Friday, August 28, 2009

$75,000 Crap Shoot

There aren't very many new teachers in our district this year, not so much because of a low turnover rate, but because teachers are being laid off all over the place. Due to some cuts in our literacy program (awesome, I know), we ended up condensing a few positions and we ended up with social studies position that is a .4. This means that this teacher only teaches two classes, and only makes 40% of a typical salary, which means the position is VERY difficult to fill in a normal year.

As a result, we ended up with a brand new teacher in that position. He just graduated from a major university where there were 32 other teachers in the secondary program with him.

Of those 32 other teachers, he is the only one with a job.

I feel really bad for teachers who are just graduating from college. 3-4 years ago, when most of these teachers entered their teacher training programs, jobs were plentiful and teaching was considered a "safe" profession, one that would always have an opening. But now, these kids are graduating from college with no options. This new guy told us that he made more working at a local grocery store during college than he will as a professional educator.

So $75,000 after starting college...here he is. Making less than his students.

3 comments:

John Deere Mom said...

Literacy...who needs it? ;)

pam said...

I know, it's awful. Our school has cut our teachers to the bare bones.

I'm special ed, which is usually really, really safe, and we are even feeling the pinch. Down to one special ed teacher per grade.

#167 Dad said...

I've been teaching 23 years and my wife makes more per hour than I do waitressing in a Mexican restaurant
By the way, were you aware that the average major league baseball pitcher earns 100,000 bucks for every six pitches? Just thought I'd share...