LI Teacher's Salaries (Albany, Nassau, Orleans: real estate, private schools, college)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To keep this thread on topic -- the OP was about LI teachers salaries, perhaps the teachers on the thread might wish to reveal what it was that they earned while teaching on LI -- as opposed to coming to the board attempting to derail the thread?
After eight years of teaching, my salary was 35,000$ (1980). In 1986-88, my salary was 25,000$ to 27,000$. In 1994, I had to go upstate for a salary of 50,000$ (MA + 10). Long Island districts were offering 35,000$. I had to spend 10,000$ in rent and be away from my family for most of the year to take that job. I retired at 96,000$ (MA + 57) in 2005.
After eight years of teaching, my salary was 35,000$ (1980). In 1986-88, my salary was 25,000$ to 27,000$. In 1994, I had to go upstate for a salary of 50,000$ (MA + 10). Long Island districts were offering 35,000$. I had to spend 10,000$ in rent and be away from my family for most of the year to take that job. I retired at 96,000$ (MA + 57) in 2005.
On average, teachers cost ~$100,000 in pay and benefits. About an 80/20 split between them.
I considered becoming a social studies/history teacher but considering the prevailing (low) pay (early 1990's), long hours ("home-work"), and the thought of dealing with large (unruly) class sizes just didn't cut-it for me.
I did teach (temp) one year of 10th. grade at a Catholic school to realize it *is* a "challenge" and I was good at it but, again, when I figured my pay divided by the 8-12 hrs./day of time spent in class, lesson prep., and checking homework, etc. I would be better of, financially, doing most anything else.
It's unfortunate that, on LI, all teachers seem to be resented because a few of them make a decent living wage of $100,000 or more. If they're good at what they do, they deserve it (and more). In the best of environments it's often a difficult and thankless job.
The issue is that the cost of teachers' salaries and benefits come directly out of taxpayers' money. And the taxes on LI are difficult, especially in this economy, for most people to afford these days. This makes teachers an easy target for resentment/bashing. I understand this view, as I don't like what my tax bill looks like, and it will only continue to rise until we are all bled dry. However, on the flip side, most people on LI choose where to live based on school district. Everyone wants the most excellent schools with the best teachers and then they get mad when these teachers are making a decent living. The fact of the matter is than there have been tons of teacher layoffs on LI over the past few years. And most teachers have agreed to pay freezes in order to prevent further layoffs. I understand that this has not happened in all districts, and I am sorry if this has not occurred where you live, but it has happened in most districts. No one is hiring teachers right now. It does seem like administration has remained untouched in this regard though and there are plenty of duplicate positions that can be eliminated. Even with laying off a ton off teachers it has not really helped bring taxes down, so it has not really accomplished what those on this thread want...lower taxes. To accomplish this, as someone else mentioned, there has to be more industry on LI to offset some of these costs.
Teachers SHOULD make a decent living. They are educating our kids and unltimately academically preparing them for college and beyond....all the things that parents on LI want for their kids. Should we underpay them to save on taxes? 100k on LI is not a high wage for someone with both education and experience on LI. There are other threads on this forum that say that this is barely middle class wage on LI. The cost of living is high here, even if removing property taxes. There are many other professions that make much more money than teachers do and no one complains about it, because these professionals are buying nice homes on LI, keeping this a desirable place to live....and the wages are not coming directly from tax money.
If we want our taxes lowered, we need to eliminate some of the duplicate administrator positions, and more importantly...find a way to bring industry to LI.
And most teachers have agreed to pay freezes in order to prevent further layoffs. I understand that this has not happened in all districts, and I am sorry if this has not occurred where you live, but it has happened in most districts.
The issue is that the cost of teachers' salaries and benefits come directly out of taxpayers' money. And the taxes on LI are difficult, especially in this economy, for most people to afford these days. This makes teachers an easy target for resentment/bashing. I understand this view, as I don't like what my tax bill looks like, and it will only continue to rise until we are all bled dry. However, on the flip side, most people on LI choose where to live based on school district. Everyone wants the most excellent schools with the best teachers and then they get mad when these teachers are making a decent living. The fact of the matter is than there have been tons of teacher layoffs on LI over the past few years. And most teachers have agreed to pay freezes in order to prevent further layoffs. I understand that this has not happened in all districts, and I am sorry if this has not occurred where you live, but it has happened in most districts. No one is hiring teachers right now. It does seem like administration has remained untouched in this regard though and there are plenty of duplicate positions that can be eliminated. Even with laying off a ton off teachers it has not really helped bring taxes down, so it has not really accomplished what those on this thread want...lower taxes. To accomplish this, as someone else mentioned, there has to be more industry on LI to offset some of these costs.
Teachers SHOULD make a decent living. They are educating our kids and unltimately academically preparing them for college and beyond....all the things that parents on LI want for their kids. Should we underpay them to save on taxes? 100k on LI is not a high wage for someone with both education and experience on LI. There are other threads on this forum that say that this is barely middle class wage on LI. The cost of living is high here, even if removing property taxes. There are many other professions that make much more money than teachers do and no one complains about it, because these professionals are buying nice homes on LI, keeping this a desirable place to live....and the wages are not coming directly from tax money.
If we want our taxes lowered, we need to eliminate some of the duplicate administrator positions, and more importantly...find a way to bring industry to LI.
My guess is you have not actually read your SD's contract with the teachers union. Most every non-opinion you stated above is patently false.
1. There have NOT been tons of teacher layoffs on LI. Actual position eliminations have been few. SEETHROUGHNY.NET is your friend.
2. Regarding compensation don't forget to ad in pension (~$12-15k), health (~3-4k), a work year of 180-185 days and a work day of 6.5 hours. Do you still think teachers only make $100k?
3. Very few contracts that have been agreed to in the pst year have pay freezes OVER THE LIFE OF THE CONTRACT. Agreed the raises are slimmed down a bit from the past decade but they are still getting them and can still move laterally (more credits more money).
Call your supervisor and ask him how many applications he gets for a job opening, I'll predict he will respond with "we recive close to a 1000 resumes". Doesn't this suggest that perhaps we could actually lower wages and receive the same educational value?
The biggest question of all is: Why should I pay for someone elses retirement? The only one paying for mine is me.
If teachers are making such a lucrative salary why do they deserve a taxpayer funded pension as well? If people in the private sector who are ultimately funding your districts and salaries dont get a pension, why should teachers. They should get a 401k match just like most others.
If teachers are making such a lucrative salary why do they deserve a taxpayer funded pension as well? If people in the private sector who are ultimately funding your districts and salaries dont get a pension, why should teachers. They should get a 401k match just like most others.
Teachers also can open a 403 account to direct pre-tax income to provide additional funds for retirement.
Property tax rates on LI aren't *all* that high (#198 Nassau Co. @ 1.63% & #257 Suffolk Co. @ 1.55%). People just buy too expensive of a house for their income (more than 3-4x gross household income).
In the highest property tax rate counties (ie. #1 Orleans County, NY @ 3.04%) people buy houses that are less than twice their household income (ie. Orleans Co., NY it's 1.5 x income with a tax bill that's about 4.56% of income).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
