Washington State is the Place to Teach
I learned it from the comments section
I write a lot of articles about teacher compensation - how it is typically low and how a range of other factors make teaching less desirable now than it was 30 years ago.
Here’s an example:
The latest data says the “teacher pay penalty” - the gap between teacher compensation and the pay of other professionals - is now at an all-time high - 27%.
These stories are often coupled with tales about how teaching has changed - less support, more challenging issues.
Leading to burnout - and an exodus from the profession:
The share of teachers who say the stress and disappointment of the job are “worth it” has fallen to 42%, which is 21 points lower than other college-educated workers . . .
One recent story noted:
Only 16% of teachers said they’d recommend the profession to others, according to the poll.
So, I was surprised (pleasantly) to read this in the comments from one of my recent pieces:
Teachers, come Washington State! I make over 130,000 here. Yay for strong unions and a Democratic-majority legislature.
Other states, take note: it is not impossible to pay teachers a living wage.
Yay for good news about teacher compensation.
I decided to dig-in a bit and see more about teacher pay in Washington State.
I took a look at the Olympia School District - the district serving the state’s capital city.
The results indicate a pay scale where a teacher starting out with a bachelor’s degree - year 1 - can earn $60,000. The scale includes numbers in the six figures as experience and education levels go up. Teachers in Olympia can reasonably expect that in their later teaching years, they’ll make over 100K - possibly as much as $120,000.
It is, as the commenter notes, pretty amazing what can happen when policymakers choose to invest in public education - including in the compensation of educators.
Don't get too excited about teaching in Washington: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/09/23/clos-s23.html
I'm glad we pay teachers well here in WA, I would just caution people imagining moving here and being financially better off, it's very expensive in certain areas. For example, 100k is low income for housing in Seattle for a family of four. Much of Puget Sound is similar. If you can get a position in a less expensive part of the state it'll take you much further! So that should be a big part of the equation if people are looking to move here.