Discrepancies in teacher salaries.

It sometimes amazes me how widely teacher salaries vary. Most people, at least in the profession, know that a public school in general, pays the most; and catholic school, the least. But I want to focus on my direct knowledge: the vast pay scale difference among New York State public school districts. Two different counties can sometimes have pay scales that differ, on average, by 10 or 15 thousand dollars a year. I have taught in Manhattan as New York Teaching fellow for 2 years and now I teach in Westchester county–Only about 15 minutes apart, but the difference in income (and many other areas) is vast.

In the city, not only is each pay level approximately 15K less but you also hit the 'ceiling' much quicker. It's tough to get beyond about 80K whereas in Westchester county, you can get about 110K eventually. Here are some statistics taken from the New York City Depart of Education's website(accessed from the web on October 25th 2009):

Compare those statistics with Westchester or Long Island County districts and you will find quite a discrepancy. It is not uncommon for the latter districts to start above $60,000 (bachelors and no experience) and max out around $120,000. (As an aside I did not include 'longevity' bonuses into these statistics so you could potentially make more. A longevity bonus is obtained by remaining with the same district for X number of years) Yes, you need to take graduate credits and put in some time but when you start to add up the salary difference over a career, you're talking about a lot of money. But there's even more than just this obvious difference. Also, consider retirement –since retirement is based off of your salary, even in retirement Westchester county teachers are doing better than their Manhattan brethren.

Lastly, a great fiscal perk of working in a well paying school district is the tutoring! In the city, teachers by and large do tutoring for whatever the district's hourly rate is–often around $30 or $40 bucks an hour –and Westchester county schools offer a similar deal. However, it's the private tutoring that is the real cash cow. In Westchester, the going rate for private high school tutoring is about $100-$125 an hour, as of the time of this article–not a bad hourly rate! Now, I feel that I must give a nod to the city. Manhattan has the same kind of private tutoring going on–you can make a good buck, but in general this tutoring is difficult to get unless you work at a private school or at one of the selective schools like Suyvesent or Bronx Science where the parents are willing and, often, able to pay these hourly rates. Consider becoming a New York Tutor if you want to jump on that gravy train!

Other Useful Links
• Squidoo Lense on New York Tutoring