Not overpaid, but not underpaid either. Extrapolate that out as teachers work 9 months/year and you get salaries in the $50K range.
So $40K with summers off is a pretty good gig.
Even the new teachers have a median salary of almost $35K. So $35K for 9 months work is like 46K+ for those who work 12 months/year.
One thing folks are not being taught are critical reasoning skills. The ones who have those skills realize that teachers are paid for 9 months work, not 12. When that's factored in, the salaries are quite good.
I believe some/most don't pay Social Security either. My wife is part of a school system as the school social worker. She pays no social security. She does pay Medicare, but not SSI. So that money goes into her retirement instead.
The benefits teachers get are far better than the average worker in the labor force.
My wife does some sub work and we know several teachers and I know my wife has SS taken out of any check she gets. Maybe since your wife is a social worker it is different, but you probably need to be checking into it. She might be classified as a contract worker and be expected to pay that herself. She might also be hurting herself for future SS benefits. I like how people like to bring up the summer months off. They kind of tend to forget that most teachers are expected to continue to take more courses which usually occurs during the summer months and also they kind of forget about the hours spent grading and making lesson plans, parent teacher meetings and other events that they are expected many times to attend, but hey let's not let little things like that ruin a bad example. Oh and by the way if it is such a great gig with such great bennies how come the fallout rate for new teachers is so bad? Might want to walk a mile in their shoes.
