I Wear Red for Ed!

On this drizzly day in Kentucky, I'm reminded of the many teachers, parents, and students who have been standing in the rain for the past four days in Los Angeles. I'm not here to talk politics or debate policies. I'm just here to share some facts about the real experiences of teachers for you to consider when deciding whether or not to give your support.

My husband is in his third year teaching high school band in Evansville, Indiana. He went to college for four years at public university with in-state tuition of about $8,750 a year. That is in addition to housing (which averages at $2,600 a semester), food (the cheapest meal plan is $1,690 a semester), and textbooks (which is, on average $655 a year, according to the National Association of College Scores). You can see in the chart to the right that all of these expenses add up very quickly, and over 4 years, one would accumulate approximately $71,940 worth of debt.

Now I understand, these numbers are subject to change each year and are based on a variety of factors. Private schools are significantly more expensive, and financial aid is often available to students to help outweigh the cost of college. My point is that teachers, along with a lot of other professionals, often are burdened with debt upon their graduation.

However, teachers are different from other professionals in that they often can't afford this debt with their full time career. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for an individual in the U.S. with a Bachelor's Degree is $66,456. But teachers in the U.S. are only averaging just over $58,000 (according to the 2016 figures from the National Education Association.

To display my point even further, I sat down and calculated the amount of time that my husband spends at work (see image to the left). I figured that he makes a little bit more than the beginning teacher since he teaches band and receives a stipend for working weekends and 4 weeks during the summer. He works an estimated 2,259 hours a year. That, at $50,000, is about $22.13 an hour.
Compare this to the $31.73/hour rate of someone who makes the average $66,000/year and works 2,080 hours (40 hours a week for 52 weeks in a year, which is a little generous considering holidays and vacations).

Now you might be thinking that this is an exaggeration... but it really is not. In fact, this does not even count the other professional development meetings during the summer, fundraising events he has to monitor, or the countless hours that he spends at home planning.

All of this to just get told that he doesn't have a "real job" (yes, he really has been told that) because music isn't a "real" class. This same disrespect spreads across disciplines. I can't even count the many times that I was told that teaching Elementary school wasn't a "real career" because it's just babysitting and coloring.

There is a crisis in education! And it's not just about test scores or drop out rates.

It's about the teachers who are disrespected with underwhelming paychecks while teaching and caring for children with overwhelming class sizes. It's about teaching with a lack of resources and a lot of political pressure.

And it's about time that we support our teachers!