When new teachers scout for jobs, some wonder how much do teachers make in California?
According to the Sacramento Bee, California teachers’ salaries go as high as $99K per year at Montecito Union Elementary in Santa Barbara. That is the high point, however.
As of 2011, average salaries came closer to $67,932 throughout the state. This is because of layoffs of newer or lower-paid instructors due to the decrease in state funding for the schools.
While large urban areas, such as Los Angeles and the Bay Area, can pay their teachers anywhere from $60K to $99K a year, rural counties and smaller districts hover in the low $50Ks to $70Ks.
How much a teacher makes, however, may not cover living expenses. Teacherportal.com rates California as the 44th friendliest state toward teachers based on cost of living ratios. While $99K a year may seem like a hefty salary, a teacher may not be able to find housing in Santa Barbara that falls within a prudent price range. Despite the recession, California’s housing prices still outpace most salary packages.
In Nevada County northeast of Sacramento, teachers make from $55K to $71K a year. House prices can range from a few thousand dollars for a manufactured home to over a million in Truckee, CA. This, of course, is an extreme range, but it shows what teachers in this county must pay to live near their jobs.
In fact, most government workers in Truckee, CA are paid a salary differential based on increased cost of living levels.
Because Truckee is a resort community with influxes of second-home owners swelling the population, the cost of living is higher. The tax base is also higher, but the number of children served by the school district doesn’t include the second-home population.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the County in Nevada City, the population is more stable, making the tax base and the student numbers more stable as well.
When new teachers consider how much they will make in California schools, they need to consider benefits packages. California offers very generous options for retirement, medical and life insurance, and tax shelters. In fact, these benefits have come under fire during the recession as school districts struggle to cover them with diminishing tax revenues.
Another factor in measuring how much teachers make in California is the classroom size and ethnic makeup. Teacherportal.com claims that there are only 21 students for every teacher. Since the recession, this ratio has increased to as many as ten more students per teacher.
California schools also host a wide variety of ethnic and language groups in each classroom. One teacher revealed that she had nineteen different languages represented in her elementary class in the L.A. basin. Further north, Spanish and English are the primary languages spoken by students and their parents.
New teachers are often expected to do extra duties, such as serving on committees or doing projects outside their regular classroom work. One first grade teacher found herself overwhelmed by special projects that veteran teachers no longer wanted to do. These tasks were then passed down to newer teachers.
While California teachers’ average salaries may be higher than in other states, the challenges of teaching and living in the state may take some of the shine off the Golden State’s job offerings.