Submitted by Wferguson11 t3_126msfw in Washington
I am moving from Georgia this summer. I have started applying all over the state. I am a little aware of how each district pay looks but I wanted some personal feedback on where are the best areas to teach in your opinions based off pay and just the schools in General. I am coming with 10 years experience in city schools.
My family l lives near Seattle/Olympia. So I know it will be somewhere within an hour of there.
You can go from Olympia to Seattle in just over an hour with no traffic. It can also take 4 hours.
I think I am open to most anywhere on the west side though
Each district has salary calendars available online. You can contact the district office for further information.
Affluent suburbs tend to pay top dollar, followed by cities, followed by less affluent suburbs, followed by rural areas. However, the McCleary Decision recently (ish) ruled that the state should be shouldering the majority of education costs, not local levies. This means that pay from district to district should be close-ish based of COL.
As far as I'm concerned, best areas to teach in are solidly middle class semi-rural suburbs. Parents are engaged, but rarely enraged or dismissive.
Sounds kinda racist, what about the cities between Tacoma and Everett?
Lmao, classist stereotypes- sure.
What about them? Based on my experience, parents in cities are either dismissive or easily enraged about school issues. I've had coworkers teach in those cities. Federal way had a ton of complaints. Auburn/sumner teachers seemed mostly happy. Kent... Shoreline is a great place to work. Seattle teachers tend to seem pretty content for the most part.
Many middle class folks see education and work ethic as a reason for success. Many impoverished folks do not see the value in education because it wasn't valued in their homes growing up, or it never benefitted them, so they don't encourage it with their children. Many upper class folks expect to be catered to, and education is not a service industry.
Again, classist stereotypes.
Shouldn’t those be targets of opportunity? Don’t search for easy search for where you are needed.
Western Washington and populated areas of eastern Washington all pay considerably higher than any red state. Teachers in Washington are union members and we have a very strong union so our pay, benefits, working conditions are better but we experience the same educational issues as everywhere. Consider what you are looking for as far as big city vs suburb vs rural. I teach in rural Olympic Peninsula my pay is about $20,000 less than districts along I-5, but I still make $82,000 after 9 years.
Stay where you are. The pay is nice in GA, but not here. Also, it’s so tiresome to be required to lie and push hateful political agendas.
Lmao. The pay is NOT nice in Georgia. I make 14 an hour with a masters degree.
Yeah I’m not sure where this person teaches but western WA pays pretty well. However, lots of districts are laying off right now and “surplussed” teachers get first dibs on available positions. It’s going to be tough year or two unless you’re in a math/science/MLL/SpecEd field. Good luck! I came from the South as well and have been so happy here.
Making-Breaking t1_je9vacc wrote
You should also take a look at the climate of the area that you want to live in. It comes as a shock to some people that not all of WA state is the gorgeous r/earthporn that you see posted. Much of the state is desert/mountain andnit has it's own beauty but you're not going to look it your window at a rainforest all day.
If that is important to you then you can narrow your search based on that. I would try to stick close to the interstates just for ease of transportation (I-5 ,I-90, even I-84 on the Oregon side).
I loved my time in Georgia, I hope you get to love your time in Washington.