Title: How Much Do Teachers Really Make?
Headings: How Much Do Teachers Really Make?
How Much Do Teachers Really Make?
Aren’t You An Optometrist?
How Much is a Teacher’s Salary?
That Much Education For So Little Pay?
Health Care
Paid Time Off
Job Security
What are the Cons?
Retirement
The Real Reason People Teach
Table of Contents
FREE Stuff Delivered to Your Inbox!
Written By
Sydney White

Content: The reason our teachers get paid so poorly is that the community will not support a tax increase to raise teacher salaries. The state has also cut the education budget tremendously since 2008. From 2008 to 2012, teachers here did not get their annual raises and had to take furlough days. That adds four extra years before hitting the top salary and being able to retire on schedule. Teachers in Colorado do not pay into social security, so if you quit before retirement age and have not saved independently, you’ll get nothing in retirement. Retirement
Perhaps the best reason to go into teaching is the retirement benefits. Yes, the state could go broke or Armageddon could occur, but even during the worst of the last recession, retired teachers still got their pension checks. Retirement depends on the age when you start teaching, but you can generally retire if you are over 50 and have put in 25 years. Annual pension amount is based on the average of your three highest salary years throughout your career, and there is a calculator online to figure out what you can expect. For that topped out teacher with the master’s, the annual pension is $33,960 with a 2% cost of living increase each year.