Anyone who knows a teacher knows that we are some of the best complainers in the world, but around this time of the year, we get even better at griping. It's probably because we're getting e-mails everyday about how much more our declining health insurance is going to cost next year, and how much of a raise we aren't going to get again...ever. (It would be like ordering a large pizza for $8.00, and then being told by the pizza-man you could get a small for $10.00, and who in their right mind is going to celebrate that?). But I realized last week as I was driving home (from my 2nd job that I've recently had to take on to help make ends meet) that North Carolina legislators are taking a pretty risky gamble with their younger teachers. Right now I'm currently a fifth year teacher making what a 2nd year teacher made 3 years ago. The problem is that gas doesn't cost what it did 3 years ago. Groceries don't either. Recently my utilities went up 7.2 percent also. North Carolina no longer pays me a living wage...hell, it was barely a living wage 3 years ago. If you don't believe me, just ask my new roomate. I call her mom, but you can call her Vickie. (Hi Mom! Thanks for reading. And thanks for agreeing to live with me again even though I'm an eccentric monster who doesn't know how to close a cabinet door). I've realized that I can no longer afford to be a teacher in North Carolina.
I don't live a lavish lifestyle. I have a modest apartment--that, like I mentioned before, I now share with my mother--a normal car that I am slowly paying off, slow internet, a cell phone that I use as my primary phone, and (despite the chagrin of Fox News) a refrigerator. (In my defense my refrigerator doesn't make ice and for about 3 hours a day, it sounds a little bit like a freight train). I've cut all expenses that aren't necessary. I don't have cable or TiVo. I rarely shop for anything but groceries. I don't have a data plan or a phone smart enough to tell Facebook where I am. (Thank God (and my dad) my student loans are paid off...there's no way I could afford that right now). Still, this past school year I've found myself barely breaking even each month.
And I wonder how many teachers are in the same boat as me. At my school I am only 1 of 4 unmarried teachers who have been in the profession for less than 10 years. Maybe that's one way the state is justifying these budget cuts for those of us that are still at the bottom of the pay-scale food chain; after all, if this were 50 years ago, my financial predicament would totally be my fault for not "catching a man" by now. My inability to support myself would be a direct effect of my bad decision making skills (or alopecia) and my state legislators would probably accuse me of being "one of 'dem feminists." Considering guys like Howard Coble, it's not unheard of to think that some of these sentiments might still exist in our General Assembly.
I wonder what the future will hold for North Carolina teachers as the general assembly begins to write next year's budget. I don't think they realize how financially inept some of their younger teachers are. I wonder if they've stopped and asked themselves "how many years will a teacher work for less than $30,000 a year (before taxes) and dental insurance before they quit?" Again, maybe this is just me and the 3 other non-married teachers at my school, but I truly doubt it. Last week one of my co-workers saw an advertisement about positions as Trader Joe's, a grocery chain that is opening a new store in Winston-Salem. Starting salary for management: 40K with benefits. There were about 7 other teachers sitting around when she read the ad out loud; all of us planned our new futures in middle management.
I know, the grass isn't always greener (but at Trader Joe's it would be reasonably priced organic grass). Within 20 minutes, another co-worker created a pro-con list for our futures at Trader Joe's. When she reminded me that I would have to deal with un-returned shopping carts, I knew my new-found American Dream was over before it began. I would literally murder some one over an abandoned shopping cart. Literally.
And for me, the grass is green enough as a teacher. I love my job. I work with good people, I love what I do, and I feel like I serve an important purpose every afternoon when I go home. And I'm effective. I measure my effectiveness by being able to honestly say that most of my students are at least a little bit smarter at the end of the semester; most of them can read and write a little bit better. (And this isn't an easy accomplishment when you consider the adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink...especially when the state has made the water taste like crap," (I added that last part)).
Sadly, it isn't always about how green the grass is. No matter how much I love teaching, it simply doesn't pay me enough to support myself. There isn't a place for a sentimental outlook when you can't afford to go to the doctor or pay your electric bill. I've heard people say that money isn't a good enough reason to leave a job. But the people that say those things must be making at least a living-wage, because only some asshole who has enough money to pay their utilities bill or get an oil change when they are supposed to would say something stupid like that. I don't have a checking account that let's me make deposits with the sense of purpose that my job gives me, and I can't pay for groceries with the joy my students bring me when they learn something new. That's why it breaks my heart a little bit that I'm being forced to leave a job I'm in love with because I can no longer support myself. I feel a little bit like Daisy in The Great Gatsby. Instead of "rich girls don't marry poor boys, Jay Gatsby," I'll be all "single young people who have to pay their bills don't stay teachers, NC legislators."
Most jobs that people are forced to leave are those romantic, irresponsible jobs, the ones they dreamed of doing when they were a kid. It would make sense if I could no longer support myself with the profits from my boutique that sells hand-painted portraits of your pets that I do on pieces of rare antique china and then fire in my kiln built from bricks collected from the ruins of ancient Rome. But I am unable to support myself with a job that I went to college for. I even changed my major from Creative Writing to English Secondary Education because I wanted to be able to support myself. And all the responsible adults in my life told me at the time that it was "a respectable career choice." In my opinion, it can't be considered a career if you have to seek out a second or third job (as some of my coworkers with children have had to do) to be able to make ends meet...while living modestly. How are my students supposed to respect me if the state of North Carolina doesn't respect me enough to pay me a living wage?
And I'm tired of being told that there are opportunities for teachers to get raises outside of the state pay scale. To get National Board Certification, teachers have to pay $2,500 out of pocket. I'm one budget cut away from making payments on a new hairdryer; there's no way I can afford the fee to even apply for National Board. Graduate school is another expensive and time consuming option. My 3 hour class was over $1,000 dollars and thanks to the NC Board of Governors, the sky is now the limit when it comes to tuition costs. Plus, there's no promise that North Carolina will honor the previous pay raises for National Board or Masters Degrees in the future. Some teachers could end up going through one of these expensive and time consuming processes only to be told they won't get a raise. NC Legislators are backing teachers into a corner (with higher co-pays, and more responsibilities due to a 15% cut to support staff last year). I'm just wondering how long we are going to stay there.
A lot of the teachers I work with won't leave teaching. North Carolina has trapped them with these pay scale raises, and now the state is getting a great deal off of them. Teachers that have families, mortgages, kids in college; in general, they have people depending on them. They are halfway to retirement and would be hard-pressed to find a secure job in this economy that would support their lifestyle. But for teachers like me, with 4-7 years in and no mouths to feed but our own, $40,000 at Trader Joe's is tempting...and it is quickly becoming a necessity. Maybe North Carolina isn't worried about losing teachers with 4-7 years under their (knock-off) belts. Maybe they even think it will save them some money. But at this point in the salary freezes, losing teachers that have about 5 years in and hiring teachers fresh out of college won't save school systems any money. We're all making about the same amount, and new teachers are required to participate in a mentoring program which costs counties money and positions. Losing teachers with experience to salary freezes will only hurt the students, in the end.
Since next year's budget is beginning to materialize, the anti-public-education conservatives in the General Assembly have been busy trying to prove that North Carolina teachers are actually paid too much. The Civitas Institute released articles claiming that North Carolina teachers were 14th in the nation for teacher pay based on cost of living. The NCAE claims that we are in the 40s. The real answer probably lies somewhere between the two. And I understand why legislators would feel pressured to lower teacher pay; K-12 education is the highest expenditure in North Carolina's budget. But there are other places where money could be saved as well. During a budget-crisis year, North Carolina passed legislation that required all high school juniors in North Carolina to take the ACT and The Work Keys test, a 5.6 million dollar project and tax-payers footed the bill. When my county could no longer afford dental insurance, all administrators were given iPads, and every county office meeting I went to had single-sided color copies. I know, I know. All the money comes with strings attached and has to be used in certain ways, but my point is that the money is there. The State of North Carolina, DPI, and individual school systems have got to stop acting like Rednecks that just won the lottery. Stop buying stupid stuff...especially if it's technology that will need to be updated in 3 years...which we won't be able to afford.
The best way to get a kid to learn is to put them in a smaller classroom with an effective teacher who can teach in any circumstance. But if teachers aren't paid enough to survive their first 10 years on the job, there won't be as many effective teachers out there.
I'm sorry the NC education system (and NC in general) is losing you!
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