them $3.00 dollars an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 AM to 3:00 PM with 45 minutes off for lunch). Each parent should pay $18.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now, how many do they teach in a day, maybe 30?

So that's 18.5 X 30 = $555.00 a day. But remember they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for any vacations. Let's see. . . that's 555 x 180 = $99,900.00 (Hold on! My calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers or the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them a little over minimum wage just to be fair. Round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 times 6 1/2 hours times 30 children times 180 days = $245,700.00 per year.

Wait a minute, there is something wrong here!

Why is it that parents are willing to pay nannies and child care providers $12 - $20 per hour, per child? Maybe I should have just become a nanny or opened up my own daycare. I've seen nannies on their cell phone and watching TV while on the clock. When I'm teaching, I'm on the student's schedule from 8am til 3pm. Okay, so the students go home at 3pm each day, but then I spend my time after that correcting papers, computing grades, and lesson planning.

With money being so tight, I could move to a different field. But at the end of the day, I know in my heart that I love to teach. That's who I am. But it is so hard being a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area and trying to raise a family. I cannot afford daycare. I am afforded with a good health care plan, but not as good as my brother who works for Genentech. I cannot afford to put any kind of savings for my boys, let alone a savings for myself.

So with all the financial woes, why do I keep teaching? Because it is my calling.

Hopefully somebody will realize the worth of teachers and our salaries will be raised to support the cost of living.