Demand for Education Workers Is up 1,000% Year-Over-Year, Says Careerbuilder CEO

[ss20ts]

1) the pay is up there for all to see; to complain about the pay when you KNOW before you ever get a degree what jobs pay is just silly; and the lowest pay is for teachers getting their certifications, with no experience
2) guaranteed pay raise every year
3) bump in pay for 18 grad level credits, no matter what they're in - and most states have very inexpensive courses geared just for this - so my state allows me to take grad credits for $225/course, making it $1350 to get a $2000/yr bump in pay
4) another bump in pay for your master's degree, no matter what it's in - about $4000/yr
5) only about 190 days of instruction per year, so about 50 days less than non-teachers in our district; that's a LOT of days off in my book
6) every holiday off, summers, lots of 3-day weekends, 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week at Thanksgiving, 1 week at spring break - I feel like I'm constantly getting a day off (because I am!)
7) additional days off for sick/personal time

This is all definitely not the case in every state. They don't get guaranteed raises here. It all depends on their contracts as they are unionized here. They can work years without a new contract which means no raise. 

No bump in pay for grad credits or a master's degree. A specific master's degree is a requirement to obtaining the final license to being a teacher here. There are 2 licenses and you have 5 years to get the permanent one or else you're out. 

There's no paycheck in the summer. Teachers here get paid for 10 months and are paid once a month. They have the option to defer part of their pay so they can get 1 check during the summer. 

It will be interesting to see how you feel about teaching once you become a teacher and are doing it every day. I know many teachers who couldn't wait to get out. Some were pushed into retirement. Others wouldn't stay that long for all the money in the world.

[rachel83az]

Not to mention that teachers don't actually get all that time off. Short holidays are full of grading papers or adjusting lesson plans. Long holidays in many states are taken up by CEUs. IIRC, Arizona requires you to get 3-9 or so (I forget how many) CEUs per year if you want to retain your license. You are not paid extra for this. They don't cover the cost of CEUs. Now, CEUs are pretty cheap, but that's still yet another expense that teachers must take on while not having the greatest salary. I think most of my teachers had to work summer jobs to make ends meet, too.