The Bad News

We’ll start with the bad news first; get ready, there’s lots of it!

Salary

Everyone knows teachers are underpaid, but do you know how underpaid they really are? According to a CNN report published by Associated Press, in 2005 the average teacher salary in the country was $ 46,752. Salaries vary by state and district. Currently, Connecticut pays teachers the most with an average $ 57,337 yearly salary and South Dakota pays the least with $ 33,236. Generally, the higher paid teachers also live where the cost of living is significantly higher, so it all becomes pretty relative. The main problem with teacher salaries is that they do not keep up with inflation rates, causing teachers to actually earn less as time goes by. CNN reports that over the past 20 years the average teacher salary has only increased $ 2,677 when inflation is factored in. If you want to know how much teachers are paid in your area, you can log on to monster.com or hotjobs.com and do a salary search.

On top of the low salaries, teachers wind up spending a great deal of money out of their own pockets for classroom supplies. As funding for public schools decreases, teachers find themselves making up for shortfalls in supply budgets. They buy everything from motivational stickers and prizes to basics like paper, pencils and books out of their own pockets. Also, teachers, being the giving souls that they are, are also known to spend their own money on their most needy students. After all, you can’t expect a child to do homework if they don’t have their own paper. On the up side, teachers are now able to take advantage of a $ 400 tax credit for educator expenses, unfortunately surveys show that teachers shell out an average of $ 500 - $1,500 a year.