I was teaching in the community that I grew up in, so leaving that was hard. It didn’t quite go the way we wanted it to go, so I decided to move to Texas. I decided during the Oklahoma walkouts that if what we were asking for didn’t pass, I would leave. There’s an animosity with respect to teachers that’s a function of sexism that, as I watch it happen more and more, bothers me to my core. People talk about teachers in a way they don’t talk about firefighters and police officers, and they’re all public servants. There’s an element of sexism in the way we talk about teachers. It’s not ‘poor me.’ But I don’t want for young 20-somethings who want to be change agents to look at teaching as something they can’t do. We live in a house in the neighborhood where my students are. I’m not in the poor house like some of my colleagues are. I also have a sponsored podcast and I get speaking fees. I make $76,530, but the cost of living in the Tacoma area is much higher than most. But that’s the bargain that I make because I want to make a difference. Basically, every year that I stay in the classroom, I’m taking somewhere between $20,000 and $60,000 a year and setting it on fire in my front yard. I make sure my daughters go to their doctors and dentist appointments, but myself, if I can put it off, I put it off.Īs somebody who has gone out on the speaking circuit and who has lectured at Harvard, I get job offers on a pretty regular basis, so I know what my market value is, and I know what I get paid for teaching. My oldest daughter was a part of Girl Scouts, but we had to cut that.
I can’t ask people every summer for money, for help, because even though they understand, as a mom, I feel defeated having to do that over and over again. My youngest daughter has high-functioning autism, and for three years in a row, she went to a special day camp during the summer. I’m terrified that I won’t have anything to put toward my eldest daughter’s college education. When I pay all my bills, there’s nothing left to put in savings.
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I’ve been running around with a crack in my windshield for three months because I can’t afford the more than $200 deductible on my car insurance. We just want the appropriate amount that helps us take care of our own bills, and be able to go to the doctor whenever we need to or take care of car maintenance. It’s not about wanting a pay raise or extra income, it’s about wanting a livable wage. I’m a single mom, I make about $69,000 a year, and I still depend on my mom sometimes.
I have been teaching for almost 20 years. I think they bring it up to show their support, but ultimately, it comes across as, ‘I can’t believe you’re still a teacher.’ I don’t think it’s ever malicious, but it just kind of eats away at you and you start to question your worth and question whether you should stay in education when you do make so little. It’s also humbling when you’re in a grocery store and people who are well intentioned find out somehow that you’re a teacher and suddenly they start talking about how little you get paid. It’s just really humbling to have to tell one of your best friends that, literally, I just don’t have enough money and I won’t by the time the wedding arrives. I don’t feel like I live a life where I am spending money left and right. He understands, and my friends understand, but it’s embarrassing to pretty much say, ‘I’m working 40 hours, 50 hours, 60 hours a week sometimes, and I still can’t afford to go to a friend’s wedding.’ It’s not anything ostentatious. Even with the pay raise that we’re going to get, I couldn’t swing it financially. I started looking up flights, looking up Airbnbs.
My friend is getting married in Salt Lake City next month, and he messaged me a month ago and asked if I would be able to attend the wedding. I can’t think of another job - maybe an ER doctor, I don’t know - where I can get the feeling that I do from teaching. There is not another job where you could have as many highs, as many lows, as much connection, as much challenge as there is in teaching. and I get off at 4 p.m., and usually that’s because I have to go to another job. But we are not paid for the work that we do. We do a really good job educating all kids that come before us. The schools in Kentucky are not failing like our governor wants people to think that they are. Teaching is a science and it is an art, and we work really hard to be able to provide for our students. I wish people understood exactly what it takes to make a classroom work. I was really embarrassed when I first had to start doing that because I think of myself as a professional. I donated plasma twice before my first pay day this year just for gas money. I’ve had to take a sick day before because I didn’t have enough gas to make it to school. Right now, I have a broken tooth that I can’t afford to have fixed.
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