Here in my state teachers in good districts start at $60,000 per year and see minimal increases due to length of service; after 20 years they might be making $75,000 per year. You ever done the math on living on $60k per year? Hard to do a lot besides support youself on that income. I note that surrounding states (even higher cost states) have lower salaries.

Teachers get paid peanuts.

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zozbot234 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That's not so low when you account for the fact that school is not in session during summer, and teachers get these months off.

	▲	lamasery 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In states with lower teacher pay, most teachers without a much-higher-paid spouse take summer jobs or teach summer school. Also, none of them get as much time off in the summer as the kids do. Plus, you can't pay your mortgage with vacation days.
	▲	larkost 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Given the (often ongoing) educational requirements, if you pro-rate it you still come out much below most positions with similar requirements. We absolutely under-pay teachers in virtually every public school. My mother retired after working her entire career as a teacher, and I earned close to double her final salary my first year working in tech. She has her masters degree and I did not graduate college. And if you count the stocks I got at the end of that first year, it was over triple. She was a special ed. teacher teaching emotionally disabled grade schoolers (including a first grader that tried to kill his grandmother with a tv power cord). There is no way that I worked harder than she did.
	▲	mold_aid 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		You sure they're not on 20 pay contracts? Everybody tells me "it must be so nice, getting summers off" and I'm like "actually I look for summer courses because I don't get paid."
	▲	troosevelt 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Teachers often end up working weeks that are more than 40 hours, though with grading, lesson planning, tutoring, etc.

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virissimo 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

US teacher pay is near the top for OECD countries: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/teachers-salaries.ht...

	▲	mlyle 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		US overall pay and cost of living is even closer to the top for OECD countries, as shown upthread :P

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lamasery 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It depends a lot on the state. Some actually do pay alright. Some pay terribly (and may have serious issues finding enough staff, as a result).

Unions are similar. People cry about them being a huge problem, but they have effectively no power (as in: don't even collectively bargain for contracts) in lots of states, including many of the ones with poor school performance. In other states, they really do have quite a bit of power.