Even my husband doesn't understand that our day is not just 7:00-3:00. I work during the summer months developing plans and catching up on work that I didn't have time for during the school year. I am also constantly playing catch up nights and weekends and put in many extra hours every week. Also moving from Mass. to Maine I took a 50% pay cut and my class size is about the same except I now teach 2 grade levels.

Raising teacher pay would go a long way to get and retain quality teachers, but you are right... it is not the only thing. There are many folks out there in professional jobs whose first requirement is a Bachelor's degree other than engineers with higher starting pay. I remember the first year I taught with a Master's degree in my hand that I made more money that year waiting tables than teaching. I kept teaching and now 22 years later I've moved states and just in that one act it has cost me almost $30,000 in a salary cut. We're trying very hard to justify it with a lower cost of living. I only tell this story to demonstrate that there is also an inequality of pay in the profession across the states that varies drastically. Those states with the lowest pay are most likely to suffer the most severe of teacher shortages overall if it compares very poorly to the local economy. There doesn't seem to be a huge teacher shortage in this state. The other big factor is once they get into teaching those college graduates discover they've gone into a job that goes home with them every night in the way of paperwork that will keep them working many times past a reasonable hour for bed... not to mention those with families and young children to tend to. It is for this reason many never make it to the teaching profession beyond that internship experience. A really good teacher invests a lot of time into their planning and preparation. This is not done in the usual 30 minutes to an hour allotted per day for planning, but done outside a teacher's 'work' day. Then there is the stress of dealing with all the NCLB requirements... testing, meetings about the testing, etc. If we put as much money into our teacher salaries and teacher development as we do into the testing there'd be a lot less stress and teachers would have bigger salaries. I wonder how folks really feel about putting millions into the testing of their children for an unrealistic goal of every child performing at 90%, which includes those that aren't capable and never will be due to their limited cognitive abilities. Children also need support from home to be successful in school. Schools are not responsible for parenting only for educating children who come to school prepared to learn. If those children are coming from a home where they don't have the structure to be supportive in their child's education such as helping with homework, making sure they are getting 8-10 hours of sleep depending on age, good nutrition, encouraging them to respect adults, and giving them the expectation of school is for learning, then that child is coming to school with issues much greater than being a student. Home environment plays a huge factor in a child's behavior at school and their performance, but yet teachers are held accountable for all of that regardless of what the child brings to the classroom. Very unrealistic expectations. Put another way... if that child was an employee and showed up to work every day unprepared to do their job they would be fired... we don't 'fire' children. And lastly just where are those teacher shortages? Are they in districts where teachers are provided with everything that is required to teach effectively? Are they in districts where the majority of children come to school prepared to learn with adequate parental/guardian support from home? Are they in districts where you can park in the parking lot and not have to say good morning to a security guard? Maybe those factors also have something to do with the shortages. It's hard to get people to work where they don't feel safe or have the tools they need for their job.

There are many factors to why there is teacher shortages... teacher pay is one. In my opinion to really see the 'why' of the problem, a person needs to also look at what the job of teacher means in today’s society. Most people who go into teaching don't actually go into it for the money, but it's the other factors that push them out. Personally, I love teaching and it is my passion. To be able to do what I love doing and to get paid good money for it... that's a desire I think we all have for any job that we do.

As a teacher, if I had hirer pay I would not have to worry about how I was going to pay the college loans. With hirer pay I could reinvest more money into the classroom that would impact student learning in a positive manner.

I am in favor of raising teacher salaries. I believe teachers should start around 60,000 and end their career in six figures based on student achievement. Why? Districts would be able to be very selective on hiring and retaining teachers. They can be held to higher standards. Doctors and lawyers are chosen because of their performance and their pay also reflects such. Teachers should make sure every child has to best opportunity to learn no matter their race, gender or socio-economic background. Our country would be more competitive global which would improve our economy and we would spend more to support the cost of paying teachers at this level. Education is not a governmental service. It is a right and we should be paying the people who are charged with this mission better than we are today.

One of the things the board of educaction in most communities fail to recognize, is that many taxpayers see "teaching" as a cushiony job. The average taxpayer looks at school systems that are still functioning on an antiquated calendar and say, "I wish I worked only 9 months of the year, I wish I got a week off in spring, I wish I got off a week at Christmas, I wish I got every national holiday off" as well as sick days, personal days and family illness days -- Yes, if you are a teacher, those days are blessings in a stressful job. However, for the average taxpayer that works year around, gets 14 days of vacation and 5 paid holidays and 8 sick days a year - the teacher's schedule looks like a piece of cake! If/when we ever move the school systems into schedules that people percieve as aquitable to theirs, then maybe the pay scales will also become more equitable.
I have worked in public schools for almost 20 years, but I also spent 20 years in public agencies. I made higher pay checks per year in the agencies, but my "hourly pay" was much less than what I make in the school system. The average employee works between 1960 and 2000 hours a year at their place of employment (and a lot of them also take home work). The average teacher works 1500 hours per year (and yes,they all take home work and put in extra hours on their own). The taxpayers do that also, but still put in many more hours during the work year. If we want equitable pay checks, then we are going to have to move to equitable working hours.

I think that there are ways to entice teachers. I believe that the community sponsoring the schools can rally together to help. Possible ideas are special housing rates for teachers, half price tuition, after all we are steady customers to all Universities, special discounts to community businesses and events. These could all help to off set some of the salary differences. Many businesses trade services. Teachers educate the future, this service can be traded for other business services.

Hi, I am a teacher in Indonesia, a country far away from US. When I read your article, I was so surprised knowing that the teachers' salary in the USA is also low. i thought it's only happen in indonesia, a developing country from the third world.
So, I feel we are on the same boat.

We teachers in Israel have not only low pay but also bad conditions,one of which is 38 students in a class!
Wish us luck because we are about to fight for better conditions beginning tomorrow, October 7th.
Nili Frank

I am so surprised that even America is much wealthier than my country, Indonesia, but the problem that the teacher faces is the same.