Salary Compensation for Teachers
Well prepared teachers, with the best KSAO's, are the ideal. However, that requires compensating them accordingly. And, generally, teachers are not well-paid in most school districts in the USA. In your experience, are your teachers well paid in your district? As educators, what can we do to improve teachers' salaries?
Hi Rafael
You have brought up some interesting questions that are continually discussed in education. Instructors provide the "product" in the educational environment and they should be compensated for that. Obviously the best way to improve compensation is to have the best product.
What suggestiions do others have? For the contribution Education makes, do they receive
appropriate compensation?
Education has become a hard question in America. On one hand, we require teachers to be certified, have experience in their field, and be willing to constantly rehash the same lessons year after year. On the other hand, they are badly paid, require long hours, and sometimes have to provide their own materials so that they can find satisfaction in the jobs they do.
Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints and the price that education is worth, these can rarely match up. In order to improve it, salaries need to be improved by a general societal will, which does not seem to be forthcoming, therefore, a greater support network and better material support would seem to be the most obvious stopgap method to improve the teaching career.
I do not believe teachers are paid well in my area. I believe I can help by showing the overwhelming qualifications that most teachers have in my area. Also I can inform those in the positions to change wages that the salary indicates the value you place on education.
Many times it is dependent upon the proprietary nature of the educational institution that you are an educator at. If you are an educator in a public institution, the pay received is very competative as the institutions are trying to get the best candidates. The rigors are high and expectations and qualifications are even higher. For the private sector, the employer is trying to get the best "bang for their buck." There are certain criteria they must meet to remain accredited, however, the compensation is small so they can remain competative.
In Elementary and Secondary education, my county is one of the lowest paid in the state. However, in terms of higher education, we are very competive, which is why we have to be selective in the hiring process.
Hi Charity,
It is extremely helpful to your recruitment not to need battle pay as a negative. Has this made it possible for you to have many applicants?
Our salaries are quite low, and we have little to no say at the school level. We focus on creating an environment at the school that "feeds" teachers. How many times do I hear "I'm not in it for the money"? But our teachers love being a part of our school environment, and the collegiality of the group of faculty we have.
Wendy,
Salaries are always a challenge to those who have chosen education as a career. When I was a public school teacher, I held three or four different part-time jobs. In tough economic times, colleges may not be able to up the compensation as much as they would like.
Jeffrey Schillinger
As an educator, I usually consider my role as a volunteer that receives a stipend. Teachers, as usual do not recieve adequate compensation. However in some cases the salary is just too low! About a year ago, we were having staffing challenges. We had one open house and advertized hourly rate of $25 per hour (up from $18). We had an amazing response and were able to hire enough qualified candidates to meet the needs of students. This experience has shown that with attractive compensation, we can have the appropriate team of instuctors. It becomes a challenge to budget accordingly to afford more attractive compensation packages.
Elizabeth,
We don't hire teachers who are in it for the money, but the money is important.
It is difficult to compete with non-educational institutions on salary. However, schools do need to pay enough to make PT teaching worth someone's time. $25 per hour equates to a FT job with a salary of $50K per year. Depending on locale, that seems to be a fair wage.
Jeffrey Schillinger
