I was looking around to see which states pay more for STEM-type certification and came across Alabama’s TEAMS contract. It says you can earn more pay as a math, science, or computer science teacher. The catch is that you would “relinquish continuing service status.” I guess that’s tenure but another name…. I also see that you sign 3-year contracts so you’d basically give up your tenure in exchange for more money and a longer contract. So, let’s play fantasy and answer this…. Would you give up tenure for this?
More importantly, would you really want to move you and the family to Alabama for something that may pay you more? One of the advantages of tenure is the likelihood that you will pretty much be employed at the school for as long as you want to teach. Trust me when I say that contracts can and are broken by language that favors the district. I would hate to move the family to be be blindsided at the end of an academic year by a contract that is being broken. Just a thought, but if you are looking to leave your current position, please make sure you have all the information before burning that bridge - you worked hard to get to where you are today.
I did really think about the extra bump in pay. That would help with our bills... I discussed this with my wife and she reminded me of my experience with back-to-back non-renewals and how freaked out I was after the 1st one.... So that idea has been back-benched.. Although the money is nice to think about, knowing for sure that I likely have a job year-after-year keeps me stable. Of course, I always wonder about job security even with tenure because state law says I can't appeal if there are job cuts due to budget concerns.... So it's like tenure doesn't matter if the RIF policy is enforced. In my state, "objective criteria" is used to determine who stays or goes.
The best way to manage bills if you can't increase your salary is cut out unnecessary expenses and always pay bills first before you put out money for other "stuff". If you can't do without the other stuff you'll have to increase your salary with supplementary income with side jobs or whatever you can do. Either of these scenarios would probably be better than going out on a limb for a new job in a new state. That's my
