In 2006 I made $34,500 as a 1st year teacher.

May 3, 2023 7:35 PM

VerboseDood61

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It took a decade off teaching and am now back. The value of my 1st year salary of $34.5K would be $51,691 in 2023. The new pay raise puts me at $51,653. So I'm basically EXACTLY where I started in 2006 with no upward mobility happening. Yay inflation? #PayTeachersProperly #Memes

Get a sub cert (Most states only require a HS Diploma anymore because sub pay is abysmal) and go substitute for a week and tell me you think $30K is fair for the work.

payteachersproperly

memes

Remember, if your raise doesn't match inflation, you're taking a pay cut. >.>

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

not a teacher but my "payraises" in the last three years: - expired candy, - some more expired candy and just last week a pair of socks

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I've been both a sub and a fulltime teacher. *LOVED* being a substitute teacher. Kids loved me just as much and didn't have any paperwork.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

$30k is absolutely not fair. Teaching is one of the hardest and one of the most important jobs there is. Thank you for doing what needs to be done.

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

As a sub, I don't work. I just stand in for the teacher. No lesson prep, no grading, just delivering the teacher's plans to the students and taking attendance. The pay is pretty good for that sort of employment. Teacher pay, though, is ABYSMALLY LOW to the point of servitude. Teacher pay for new BS teachers w/ no experience should be $90,000 annually with 7% steps and 14% lanes for further education, which the school board should pay for. Smaller class sizes, more SPED teachers and aides...

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The funny thing with money is, it's only worth what people think it is. It's just a number on paper and there is no number high enough to save you from this reality. Congrats to 1.000.000$/month, now you can buy eggs and bread. Greets from the Weimarer Republic, we all know what's coming next.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

$30k isn’t fair for any job, especially for trying to keep young minds on track when the teacher needs to be off.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

My wife is a teacher. Today, she got home from school so worn out that her mom took our daughter for a visit so she could nap. Teachers are underpaid and under-appreciated. That’s the truth and fuck anyone who says otherwise.

3 years ago | Likes 78 Dislikes 0

It’s the 90 days of May (that’s what my teacher wife calls it) and it’s brutal.

3 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

April is also a year long, so May is extra brutal.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Respectfully (seriously this is going to sound bad, but I am not trying to be a dick) I made more bartending that year. Please f***ing pay teachers more!

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Many Americans on Imgur seem to appreciate teachers, that's great. Here in Germany teachers get paid pretty well (a high school teacher starts with around 50k€/y after 6,5 years of training), and many people think it's an easy job since they have so many holidays and don't have to spend 40+ hours in the office (you teach 20 hours, rest is all the different tasks, and some can be done from home). Yet somehow teachers have one of the highest rate of premature begin of pension because of burnout et

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I’m in a similar situation in UK armed forces. The only reason my pay has kept up with inflation since 2011 is because of promoted twice and also retrained into a new trade. Gone from being an engineer to manager with a lot more responsibility to be on effectively the same money. BS

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Teachers also need a degree. Imagine spending $100k on your degree and getting offered such abismal pay

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I miss teaching and at the same time don’t regret leaving. Definitely a lot less stressed out, towards the end the students I had (adult classes for culinary) were unmanageable and unwilling to learn. Couldn’t understand why they even came to class most of the time. The money definitely wasn’t worth the headache

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I made £4.50/ hr in 1997, and £10.50/hr now. And according to inflation I've had a real terms raise of 2p. Go me!

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I quit teaching and immediately doubled my salary. It's really, really sad how little teachers are paid.

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

What do you do now?

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Sells drugs outside of a high school

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

I remember 2006. I lost my job and it took me about 8 years to get back to the same salary in a new position. But I'm happy it worked out this way... the new job was way better.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Teaching isn't an easy job. I have seen a few teachers who shoot themselves in the foot though. The whole system needs a rework.

3 years ago | Likes 129 Dislikes 1

Cut down on the obscene amount of administrators most districts have, put them back in the classroom, and reduce class sizes. Oh and minimum wage for teachers should be at least $60,000.

3 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

I manage a team of 12 employees who kills bugs. We ALL make more then that. I earn the least on the team and earn more then 60k.

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

At first i was like 👀 til I read "in the foot"

3 years ago | Likes 31 Dislikes 0

Poor choice of words on my part.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

cost of living where i live rose ~15% where i live while my salary went up 3%. This market is shit. not just teachers only.

3 years ago | Likes 74 Dislikes 1

My pay has gone up 25% since 2019. Without a change of job. I guess it depends on the person. And the job.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

"Greedflation" is largely to blame. Some eminent dude was just saying he thinks it might "break" capitalism. We'll see.

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Companies are boasting theirs doubled.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Same here I now earn what I would have needed to comfortably live 10 years ago. Thanks to inflation it's now probably a bit less than back in the day.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

i live in argentina. inflation and devaluation ate my salary. i started in 2016 at $1500/mo and now i'm at <$500/mo

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Lol my teachers deserved more than 30k/ year for putting up with me alone for a year, and i was practically a model sfudent.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Under capitalism there is no upward mobility for the working class

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

I'm making 88k€ and I can't even afford to buy an apartment where I live due to the interest rates without going literally into paycheck to paycheck living. Just hoping the rents don't get too high.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Buddy! You are $38 in the hole!

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Making $34k today was poverty line in 2010

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Adding my wife to this sadness. As a 4th year special education teacher with 7 autistic children in her class (K-3rd), she makes a whopping 36k a year.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

teachers don't earn enough, they should be trained and paid like medical professionals

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Inflation has pretty much negated every pay raise I’ve gotten in the last two years.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

It's OK. Cost of living is way down

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 3

I truly hope that was sarcasm. ;)

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Of course

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

You forgot the “/s”.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Adjunct faculty at the university I worked for (which was my gig, plus or minus some meaningless titles) maxed at around 36k/yr FTE.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

BUT, NOBODY was ever hired full time. .75 was the highest I ever saw. Plus, we even had to pay for our own parking...

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 111 Dislikes 0

"Okay, but maybe you're a shitty camera man, I don't know!" lol

3 years ago | Likes 56 Dislikes 1

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3 years ago (deleted Jun 25, 2025 7:58 PM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

So he was right on

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Reason tv is only tolerable if you already agree with them on the topic. It's pretty much always right-wing libertarian - what would be called a liberal outside the USA. You always know what stance they'll take before you watch, and they seldom seem to seriously engage with counterarguments. I'd put them under "better than PragerU".

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Man, I wouldn't be throwing shade at teachers with Matt's mom being one and Matt being in "get my ass beat" distance.

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Matt was my guy until he went full on MAGA during the Trump era.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 22

What are you taking about? He is full on a democrat

3 years ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 0

"intrinsically paternalistic view"

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 13

What’s wrong with it? He’s right.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I would like to know what he meant by that before I judge it. It did sound a little bit buzzwordy though, not sure how it applies to teachers being undervalued.

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I think teachers should make 90k+ children can be so difficult, let alone any special needs... I would gladly have my taxes doubled if we could make this work.

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

Would not even need to double taxes. Maybe 5 or 10%. but, to a billionaire, 5% might be $50 million, so they protest it.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

And all "office supplies" comped by the state

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

It's not just the kids; it's also the parents who are blaming teachers for the results of their shitty parenting and the politicians who think they know better than teachers in the classroom.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

You're right. However, we need to start somewhere. Pay is a big incentive. We need good, caring teachers, and we need to pay them their worth.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Totally agree. We need to pay them well (it's damn important work) and provide supplies so they don't have spend their own money to buy them and, while we're at it, pay them for *all* their time, including time spent creating materials, grading, etc.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

We should be in congress

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0