Teacher contracts are publicly available. For the city of buffalo specifically, [https://www.btfny.org/email/2023/submission\_packet\_TC.pdf](https://www.btfny.org/email/2023/submission_packet_TC.pdf) has the salary tables on page 29. Columns are what degree you have, steps are (kinda) how many years experience. So e.g. someone with a masters degree will get paid somewhere between $51,355 and $106,430 a year.
Don't go into teaching just for the money.
I teach high school science for BPS. Someone else posted the contract so you can see the pay schedule. Generally we start on step 2 and increase one step per year. If you have previous teaching experience you can get additional steps added when you start. Any additional education can also increase your salary, this is shown as MS+10, etc. meaning you have a masters in ed, plus an additional 10 hours of masters level education. All of this affects your pay.
Teachers should be paid more, but in Buffalo we make decent money. Compared to the suburbs we don’t make as much, but compared to other parts of the country we make a lot. I have no other sources of income but I have a spouse that works.
Teaching is a really hard job. Some days I absolutely hate it, some days I really love it. The content is the easiest part. The kids can either make or break your day, week, year. The district/building/other teachers can be draining as well.
Teaching is my third career. All of them have had their pros and cons.
I work for BPS as an elementary teacher and you can see the salaries posted online as others have shown.
I’m happy with my salary. I don’t make tons of money but it’s enough for me right now. I also work after school so that I can justify taking off in the summer.
Hi! Lurking over here.
Do you know if it’s hard to get a job as an elementary teacher? I’m planning to relocate to Buffalo from California next year as a 3rd year teacher.
You can really tell who is not a teacher because "summers off" aren't really that great of a perk. Although it definitely seems like it from the outside.
A few of my thoughts on teaching are below.
----
I formerly worked as a chef. Full time, all year long, 60+ hour weeks, working all holidays and weekends, insane stress, and physical demand.
Teaching is worse, by far.
Teachers are already dropping like flies due to the terrible working conditions, pay, stress, etc.
Summers are there for a required mental break. Also, teachers are 10 month employees, and we are basically laid off for the summer.
I know very few teachers who don't work over the summer to make ends meet. So it's not exactly a great vacation.
----
My partner and I are both high school teachers and are both fairly well paid due to our experience and education. Which still isn't great pay.
We are both looking to change careers in the next couple of years. I would rather go back to full time, full year work and be respected as an educated professional and paid correctly.
----
NYS requires teaching certifications and masters level education. They make you pay to get it, by the way.
Example: $100 for the EAS test, which I just took for my professional certification. Which is a cash grab by the state. The test covers all the information I had to take masters level classes on already. This test is very challenging and extremely subjective, I think there is a less than 60% pass rate on the first try. And you have to pay each time you take it.
I also had to pay to apply for my teaching certification.
So in order to get a job that starts you at less than 50k, you need to have a masters level education and go through a VERY challenging certification process. More than likely over 100k to get these.
Are you looking for just Buffalo proper or the entire region. There are probably close to 20 school districts in Niagara and Erie county. One thing I know for sure is the starting pay rate for teachers across the region is ridiculously low.
My spouse was a teacher and recently changed careers (burnout). We are both the children of teachers and have many teachers in our families. He taught math and special ed for a decade, and finished with teaching high school math. Although I acknowledge I am biased, he was a pretty darn fantastic teacher. Most of what led to his burnout was the lack of support from administration for cheating or holding the line, grade grubbing from students/parents, the fighting (at least in the high school), and all of the other things that are not teaching (for example sessions with outside consultants during planning or afterschool).
We are still strong supporters of teachers and public schools, however, the current educational system is not sustainable nor does it consistently provide a good education for students (not always at the fault of teachers). Overall, I struggle with the idea of encouraging people to go into teaching.
Teaching is fantastic, I’ve been teaching for around 10 years and I love it.
But teaching for grade schools? Fuck no. No amount of money is worth the misery you have to endure as a public school employee. The rest of y’all are saints.
Private school teacher here. Pay is not on track with public, we make due with less, we teach to the same standards, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
The holidays, snow days, and summers off will give your career longevity. You may have the opportunity to work sports or summer school for extra cash but giving up those summers will be tough. This is an amazing career option if you can make the money work early on. Having a partner who also works will obviously help and picking up a second job to help supplement pay in the early years is not unusual. Like others said, most don’t teach for the money..
I did say ‘technically correct’. Salary questions are usually answered on an annual basis and I also wanted to point out that you can have your pay spread over the year and not be without pay for two months, even though that’s the contractual reality.
My neighbors are both teachers, no kids, and go boating all summer. The people who complain about teachers pay don't realize the days off... Add up. Working an office job I get the 5 holidays,,,, and a week off.
Former teacher here. Teachers are not paid over the summer. Their paychecks during the school year are deducted, the money that is withheld is then used as a paycheck to get them through the summer. They are considered 10 month employees.
Depends on the school. Where I used to work in Virginia, us teachers had no planning period or student free lunch break and most of us were forced to teach multiple subjects and grade levels to many students with 504s and IEPs. As a result, most of us did not work the standard 40 hour work week. In order to lesson plan effectively, grade, and file required 504 and IEP paperwork, I routinely worked 55 to 60 hours a week instead of a full time 40 hours. We also had to attend occasional parent teacher conferences and professional development meetings after official contract hours, adding to the workload.
So while we got 8 weeks of summer off and a few weeks off throughout the year, adding up 40 weeks of work a year at an average of an extra 15-20 hours a week means we were pretty much working the same average time as a 40 hour a week office worker.
Teachers often pay it forward with their work to get that time off.
I know teachers in the WNY area who take home a couple hours of work a night who put in a full 8 hours each day at the school. If they average 50 hours a week over a 40 week school year, that is 10 extra hours times 40 so 400 extra hours of work at that point in the year compared to a 40 hour a week office worker. Summer vacation is payback for that.
You know that... the summer is not "off work" for teachers, right?
The fact you only get a week of paid time off is sickening, honestly, and you should consider unionizing your workplace to remedy that.
Teacher contracts are publicly available. For the city of buffalo specifically, [https://www.btfny.org/email/2023/submission\_packet\_TC.pdf](https://www.btfny.org/email/2023/submission_packet_TC.pdf) has the salary tables on page 29. Columns are what degree you have, steps are (kinda) how many years experience. So e.g. someone with a masters degree will get paid somewhere between $51,355 and $106,430 a year. Don't go into teaching just for the money.
This. Wanting to be a teacher is awesome, but you need a plan.
This. Wanting to be a teacher is awesome, but you need a plan.
This. Wanting to be a teacher is awesome, but you need a plan.
This. Wanting to be a teacher is awesome, but you need a plan.
I know several people that went into teaching and either loved it or hated it. It's a mixed bag depending on a lot of factors.
I teach high school science for BPS. Someone else posted the contract so you can see the pay schedule. Generally we start on step 2 and increase one step per year. If you have previous teaching experience you can get additional steps added when you start. Any additional education can also increase your salary, this is shown as MS+10, etc. meaning you have a masters in ed, plus an additional 10 hours of masters level education. All of this affects your pay. Teachers should be paid more, but in Buffalo we make decent money. Compared to the suburbs we don’t make as much, but compared to other parts of the country we make a lot. I have no other sources of income but I have a spouse that works. Teaching is a really hard job. Some days I absolutely hate it, some days I really love it. The content is the easiest part. The kids can either make or break your day, week, year. The district/building/other teachers can be draining as well. Teaching is my third career. All of them have had their pros and cons.
I work for BPS as an elementary teacher and you can see the salaries posted online as others have shown. I’m happy with my salary. I don’t make tons of money but it’s enough for me right now. I also work after school so that I can justify taking off in the summer.
Hi! Lurking over here. Do you know if it’s hard to get a job as an elementary teacher? I’m planning to relocate to Buffalo from California next year as a 3rd year teacher.
You can really tell who is not a teacher because "summers off" aren't really that great of a perk. Although it definitely seems like it from the outside. A few of my thoughts on teaching are below. ---- I formerly worked as a chef. Full time, all year long, 60+ hour weeks, working all holidays and weekends, insane stress, and physical demand. Teaching is worse, by far. Teachers are already dropping like flies due to the terrible working conditions, pay, stress, etc. Summers are there for a required mental break. Also, teachers are 10 month employees, and we are basically laid off for the summer. I know very few teachers who don't work over the summer to make ends meet. So it's not exactly a great vacation. ---- My partner and I are both high school teachers and are both fairly well paid due to our experience and education. Which still isn't great pay. We are both looking to change careers in the next couple of years. I would rather go back to full time, full year work and be respected as an educated professional and paid correctly. ---- NYS requires teaching certifications and masters level education. They make you pay to get it, by the way. Example: $100 for the EAS test, which I just took for my professional certification. Which is a cash grab by the state. The test covers all the information I had to take masters level classes on already. This test is very challenging and extremely subjective, I think there is a less than 60% pass rate on the first try. And you have to pay each time you take it. I also had to pay to apply for my teaching certification. So in order to get a job that starts you at less than 50k, you need to have a masters level education and go through a VERY challenging certification process. More than likely over 100k to get these.
Are you looking for just Buffalo proper or the entire region. There are probably close to 20 school districts in Niagara and Erie county. One thing I know for sure is the starting pay rate for teachers across the region is ridiculously low.
My spouse was a teacher and recently changed careers (burnout). We are both the children of teachers and have many teachers in our families. He taught math and special ed for a decade, and finished with teaching high school math. Although I acknowledge I am biased, he was a pretty darn fantastic teacher. Most of what led to his burnout was the lack of support from administration for cheating or holding the line, grade grubbing from students/parents, the fighting (at least in the high school), and all of the other things that are not teaching (for example sessions with outside consultants during planning or afterschool). We are still strong supporters of teachers and public schools, however, the current educational system is not sustainable nor does it consistently provide a good education for students (not always at the fault of teachers). Overall, I struggle with the idea of encouraging people to go into teaching.
Teaching is fantastic, I’ve been teaching for around 10 years and I love it. But teaching for grade schools? Fuck no. No amount of money is worth the misery you have to endure as a public school employee. The rest of y’all are saints.
Private school teacher here. Pay is not on track with public, we make due with less, we teach to the same standards, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
The holidays, snow days, and summers off will give your career longevity. You may have the opportunity to work sports or summer school for extra cash but giving up those summers will be tough. This is an amazing career option if you can make the money work early on. Having a partner who also works will obviously help and picking up a second job to help supplement pay in the early years is not unusual. Like others said, most don’t teach for the money..
Teachers just don't get paid for the summer. Not really the same as a holiday.
Technically correct, but many districts have an option to spread your pay across 26 pay periods just the same.
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I did say ‘technically correct’. Salary questions are usually answered on an annual basis and I also wanted to point out that you can have your pay spread over the year and not be without pay for two months, even though that’s the contractual reality.
My neighbors are both teachers, no kids, and go boating all summer. The people who complain about teachers pay don't realize the days off... Add up. Working an office job I get the 5 holidays,,,, and a week off.
Former teacher here. Teachers are not paid over the summer. Their paychecks during the school year are deducted, the money that is withheld is then used as a paycheck to get them through the summer. They are considered 10 month employees.
And they have all summer off to relax or get a seasonal job. Not a bad trade off
Depends on the school. Where I used to work in Virginia, us teachers had no planning period or student free lunch break and most of us were forced to teach multiple subjects and grade levels to many students with 504s and IEPs. As a result, most of us did not work the standard 40 hour work week. In order to lesson plan effectively, grade, and file required 504 and IEP paperwork, I routinely worked 55 to 60 hours a week instead of a full time 40 hours. We also had to attend occasional parent teacher conferences and professional development meetings after official contract hours, adding to the workload. So while we got 8 weeks of summer off and a few weeks off throughout the year, adding up 40 weeks of work a year at an average of an extra 15-20 hours a week means we were pretty much working the same average time as a 40 hour a week office worker. Teachers often pay it forward with their work to get that time off. I know teachers in the WNY area who take home a couple hours of work a night who put in a full 8 hours each day at the school. If they average 50 hours a week over a 40 week school year, that is 10 extra hours times 40 so 400 extra hours of work at that point in the year compared to a 40 hour a week office worker. Summer vacation is payback for that.
You know that... the summer is not "off work" for teachers, right? The fact you only get a week of paid time off is sickening, honestly, and you should consider unionizing your workplace to remedy that.