Did you know that most public school teachers in Texas are not on an annual contract? Nope, most teachers in the state are hired on ten month contracts.
There are teachers, just like college professors, who choose to work the eleventh month and sometimes a twelfth month but that is overall a small number compared to those on ten month contracts.
I’m very sorry to so upset some, but no matter how much shouting and moaning comes across your lips this means that most public school teachers only work the job ten months per year and get much longer vacations during those ten months than most any private sector employee.
Those who have known little else tend to not realize just how different life is in the academy compared to the business world.
The TEA minimum salary scale is for a ten month contract. What that means is that it is not proper to compare a ten month teacher salary to twelve month salaries for others. To be correct, one has to divide the teacher salary by ten and then multiply that amount by twelve to get a proper number to compare.
When KLBK ran a story saying that teachers in Lubbock “on average make just under $47,000 according to Salary.com,” that number must have two months of salary added to it to properly compare to someone working without the two months off. That brings the Lubbock average, where we’re lumping all together from starting teachers to the most experienced, to $56,400 equivalent annual salary.
my Facebook experiment this week demonstrates, many of these folk delude themselves about the workload, hours worked, pressure, and other issues in teaching thinking such is unique to their profession.
There are many things about public education that are unique and different from the private sector from time worked to how one’s productivity is measured, or not measured. Those who have known little else tend to not realize just how different life is in the academy compared to the business world.
As my Facebook experiment this week demonstrates, many of these folk delude themselves about the workload, hours worked, pressure, and other issues in teaching thinking such is unique to their profession.
First off, I agree with everything you’ve presented on the subject so far. I did want to comment on something I haven’t heard you mention yet. Your commentary about teacher salaries being higher than the average Texas yearly income, It stated: “Average teacher salaries with 15 years credited experience” Unfortunately, the phrase “credited experience” allows school administrators to game the system and cheat teachers out of salary they have the experience for, but are not getting because of dishonest administrators. A friend of mine, that is teaching in Vernon ISD, was told by the school administrator his contract would not be renewed. Please note, the Vernon ISD is understaffed for teachers already. My friend, has seen administration like this before. The school doesn’t renew your contract, then a week before the next school year starts, they use “emergency rules” to write a new contract and re-hire the teachers they like. This prevents the teacher from getting paid per their real experience level, because the contract is a first year contract. My friend told me this was pervasive in California, and one of the reasons he left. He know people that had worked 15 years in the same school district, but were still on the first year of their contract, so they only got paid the salary of a first year teacher. The administrator in Vernon ISD (she has resigned and will be moving elsewhere) was doing the same shenanigans to reduce the costs in her budget. I’m not sure what she planned on doing with all the extra money.
So another problem with teacher pay is not the amount of money the taxpayers send to the schools, but what the school administrators do with that money. There are lots of underhanded deed happening to limit costs, and those deeds affect students and teachers, so the money we send their way isn’t even going to where we the tax payers prefer it go. The administrators take too large a cut, and then they get the teachers riled up about how there isn’t enough money and give the teachers time off to protest. It’s like the administrators think the teachers are a bunch of chumps and useful idiots. Point the finger at the state and blame all the budget issues on the state, when it is their actions that deny teachers the raises they legally should get.
What that administrator did was illegal unless that teacher had worked for that district less than 3 years. Unfortunately, a lot of teachers don’t know what their rights are.