Many teachers will stay in a career they hate because of fear.
They may feel that teaching is a safe, stable job as compared to the tumultuous private sector.
And they would be wrong!
Teaching was a low paid career that offered stability, great benefits and a pension. Unfortunately, much of that is being eroded.
This career is much riskier than you think and precisely because you may think its NOT risky.
Consider the following:
1. The Pension
Arguably, the biggest benefit of being a teacher is the pension.
Aside from the fact that only 20% of teachers actually get a full pension, they are anything but guaranteed.
Think about the opportunity cost of investing in a pension but quitting teaching before you are vested. Often you will be able to take out the money you put in. But think about several years of pension contributions that could have been invested somehow. Instead you loan your money to the pension system interest free and get zero return for years.
For the teachers determined to stick it out until retirement make sure to research the relative quality of your pension benefits.
Another consideration is the financial health of your pension. States like Illinois and New Jersey are in dire straits. In the event of a future crisis, pensions could be cut when teachers are most vulnerable. Take a look for yourself. There is absolutely no talk of shoring up or bailing out pensions. The political class is only talking about cutting benefits. I don’t want to be political but I do not trust venal politicians to be responsible with money that isn’t theirs.
In one state, lawmakers cut taxes and “borrowed” from the teachers pension to plug budget deficits. They literally stole from teachers to give to the rich.
For newer teachers pension benefits are already less generous than those of older teachers who are grandfathered into better plans. They retire later and get smaller payouts. In many cases they pay more for health insurance. The career is even less attractive for this generation of teachers.
Another consideration is that teachers pensions are taking bigger risks than private sector ones because of the pressures of trying to catch up to liabilities. Financial markets are becoming wild casinos and if your pension blows up, I doubt anyone will want to bail you out. If, socially we are not willing to pay teachers a decent wage, then I doubt anyone will want to bailout a mismanaged pension.
A final, but major problem with the pension is that it depends on new teachers paying into it to fund current retirees. The pandemic has accelerated the number of teachers leaving the profession. This means less people paying in as more teachers retire. No one is talking about this putting even more pressure on pension plans. Barring some unlikely social enlightenment or revolution I don’t see the trend of teachers leaving the profession reversing.
2. Job Lock
Consider this horror story and think to yourself if it applies to you.
A social studies teacher in his early 50s was laid off from his tenured job because of low enrollment. Yes! You can lose your tenured job if they eliminate the position and there is no other job you are qualified for in the school district, union or no union.
He had maxed out his salary. But now, unemployed, he could not find another teaching job anywhere else that would even approach his previous pay. Where he could get a job it was a 50% pay cut. Out of options he was depressed and bitter about his situation. He had lost hope.
I never learned what happened to him and I wish him the best.
Ask yourself, could this scenario happen to you?
Consider also that if you were tenured with your salary maxed out, you are locked into your school district. If you tried to move to another school district or another state even after maxing out your salary, could you command the same salary?
In the example above, why would any district hire a teacher with max salary when there is a glut of social studies teachers fresh out of college willing to take entry level pay?
This job lock is the most insidious risk of teaching. I have personally faced this but, in contrast, I have STEM endorsements that are in high demand. As a veteran teacher, I have maxed out my pay. I have applied to jobs and asked them for the same pay and I’ve seen schools leave unfilled positions vacant rather than match my pay, teacher shortage be damned.
The saddest part of the story above is that the social studies teacher was tenured. In states without unions or tenure, the job security of teachers is even more tenuous. In right to work states, teachers can be let go at will, regardless of how long they have worked in a school.
Becoming a teacher is a long, expensive and arduous process. If all that energy was put into acquiring high value skills in the job market then an individual can command a salary commensurate with the market demand. The teaching profession doesn’t seem to obey supply and demand laws.
Don’t succumb to job lock.
3. Education Death Spiral
So much about education has gotten worse in my twenty years of teaching.
I call education’s descent a death spiral because as it gets worse, it gets even worse.
Let me explain.
The pandemic accelerated teacher shortages. As a result remaining teachers have to suffer larger class sizes, more pressure, responsibilities and work loads.
This causes even more teachers to leave, which causes more stress on remaining teachers and causes even more teachers to leave and on and on.
But even before the pandemic, teachers salaries lagged comparable professions by 32%. And now with inflation accelerating not even including the insane increases in housing and healthcare costs, this profession is becoming increasingly unsustainable.
The worse it gets, the worse it gets.
I don’t see a light at the end of this tunnel.
4. Public Schools Will Fade Away
Don’t be fooled by the press talking about the teacher crisis. The bipartisan political discourse is hostile to public schooling.
Take a look at the concerning results of pandemic surveys.
The support for school choice has risen among Republicans where it was always high. But more concerning is that it has risen among Democrats as well.
Our increasingly polarized society has let the culture wars spill over into our schools making our jobs subject the whims of mobs with bizarre agendas on the left and the right. With more than half of the electorate favoring school choice, the future of this profession doesn’t look bright.
As bad as teacher compensation, working conditions and benefits are, they are on average much better in public schools than in private and charter schools. As public schools are eroded so is the profession at large.
I hope this article has illuminated for you some of the real risks that teaching can pose. Keep your eye on the big picture. Some of these issues may not apply to your district or region. But you owe it to yourself to calculate the risks of being a teacher and make an informed decision on if this career is right for you.
See also: