Higher earning? Teachers fare better than many other professionals

Higher earning? Teachers fare better than many other professionals
By AMY JETER AND DEIRDRE FERNANDES, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 7, 2006
Last updated: 12:20 AM

Karen DiDomenico, a teacher for 28 years, works as a server five days a week during the summer at Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant in Virginia Beach. She makes $50,000 a year teaching but has needed the extra income to put her two daughters through college. sonya N. hebert photos/the virginian-pilot

William Kane left teaching to start a home- repair and renovation business with a friend. He said he works the same hours as he used to but makes more money.


More graphics: Teachers' wages compared; increasing earnings



Public school teachers used to earn less than just about everyone else with a college degree.

No longer.

Years of lobbying state and federal lawmakers have paid off. In Hampton Roads and throughout the nation, teachers' hourly earnings rival or exceed that of accountants, librarians and engineers.

As state employees, teachers receive retirement and health benefits that surpass many professions in private business. Plus, teachers work almost two months less a year than most other college-educated workers.

Salary, compensation and jobs data culled by The Virginian-Pilot from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics and other clearinghouses show that making a career in the classroom may not make someone rich, but it can provide a comfortable living with job security, time off and a sizeable retirement paycheck.

"If you take the average pay in Virginia Beach, you add the benefits and you bring it out over a year, it's a pretty significant income," said Del. John Welch III, a Virginia Beach Republican, who has questioned high raises for teachers. "The job of a public teacher is not to get wealthy."

Teachers and their powerful unions counter that shaping future generations is an awesome responsibility. Few political priorities locally or nationally trump the desire for good schools and qualified teachers.

In Virginia, teacher lobbyists are particularly adept at conveying that message. In most years, they persuade state lawmakers to increase teacher pay, even when money is scarce for road construction, public safety and other pressing needs.

"A teacher molds a life of a child," said Princess Moss, the president of the Virginia Education Association. "I don't know of any other profession in which that happens."

Locally, teacher salaries have outpaced inflation and risen more than the average professional salary. South Hampton Roads' 14,458 public school teachers will receive pay increases this year that range from an average of 4 percent in Norfolk to 8 percent in Portsmouth.

South Hampton Roads school divisions also pay nearly all of teacher health care benefits; Chesapeake pays the most at 98 percent and Norfolk the least at 89 percent. That trumps the 82 percent that most companies pay for employees in private businesses, industry studies show.

One of the most authoritative sources on the issue of pay and benefits, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Compensation Survey, pegged the nationwide public school teachers' average annual salary at $46,629 in 2004, the latest figures available. Other organizations, such as the National Education Association, cite slightly different numbers.

That was more than the average worker and government worker and $8,700 less than the average for all occupations requiring the equivalent of a college degree or extensive practical knowledge.

In the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metropolitan area, which includes 15 Virginia localities and Currituck County in North Carolina, public school teachers' average annual salary in 2005 was $44,961, according to the survey.

That is $6,382 higher than the average worker; $1,459 lower than the average professional. The survey includes 44 occupations other than teachers; seven of them are considered professionals.


Teachers often bristle at suggestions that they have a sweet deal. Making it on a teacher's salary alone can be difficult, some say.

Karen DiDomenico, a single mother who put two daughters through college, counts herself among those struggling to pay the bills.

For the last decade, she has worked as a waitress on weekends and holidays while teaching at Norfolk's Sherwood Forest Elementary School.

Last year, she made $12,000 waiting tables. After 28 years of teaching, her annual salary was $50,000.

"Sometimes I think, 'I really don't want to work today' because I've worked all week," DiDomenico said.

Teachers are widely envied for having summers off. On average, professionals work 232 eight-hour days a year, including paid holidays and vacation, the federal survey shows. Teachers work an average of 187 days, 7.5 hours a day.

That allows them to make some extra money - if they want to - teaching summer school or working in other summer jobs.

Or they can simply relax.

Most teachers don't choose to find other employment in the summer, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

In summer 2003, 15.9 percent of teachers reported working in summer school, 5.5 percent did non teaching jobs such as administration in school, and 15.1 percent worked jobs unrelated to school.

On average, they made $2,300 to $4,300.

Paul Sarandria, an eighth-grade science teacher at Portsmouth's Cradock Middle School, said he has worked 12 summers in his 17-year teaching career.

Employment as a camp instructor or crew member on a dive boat helped his family cover their expenses, he said.

"We're never truly on vacation," said Sarandria, whose wife also teaches in Portsmouth but stays home during the summer. "I've never had the entire summer off."

This summer, Sarandria isn't working, but he is attending two science conferences in Alaska and San Diego that will provide him with credits toward recertification. The school division is paying for Sarandria's travel to San Diego.

"I see it as more of a perk sort of thing," Sarandria said about his summers. "It gives you an opportunity to do something different in the summer time and get paid for it."

Teachers receive other perks.

They get up to 20 unpaid holidays. Virginia teachers also get 10 paid sick days per year and can save up to 90 of those days. The national labor survey shows private workers get about eight paid holidays a year. They also receive an average of nine sick days, according to the 2006 Mercer/Marsh Survey on Health, Productivity and Absence Management Programs.

The Virginia Education Association and other teacher advocates argue that their summer breaks offset the extra, off-the-books time teachers work during the school year.

The average required work week for a teacher is 37.7 hours, according to a 2003-04 survey from the education statistics center.

Public school teachers work on average 52.8 hours a week when other school-related activities are factored in, according to the study, which relied on figures reported by teachers.

Testing and accountability movements such as No Child Left Behind add extra responsibilities to a teacher's day, state education association officials said.

"It seems like they're always adding more to what the teachers should do, and they're never taking away," said Rob Jones, a former Virginia Beach and Norfolk teacher, who is now a lobbyist for the association.

Others say you can't assume everyone works after the final bell.

"Good teachers put in lots of hours," said W. Randy Wright, a Norfolk City Council member for 14 years, who has been vocal on school issues. "Some not-so-good teachers don't put in the same hours. Unfortunately, we don't have a pay scale that's reflective of that."

Richard Vedder, a professor of economics at Ohio University, said teachers fare well.

"I reject the argument that teachers are underpaid as a group," Vedder said. "In most comparisons, teachers look pretty good."

In 2005, southeastern Virginia public school teachers worked an average of 1,441 hours. Professionals on average worked 1,805 hours, including paid vacation and holidays.

Teachers' hourly wage was $5.49 more.

They made more per hour - $31.21 - than all other occupations in the labor survey, except some managers.


© 2006 HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com