2007-08 data on Orange County's teachers, including salaries

[Anonymous_IHB]

<A href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/unified-elementary-high-2308288-teachers-salary">http://www.ocregister.com/articles/unified-elementary-high-2308288-teachers-salary</A>

 

[waiting2buylater_IHB]

13.3 years average teaching experience, $74,700 average salary, plenty of holidays, Christmas Break, Spring Break, Summer Break, nice pension and good medical package.



I am all for paying our teachers well to attract quality personnel. These numbers seems to dispel the myth that we are underpaying the teachers in the OC.

 

[SoOCOwner_IHB]

I have ALWAYS felt that teachers were fairly paid, considering all the time off they get. Our neighborhood is full of teachers and all I know is that they are still home after I leave in the morning and before I get back at night. Sounds like a pretty good life to me.

 

[Anonymous_IHB]

[quote author="SoOCOwner" date=1235787052]I have ALWAYS felt that teachers were fairly paid, considering all the time off they get. Our neighborhood is full of teachers and all I know is that they are still home after I leave in the morning and before I get back at night. Sounds like a pretty good life to me.</blockquote>


Some of the teachers put in some very long hours (ex. at school at 7:15am, prepping and marking, leave around 4pm with marking, spend another 2-3 hours marking at home. Plus more marking and prep on the weekends).

You have to remember that the time they spend with kids in class, is like the time lawyers spend with clients in their office - there is a lot of behind the scenes work (ex. research and paperwork and calls for lawyers, lesson prep and marking and communicating with parents for teachers) that goes on as well.

The average US elementary school teacher also spends several hundred dollars of their own money yearly buying stuff for the classroom that the school will not pay/reimburse for.



But, yeah, the OC teachers seem to make a good wage, compared to teachers nationally. Of course the cost of living is higher too - it's the usual California effect on wages.

 

[SoOCOwner_IHB]

^

I know my neighbors and they put in very minimal OT. However, maybe some of them do put in the extra hours (as do I in my job). Even so, considering they get 3 months off in the summer, two weeks at Christmas, one week at Easter, not to mention many, many holidays I still maintain they are paid QUITE fairly.

 

[tmare_IHB]

I've been a teacher for over 20 years and I love my job. There is no doubt that there are perks to the job. I always hate it when people get into all of the reasons why their job sucks and mine is so great, or even vice-versa. My first few years, I probably worked 80 hours a week, always taught summer school and even did many activities with students (competitions, rehearsals, etc.) on the weekends (yes without pay). It definitely isn't an easy job, but it's easier if you were made to do it. There are lots of holidays and days off which I also love (summer is only 2 months, not 3 months for teachers). There are other parts of the job that make it hard when you are a parent though. I miss every event my children have at school because there is no such thing as "flex time" or coming in late or leaving early, if you need to take off an hour, you have to take off the whole day, so I miss a lot. I don't know what type of job you have but everyone in my neighborhood is still home when I leave for work at 6:45 every morning. This also makes it very difficult to get your children to school (I have no idea what I am going to do when we no longer have a nanny). Sometimes people also forget that you have to have a bachelor's degree, master's degree (if you ever want a raise), and a year of student teaching and classes to get your credential. On top of that, there are always numerous other educational certificates which become required from time to time. I know many of you have degrees and maybe some of you aren't paid as well, but probably not too many. We trade in a the opportunity to make more money for a secure paycheck. Personality also becomes an issue, because some of you love the "thrill of the hunt" as you try to make more and more money. I like my steady paycheck so I can just focus on my job. I'm not complaining in any way, becoming a teacher is a choice but I sometimes just want to say to the people who complain so much about how bad they have it and how good I have it, "Then become a teacher!". Last year I had a student teacher who came from 20 years in the business world and he decided he wanted to switch careers. He lasted one semester and decided that the job was not what he thought it would be and he just couldn't do it. We've had other student teachers come from similar backgrounds and we have let them go due to an attitude that the job is easy and a lack of willingness to work hard. Many people don't realize that you really do "lose yourself" in the job during the day when not even your thoughts are your own (studies have shown that on average a teacher makes a decision about 5 times per minute). You can go home completely mentally exhausted due to the demands of 240 students coming in and out of your classroom per day. Every year we have a career day and it is amazing to hear that after three presentations, most of the professionals who speak that day comment on how tired they are. Once again, no complaining from me. Everyone's job has good and bad, if someone doesn't like theirs, I feel sorry for them.

 

[SoCal78_IHB]

I don't know -- my friend is a high school math teacher in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. It certainly doesn't seem like she gets paid as much as she's worth. When we get together on weekends - it's often trips to an office supply store to pick up materials for her students, of which she does not get reimbursed. She puts in a lot more hours during the week than just the required classroom time, like tmare was saying. She goes in early, makes herself available for help during lunch, and stays late. She takes a lot of work home to do evenings and weekends. It seems particularly challenging because a lot of students at this high school are not motivated and do poorly in school. So she has to deal with them plus their unhelpful parents who aren't willing to step it up a notch and make sure they stay on top of their kids. Instead she just gets a load of grief from the parents because their son Johnny is flunking math and they think it's her fault. In actuality it's because he's not doing his homework, won't take advantage of her after-school help, and the parents aren't doing their jobs either. These teachers have to deal with a lot of disrespect from the students and parents. My friend said she became totally disillusioned after her first year on the job but she sticks it out because all she and the other teachers want is to do right by these kids. How much is that worth? More than they get... and I don't just mean money - but respect.

 

[Anonymous_IHB]

[quote author="SoCal78" date=1235803948]I don't know -- my friend is a high school math teacher in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. It certainly doesn't seem like she gets paid as much as she's worth. When we get together on weekends - it's often trips to an office supply store to pick up materials for her students, of which she does not get reimbursed. She puts in a lot more hours during the week than just the required classroom time, like tmare was saying. She goes in early, makes herself available for help during lunch, and stays late. She takes a lot of work home to do evenings and weekends. It seems particularly challenging because a lot of students at this high school are not motivated and do poorly in school. So she has to deal with them plus their unhelpful parents who aren't willing to step it up a notch and make sure they stay on top of their kids. Instead she just gets a load of grief from the parents because their son Johnny is flunking math and they think it's her fault. In actuality it's because he's not doing his homework, won't take advantage of her after-school help, and the parents aren't doing their jobs either. These teachers have to deal with a lot of disrespect from the students and parents. My friend said she became totally disillusioned after her first year on the job but she sticks it out because all she and the other teachers want is to do right by these kids. How much is that worth? More than they get... and I don't just mean money - but respect.</blockquote>


<A href="http://www.donorschoose.org">http://www.donorschoose.org</A>

 

[irvine_home_owner_IHB]

Comparatively... think about entry level IT positions. Whenever I price these... the entry point just for Hardware Admin (this isn't even a Systems Programmer) is $50k.



So compare $50k for a guy who may not even have a BS to a someone who has a BA and teaching credentials and may make $60k.



I think the low-end for teachers is low... the middle-upper end is better... but that only comes with tenure... whereas some places will pay someone in IT that in less than 2 years.



But I do like the holidays and summers off... although most of the teachers I know do the summer school thing for extra money.

 

[tmare_IHB]

Entry level teacher salary is around 45K in my district, according to the chart, it's more like 40K. Imagine getting all of that education for 40K a year in So. Cal.