I am 1/2 done with just my BA in elementary ed. i am a mother to three children, and i pretty much slave myself to get through school in hopes to make our life better, with a great career choice. However reading some post around here and how bad others have it *EVEN WITHOUT CHILDREN* am i getting myself into a job that isnt going to pay off going to school for? I will love my job i have wanted to teach since i was 7, but the thought of going to school and struggling so much to stay in, and to get out without a rewarding pay for my kids and i, really does make me upset and makes me feel like why am i even going?? or maybe i should try to change? There isnt another job that i can picture myself doing, im so lost ill add that im in ky, so not a huge city. cost of living is pretty cheap compared to most. Im sure all of this makes a differnce.
If you have wanted to be a teacher since you were seven, you should be a teacher. I always wanted to be a teacher and am SO glad I am. I love it. No, I am not rich (and actually am a little bit poor) but I am happy and satisfied. I had a terrible job that made me depressed (very depressed) but paid so much better. I learned that a terrible job that doesn't make you happy, no matter how much it pays, will not make your life better in any way. In fact, your life will feel worse. If you have a job that makes you happy, you can do well with less money. I don't know why but I am very happy with what I have.
Are your concerns that the pay isn't enough? Or, that teaching is too consuming? I couldn't tell from your message. But, I have several teacher friends that are mothers and they seem to be just as happy with their career as I am (I don't have children).
if anything i do have going for me (as long asi could get a job near/around somewhere i could drive) is my husband and i own a mobile home (no payments) however i have accumulated some student loans, no extra ones through any programs but through the univ. one of these should be paid back every year that i file my taxes as long as i am teaching. My parents own 89 aceres which is where our mobile home is at. So forever if need be i have no payments, nothing, just bills/gas etc however once i graduated, i planned on paying off anything i owe, saveing, and building a home for us on the land that i grew up on its my dream i guess you could say. I have been guessing (in my head) i have thought my start out may be around 3500-4000 a month. That may be way off, i may be guessing way to high esp. with a BA. here latley i have been considering my MA. All this comes with time, but Ive heard having your MA opens lots of doors, and possible pay increase.
Well, Moma, I definitely have different variables than you (no kids, not married, live in CA) but I will say that I will need my future wife to have a career of her own in order to get by. My potential earnings in teaching were a major consideration before I took the plunge into my credential program. On another front, I learned the hard way how important it is to prioritize your life and make enough time for your family. I had a multiple-year relationship that I neglected while starting out teaching, and it didn't make it. It's so easy to LIVE your teacher role 24/7 to the detriment of other parts of your life. I'm sure you have that prioritizing part down much better than I did, since you've been blessed with three children of your own! Best of luck!
i guess you could say that it is both. with children already going into it.. i just hope that i will be able to provide as much as any other teacher can and get the swing of things. Reading all these nervous teachers starting out makes my stomach ahhhh.. LOL thankfully once i am done all of my kids will be in school (right now they are 6,3, almost 2) i am very good in with my daughters school it was the school that i went to as a child, and i know everyone there which makes me want to that much more. i guess im just nervous, and scared, and hope that im making the right path for myself.
I teach in Kentucky and I have a Masters, working on my second to be a Rank I, the highest rank of teacher and highest paid unless you have National Boards..as a Rank II I don't make that much, as a Rank I I won't for a couple of years. I'm not sure what county you are in though, you can PM me if you want to chat. Teaching is very rewarding especially if its something that you've dreamed about. Will you always feel that way each day..probably not. But in the long run, you realize what you are contributing to the education of children. Its alot of work. WIth a bachelors in KY you will get on the lower side of the pay scale, one Masters raises you to Rank II, 2 raises you to Rank I and National Boards gives you a bit more on the year as well. Sometimes you may live paycheck to paycheck..it happens. But if its something you want to do..do it. If you feel it in your gut that it is where you belong, then do it. Everything will work out for the best if you do what you were meant to do.
From what I've seen, the teachers who are able to make everything work financially are either: a) young, single, just out of college, with hardly any bills and lots of family support (or roommates!); or, b) a little bit older, married, settled, with two incomes. You sound like you're in the 2nd group, esp. since you won't have to worry about buying land or paying a mortgage for a few years. It's the ones who are past college-age, (so they have expectations of a certain standard of living), but are only living off of one income (in a high cost-of-living area) that are struggling. Of course, this could all be different in KY... here in D.C., everything is expensive! For one thing, even though $30-40,000 sounds like a lot if you've been earning much less, you'd be surprised how quickly it goes, and how fast you adjust your spending because you're making more. And, such a huge chunk of it will get eaten up by insurance, taxes, retirement, etc. I think for you, the biggest challenge might just be finding a job without having to move away from what sounds like an ideal living situation. It may take a few years to get a job in your dream school. Good luck!
I live in the one of the most expensive states, have been teaching for 25 years, my school district pays very well, have a small mortgage but property taxes are sky high. I have no debt or student loans. One son (a senior at college) lives at home. I do not pay for his schooling, he does. I bring home just about $4200 a month after taxes, 403B deduction (which is a must in today's world) union dues, car/house insurance premiums (which saves me money), and health premium(part of my contract) I truly feel you are thinking a bit high to be starting out at 3500-4000 in Kentucky. You can do searches for your state that tell you starting salaries for BA and BA + Masters.
Moma, I am a full-time teacher with two kids. Is it hard to balance my family and my career? Absolutely. Do I think I am a better parent because of my career? Absolutely. I tried the stay-at-home mom thing the year my oldest was born, but it just wasn't for me. I'm not judging people who do stay home - If I hadn't become very depressed by the isolation of my experience, I might have considered staying home. Now, staying home is not an option. My husband is now self-employed (he's a freelance computer programmer), and I am our insurance. I have been working for 16 years, and have a master's degree + many more hours, and I am now as far over on our school's salaray schedule as I can get. Now my only raises are longevity raises that I get each year. If I get my National Board Certification, I can get an additional stipend from the state of Illinois. Because I live in the Chicago suburbs, I could not make it alone on my salary of about $80,000. That amount includes the deduction for TRS, the $750 a month for family insurance, my interest-free computer loan and our flexible spending account. It doesn't really go far once I pay for daycare for my youngest daughter. I LOVE teaching. I am a teacher to the very core of my being. I would (and did) feel a hole in my soul if I were not in my classroom from September through June. I wish you all the luck in the world. I know we often get negative about our jobs on the board, but it is because we know that it is a safe place to vent. Most of us love our jobs, and would not give them up for most anything!
I can't imagine making 3-4000 a month! I don't know if that's before or after taxes and deductions, but I live in a bigger city, almost have my masters, and this is my 4th year. The school I will be working at this fall decided to pay me as a 2nd year teacher. That's standard for them apparently. Due to this, I will be making slightly more than I did my first year teaching and much less than I have the last two years. I will take home around 1800 a month. That might cover mortgage, but we are in a big trouble if my husband loses his job. We have instead been using my check as savings money because the market here isn't stable enough to know if I will have a job year to year. It is better not to count on my income. I wish you the best of luck!
I am from MO and our cost of living may be somewhat similar. You can buy a nice 3 bedroom house for 120,000-150,000 depending on area of town. My take home pay is about 2200 each month, after taxes. We have great retirement and also taxes and teacher association dues are taken out each month. This is with my BA and 15 hours of MA.
I have been teaching four years and have my masters. I make just over $3000.00 a month. I also have four children, a mortgage, 2 car payments, student loan bills, and a few credit cards. If my husband (who works 72 hours a week) and I did not both work we could not do it. However I teach in a rural community. There are lots of teachers who are in the same situation you are in with kids, few bills, and who have built a houses on family property. They always seem like they are not struggling (with money) and love their job. I went into teaching b/c I already had one child and was pregnant with my second. I like having the same breaks and summers off to spend with them. I feel like that is a bonus for me. Who else can say that they get three months off to spend with their children.
this really hits home with me for some reason, and brought tears to my eyes! LOL that makes no sense i just re read, there is nothing emotional about it. But reminding me, that I am above that age, I have wanted to teach since i was seven. I had a dry erase bored all my life with expo markers! LOL i had a "play" over head that i made up myself with a cardbored box!and a flash light my mom helped me make it. Every day i came home (with the extra papers from school, the library even gave me extra books no one used anymore actual old math books) i had my own desk set up. I did this for years! I done my homework while i did this. I remember those days, three kids and a husband later! And i keep thinking how much i wanted it. And being able to be off with the kids on their snow days, I will never be able to find that anywhere else. Thank you all so much teaching is my heart, children are all that i have ever known! I truly hope i will feel blessed in the end. Thank you for reminding me not only where my heart is, but where i am mentally.
im not for sure if this helps but this was according to 2007 for the "area" that i am in Elementary school teachers, except special education 550 jobs rated 39,860 the mean salary $28,970 - 49,740 typical salary 14% growth 95% with a degree mean- meaning average close to 40k, typical can be anywhere from 29k-almost 50 K lol, thats such a huge differnce LOL. I would be grateful for around 3/month but i think i have a long time waiting on that LOL one step at a time!
As the last poster said, that may be a lot of money to start, esp. if you ar ein a more rural area. In NY (which is the top 5 paying states for teachers) I was making around that with 2 master degree (on a 10 month salary and that was BEFORE takes...I was actually bringing home abut $2400/mth). I now relocated to a VA, a more rural area, I am making $5K less than NY and that is with an additional years experience.
If you are concerned about the financial aspect for teaching... well, you'll never be rich from being an elementary teacher. There are so many more rewards that have absolutely no fiscal rewards. If you are a dual money-earner in the family, your wage will definitely make life much easier. I am able to make it just fine financially because my husband has a pretty decent job. We were able to build nearly our dream house just this spring, have 2 newer vehicles, an older boat, a jetski, and 2 young children. (Only one will be going to daycare this fall.. yah! The other one's daycare fees were the off-set between our old mortgage payment and the new one.) BUT, I have 11 years in, with a masters' degree plus additional credits... and I work during the summer on curriculum writing. That being said, after all taxes and deductions (medical, dues, daycare/medical flex, retirement), I take home about $2600 a month (12 paychecks). I would be able to scoot by on my own were I not married due to our cost of living here.
http://www.education.ky.gov/NR/rdon...-8211-E6CDA396E832/0/salary_schedule_2008.pdf If this link WORKS it will take you to the salary grid for your state (Kentucky, right?) It's a PDF and has every county. It also lists the salary for the experience of 00 years up to 40 years of teaching. What I don't know about is the ranking system. I think rank V is the lowest, meaning a BA (what you will have) the next one up is probably a BA + 15 masters credits, then a MA, then a MA + 15, and so forth... but it's not clear. Talk to someone in your program about what it means. If getting a master's is easy where you live (meaning you can do it in a year as part of your program) do it!! I went into teaching with my masters, because I knew I wanted the pay increase that went with it. Also, I knew that paying for school again once I started teaching would be harder than just trudging through paying tuition... because of that I ended up getting a BA in another subject, which I thought would enhance my teaching somehow.
Is this before taxes? Because at 4,000 a month BEFORE taxes, you'd have a base salary of 48,000. That's really, really high, especially for a first year teacher. I'm going into my fourth year, in an area where homes are a million dollars, and I'm going to pull 39,000 before taxes. And I had to plead with the owner of the school for that. Public schools pay a little more around here, but not much. So if I were you, I'd hop on some school websites and take a look at their salary scales-many districts have them posted on the websites. I just want to make sure you're being realistic about the salary. As for the payoffs-teaching is what you make of it. If you jump in feet first, give it everything you've got and enjoy living in the moment, it will be the best thing that ever happened to you. If you dwell on the negatives-state testing, low pay, cranky parents, etc, then you will be miserable. It's like any other job-if it's your passion, it's not really a job!!
I think you would be starting at the $28.000 step. In Michigan, we started at $32,000 in my district. It takes a while to work your way up the salary scale, and if you have a lot of senior teachers in the district, it's going to skew the 'average' salary. Teaching isn't like an office-they don't often offer you a salary based on how valuable you are to them. It's almost always purely on experience.
that grid is awesome! LOL i was trying to find something like that for an hour last night and what i posted was the best i could come up with When you have your BA are you rank V. If i were a rank III, i think that i would be comfortable with my take home pay. Its not extremly high but III or of course II or I would be awesome. What do these require? To be a rank III- what type of MA? These ranks are very new to me. The univ. i attend has MA for Elementary Ed, So i think that tacking this on would be no problem. thanks
Well, I'm not sure if I "hit home" in a good way or a bad way, but I hope I helped you clarify some of your own thoughts. I used to play teacher, too, so I know what you mean. I don't think I could be doing anything else.
