How Much Is a Good Teacher Worth?

The Covid-19 virus revealed that teachers are essential to a smoothly running society.  

In 2019, Kamala Harris, then a Democratic presidential candidate, said at a rally, “We are a nation and a society that pretends to care about education.”

How much is a good teacher worth?

If you want to know the answer to that question:

• Ask a parent who was forced by the closing of schools to teach her children for the first time, 24/7/365, how difficult it is to teach even one child.

• Ask a student who thought that distance learning didn’t work, had unstable internet service, and had difficulty getting their questions answered.

• Ask a politician who heard the outcry of people in their district/communities/states who are asking, “when will schools reopen?”

• Ask a teacher who is underpaid and unappreciated.

While a candidate, Ms. Harris proposed that there should be a federally subsidized $13,500 teacher raises. This would bring the average annual salary of teachers to $70,000 or more. For comparison, starting Facebook engineers earn over $100,000. On average, teachers starting salaries are under $40,000. Even Betsy Devos, the former Secretary of Education, recognized that “great teachers” should earn a minimum salary of $250,000. 

A recent survey conducted in 2020 found that 67 percent of teachers “have or had a second job to make ends meet.” If teachers were properly paid, they wouldn’t have to run out of school in order to go to second jobs and wouldn’t be so exhausted. So, in addition to teaching, preparing effective lessons, grading papers, calling parents, tutoring, teachers go to second jobs to make ends meet.

With the cost of living rising and the price of raising a family going higher than ever before, fewer people are going into teaching. A 2019 report revealed that fewer college students are studying to become teachers, and that’s because of “low salaries, difficult working conditions, teaching cannot compete with other high-status professions such as medicine or law.” Competitive teacher salaries would lower the attrition rate. Nearly one in ten teachers left the classroom last year. The exodus of educators takes a toll on students and learning. The Economic Policy Institute reported that teacher pay, adjusted for inflation, declined from1996 to 2020. Inexperienced teachers often fill teacher vacancies. With the possibility of state financial shortages and teacher shortages, the quality of student’s education is compromised. 

Almost 80 percent of all K-12 teachers are women. In the distant past, women only had the opportunity to work as teachers, nurses, librarians, or secretaries. That is no longer true. But the teaching profession is still treated by society as a place where women go to work to subsidize their husband’s salaries. It is still underpaid and is unappreciated.

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