Back to School Blues: A Teacher’s Summer Financial Crisis

The dichotomy of emotions I feel as a teacher in the month of August are as wild as the coolest roller coaster ride in any amusement park.

On one hand I am dreading the back to school advertisements and store displays (they are here already); the horror the horror. On the other hand I am super excited (more like desperate) for a full and steady paycheck. Such is the life of a teacher in many areas across the country.

I am nearly 40 years old, been teaching for 15 years and I am still living paycheck to paycheck. How is this even possible? I have a four-year degree plus graduate school classes. The answers, at least on the surface are simple: I live in a southern state with no union, the value on education by the politicians in power is minimal and so the funding.

In the state of North Carolina, not all teachers get paid 12 months. They leave it up to the discretion of local boards of educations to determine which pay schedule they will use. So, unless you are in a county that opts for a 12-month plan, or work in a year-round school, you are on your own to make sure you have enough money for that summer “break.”

My district pays 10 months out of the year, leaving two months where teachers have to find enough funding to pay bills. There are options. If you bank with the state credit union they will set up a summer saving’s account for you which is nice, unless you need the money they take out for emergencies and even if you don’t it never seems to be enough come August.

TEACHERS GET THEIR SUMMERS OFF

You get your summers off, they said. It will be fun they said.

Here is the problem with that mindset; if you don’t have money to begin with, you aren’t married to someone who works a better paying job, or you just have a lousy year in terms of luck then you as a teacher don’t get your summers off, you work. That is exactly where I am at this summer and really just about every summer since I started teaching in a 10-month, traditional calendar school system.

In this year we have spent hundreds of dollars on fixing an air conditioning system for our house that needs to be replaced but we do not have the money for that. We had to replace a water heater in the house, because a cold shower every morning before teaching 120 students (240 between us) didn’t seem like much fun. New tires on a car, vehicle property tax hitting right as the summer started all contributed to what has been the toughest summer financially of my 15-year-teaching career.

I selfishly took a week off right after the last school work day for some down time, but since June 25 I have worked 5 days a week, save for a required 3-day school training, and an out-of-state wedding I attended. No vacations really. No family trips to the beach. No out of country excursions. Just work.

Bree has been in the same boat but deeper waters. She hasn’t been able to work as much at her two jobs due to them not scheduling her so her money is even tighter.

In the late part of June I was asked to be my school’s head football coach, which comes with a modest stipend  that doesn’t nearly cover the hours you put in to coaching. I hadn’t planned on coaching but seeing the opportunity to earn more money I took it only to find out I had to run a summer camp for football which required me to rearrange my summer job work schedule, ultimately reducing the hours I could work and get paid. The football camp while not free, doesn’t pay me.

Side note: I could have paid myself for the camp out of those funds, but instead spent it on the coaching staff feeling it wasn’t right to take that money as my own.

June and July wasn’t awful financially. No new financial crisis popped up. I am always diligent about paying all my bills for a month at the begging when I get paid. Easy for June and July, not so much for August. All teachers know the pangs of August. You need to set up your classroom, buy supplies, new clothes etc. and you still have to pay the bills. Where does the money come from? Credit cards most likely, unless you use Donner’s Choose or other donations, class supplies come out of pocket. Well my pockets are bare and so is my checking account.

As of July 30, I have about $298 to my name with about $500 worth of bills left to pay. I have blown through my savings again, not to have fun, travel, and relax, but just to pay the bills. My summer job pays every two weeks, but the checks I get from that will barely cover my required bills. Any school supplies will have to be purchased in September after I get a real paycheck.

That check will be much welcome, including that aforementioned school training; an extra $450 pre tax.

This is just my lament, as Bree, who is only in her 6th year of teaching, has a much tougher times, with more student loans than I ever had, plus her monthly bills. She is again working two summer jobs and still struggles thanks to not working as steadily as I do.

A NEW, NEW HOPE

I have a plan, or a hope rather. Not to overthrow the Galactic Empire and restore balance to the force (that will hopefully start in November).

This year based on the current North Carolina Legislature’s teacher pay schedule, I will be getting a nice pay bump. It will be the most I have ever made and with our local supplement I will be at near the maximum teacher pay allowed for a teacher in our state. Bad news is I won’t see another pay increase for 9-years. Hope nothing increases in price in that time, but I will take what I can get at this point.

Still I am optimistic enough that I signed up for a summer saving’s account of my own to hopefully avoid the issues experienced this summer. I also am hoping to be able to start actually saving money again, and not having to spend it all on bills. The words said by most every person, “if I could only get ahead,” seem possible even for a cynic like myself.  Coaching plus an increase in supplement will help, though tax time should still provide frustration as I will likely have to pay again. If only I was a billionaire like Jeff Bezos and didn’t have to pay a dime. Thanks Tax Scam!

So, while I, like every other teacher in the field I am dreading the back to school doldrums, I am looking forward to an easier year financially, well, as long as nothing else breaks in the house.