Give Them the Pay They Deserve
Teachers have countless responsibilities, and yet it doesn't seem that they get recognized for everything they do. You would think that, since teachers are the ones training and educating our future generations, they would be paid a relatively generous amount. But really, educators are getting drastically underpaid. I wanted to share some information with you regarding their salaries today.
Teachers Salaries Today
In 2018, it was discovered that around 20 percent of teachers quit because of the low pay ("Teacher Compensation..."). At this rate, we won't have many left who are willing to educate our children for the small amount of money they are offered. In the United States, the current average salary for a teacher is $63,645 ("Teacher Compensation..."). Many people claim that this salary is higher than that of many other similar professions; however, you need to factor in things like inflation before making that comparison. When looking at this salary next to the one from ten years ago, it seems that it has increased by about 14%, but when you factor in inflation, it really decreased by 1.7% ("Teachers Compensation...").
Plus, these salaries all depend on the teacher's years of experience and location, so the average doesn't accurately represent what all of them are making. For instance, if a teacher were to be working in New York City, their salary would obviously be higher, as living expenses there are greater. Likewise, if it was their first year teaching, they would actually only make around $38,617 (Caffee).
Most teachers also end up having to pay out of pocket for their classroom supplies because schools often don't receive enough funding, which is an issue I covered in a previous post. 94% of teachers said that they used their own money when buying materials for their students ("Teachers Compensation...").
Teachers aren't even paid for the time they spend on the job outside of those 6 or 7 hours of the school day. They do a lot of work on their own time, such as grading papers or creating lesson plans. Their salary doesn't reflect the amount of work they do outside the classroom.
On top of all of that, many teachers have to work a second job because they still need to pay off student loans ("Teacher Compensation..."). The stress of that added workload will often push teachers over the edge, and many will end up leaving this field of work.
Need I say more? It's clear that the teacher's current salaries are insufficient and desperately need to be raised. In the past years, many educators have formed strikes and walkouts to protest their low salaries. The RedforEd Movement started to take off in 2018, when more teachers, students, and other community members would go to protests (Flannery). This movement is about the need for larger school budgets, more supportive services for students, as well as teachers unfair pay (Flannery).
Solutions?
Luckily we have recently seen some light at the end of the tunnel. Some individual state governments have begun to propose higher salaries for teachers. Those plans were just briefly put on hold due to COVID-19, but hopefully, they will be picked back up early this year.
I'm also sure you are all aware of the political events from the past year or so. Well, the election in November 2020 brought good news for educators around the United States. President-elect Joe Biden has said that he has a plan to support and improve education in America, and that includes supporting teachers.
First, he has said that he will triple the funding for Title 1, which is a federal program that funds schools with a high percentage of low-income students ("The Biden Plan for..."). This will give schools the ability to give teachers higher salaries, and hopefully, they will have to pay for fewer supplies out of pocket. He also plans to change the current Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to include teachers, which will help them pay off their student loans ("The Biden Plan for..."). This is the program that takes care of your loans if you work a full-time public service job. On top of that, he plans to invest in teacher mentoring, leadership, and additional education ("The Biden Plan for..."). Meaning that he will use funds to help teachers go back to school and get additional certification in a more high-demand area, like special education ("The Biden Plan for...").
While all of these plans are certainly on the right track to a solution, we still need to continue working to make more people aware of what teachers deserve and help them receive it. We can't let people forget about this issue before it is actually solved.
Works Cited
"The Biden Plan for Educators, Students, and Our Future." Biden Harris, joebiden.com/education/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2021.
Caffee, Alex. "Teacher Salaries in America." Niche, 1 Sept. 2017, www.niche.com/blog/teacher-salaries-in-america/#:~:text=The%20national%20average%20starting%20teacher,the%20highest%20starting%20salary%3A%20%2451%2C359. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.
Flannery, Mary Ellen, and Amanda Litvinov. "Why We Are Red for Ed." Education Votes, educationvotes.nea.org/2018/10/17/why-we-are-red-for-ed/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2021.
Jaffe, Sarah. "The Radical Organizing That Paved the Way for LA's Teachers' Strike." The Nation, 19 Jan. 2019, www.thenation.com/article/archive/los-angeles-teachers-strike-utla-organizing-solidarity/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2021.
"Joe Biden." Flickr, 7 Mar. 2020, www.flickr.com/photos/13237002@N08/49648960931/in/photolist-2iDiUkM-2gvUYRR-2gvUZFb-2gvUAgp-2k4trNC-2ioKQyi-2jKKXrS-2k4oPvK-2k4A4kg-2k849QU-2k7YP5R-2k83AUy-2iDiUhR-2k7YPet-2iDgaQh-2iDiU7W-2k4iZ1c-2k4h95n-2kpZuJm-2k4hn9i-cpHkYu-cpHte7-cpHm4j-cpHjNm-cpHjfo-cpHuw5-cpHeby-cpHw7J-cpHfgh-cpHhR1-2h755q-5Jnhoq-cpHeF9-cpHgkf-5QFvuB-2frX5Yc-2gvUEtc-24NJgMr-2gvUAUy-9YQWrr-2koyiuj-5g83NB-TroJxb-2jycR3L-dDcphF-2k72MCk-5pKa6s-5YLBgA-y8Z6c7-2k6b1TJ. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.
Jones, Sarah. "Years of Low Pay Helped Spark the Teacher Strike Wave." Intelligencer, 29 Apr. 2019, nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/years-of-low-pay-helped-spark-the-teacher-strike-wave.html. Accessed 13 Jan. 2021.
"Teacher Compensation: Fact Vs. Fiction." National Education Association, 1 Sept. 2018, www.nea.org/resource-library/teacher-compensation-fact-vs-fiction. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.
I totally agree that teachers should get maid more then what they do. Especially elementary teachers(no offense to high school teachers). Teachers are not only dealing with kids and trying to keep them focused and on task but they also have to deal with troubled student's and kids who have a rough time as it is. Elementary schools teachers are kind of looked at as "babysitters" for parents because their kids are not old enough to be on their own yet. So in a sense they are doing a lot of "extra" work. But overall I do think teachers deserve more then what their usual salary is.
ReplyDeleteYes! Often times elementary teachers are thought to have the easier job because they don't necessarily have to spend as much time grading papers, etc. But, as you mentioned, little kids are much harder to control and teach because of their low attention span. Plus, elementary school isn't only about teaching kids to read and do math. These teachers are also responsible for helping with the kids mental and emotional development. They are the foundation for their future education, so they should be paid no less than high school teachers.
DeleteDo you think that some of the points about raising teacher pay are more complicated in places like NH, where we still struggle to equitably fund public education. If a town can't increase the school budget because they can't increase taxes, it's hard to pay teachers more.
ReplyDelete