so anyone see their paycheck decrease?

[Hyperion]

My tax burden has actually gone down this year because of deductions that come with becoming a full-time teacher. Federal taxes are kinda annoying, but for the most part I pay more to the state.

For my teaching job I make about $48,000 gross income. I make a few thousand extra tutoring, running a side business, and odd things I do over the summer, but those earnings fluctuate between $5,000-$15,000 each year so I'll ignore them.

6.2% of it goes towards my pension plan. The state and my district cover the other half. So I put in $3,000/year and will eventually get at least $6,000.
I pay Medicare payroll (1.45%) like everyone else and count this as mostly a loss since that program is riddled with problems. But my pension plan is probably the biggest perk outside of health insurance.

For deductions:
- $3,800 Personal Exemption
- $3,000 Pension Contributions
- $3,000 Sales Tax
- $250 teacher supply deduction. Sounds like a gimme but I usually spend over $1,000 because I try to keep my labs interesting. For chemistry I want to incorporate a breathalyzer lab, poisonous food lab, and zombie apocalypse lab. But here's where it gets interesting...
- $1,000 for charitable donations. If I open up the supplies to other teachers in the school, it counts as a charitable donation.
- $1,000 teacher continual education reduction/certification tests
- $500 odd deductions like postage, transportation, etc. that most people don't consider.

So I have nearly $15,000 in deductions vs before where I had to file standard deduction. And for my tutoring money, I can deduct traveling expenses. I plan to purchase a house next year and will pretty much count another $10,000 in interest and property tax. I will be paying less than 10% towards the feds - virtually the same amount my friends make working full-time at Lowes for less than half the salary. Our system is truly messed up, and I'm the benefactor.

[Stratego]

[Winchester]

[Hyperion]

It's Saturday night and I'm emailing helicopter parents, grading papers, and trying to create a power-point over entropy. I think my salary is fair. I just wish I had more expenses to purchase lab supplies so that the kids could enjoy chemistry more. The genius admins decided teachers need $600 ipads so that we can use the "teacher evaluation" software regularly and take attendance quicker. For those who don't know, school funding is tied to attendance and district evaluation programs. We would prefer to pool together $4,000 and purchase much-need chemicals.

My hands are tied. The admins have kept on pushing us to use our own salary to fund labs. A lot of the teachers are fed up with it because some of these supplies cost over $500 each.

But yeah, $48,000 is pretty fair. Except possibly for some non-core teachers, it's literally impossible for even bad teachers to work only the contracted hours. Bad teachers still have to grade, attend after-school seminars, participate in 504 meetings, etc. They just suck at teaching and don't really try to engage students.

[Winchester]

[The Dharma Bum]

Also, chemistry is considered "too dangerous" by a lot of people. Have you seen a chemistry set lately? They're a joke now.

[Hyperion]

Most district admins are lazy scholar-types.

School admins - especially assistant principals - resemble chickens with their heads cut off. I would never take that job. Our assistant principals work 11 months of the year and don't sleep. At least, I don't see how they can. They handle everything from disciple problems to influenza scares to lost textbooks to 504 schedules to teacher development to interviewing staff members. And with few exceptions, EVERY SINGLE extracurricular activity must have a principal attending, even if it's 100 miles away.

Seriously, these people are crazy. They're at school from 7-6 and it's pretty much written in their contracts that they have to be on-call at all times. If you meet an assistant principal, offer to buy them a cup of coffee.

On the day of my interview, the assistant principal had to deal with three girls who got in a fight in the cafeteria. My interview was scheduled for 8 AM. It was eventually pushed back to 7 PM. Why? The principals only had a 15 minute lunch break. Two of the girls ended up having their hair pulled out, and the third girl was caught with cocaine. Do you know how much paperwork and parent-conferences that requires?

[The Dharma Bum]

Hmm I never really considered the role of the vice principle, I guess.

[Revenant]

[eric]

Another problem is the idea that teachers should be 9-5 kind of positions. A teacher is a position which should be much more akin to a life coach, a learned community member, and one who loves helping people