In addition to teaching math and science at Avery Middle School, Mary Devany works as an aerobics instructor one day a week and as a sales clerk two weekends a month. Between teaching 50 to 60 hours a week - including planning lessons, grading papers and helping with after-school activities - and her second and third jobs, Devany sometimes works a total of over 72 hours a week.
"After so many years of teaching, the cost of living has increased and my salary hasn't," says Devany, a single mother of two in rural Calaveras County. "Teenagers are very expensive. That's why I have extra jobs." After 15 years in the classroom, she earns just $42,000 a year.
Becoming a social studies teacher meant a pay cut for former Marine Paul Campbell in Santa Barbara.
"I can't afford the Internet. My children are thinking about college. I have ended up charging things, which has put me in debt. It's frustrating."
Her salary hasn't gone up, but the pressure has. "We're expected to raise the test scores of students, so we're putting in more time. There are so many 'extras' now. There are extra meetings and extra parent conferences. All the extras mean that I am working harder than I ever have, and my paycheck has not increased to reflect my hard work. We asked for a 3 percent cost-of-living raise, and the school board told us, 'You're well paid for living up here.'"
Robin Leach might describe this as Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown, otherwise known as teachers. Underpaid, underappreciated and overworked, teachers are forced to scrimp, save and take on second jobs to make ends meet. A love of teaching, feelings of fulfillment and being appreciated by students may help ease the burden, but it's no fun being broke. As the Beatles put it in one of their songs, "Your lovin' gives me a thrill. But your lovin' don't pay my bill."
Paying the bills can be difficult to do on a teacher's salary. Just ask Carlos Cohen, who teaches world history at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara.
"We live paycheck to paycheck," says Cohen, a member of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association (SBTA). "I would love to have some peace of mind, so I could buy one luxury item without the fear of not being able to pay my phone bill or rent. My wife and I have two cars, but we're carpooling. We can't afford to operate both cars. Gas is too expensive."
Cohen and his wife, an administrative assistant, and their two children live in an area where two-bedroom apartments cost about $1,200 a month and the median home price is $400,000. A good portion of his $39,000 salary is used to repay his student loan. "It feels like indentured servitude," he says. "I borrowed money to go through school and now that I'm working, I'm barely making enough to live on, plus pay back the loan with interest."
"We live very frugally," says Cohen. "But even though we're not spending money wildly, I always have to do long-term planning - even for a weekend getaway."
Despite the financial struggles, "I'm in teaching for the long haul," says Cohen. "I got a card from one of my students who said that I've made a real difference in his life. He told me I have inspired him to become a teacher. That makes it worthwhile."
Society, he says, "puts teachers in the same light as martyrs and saints. That may be true, but we aren't living in a monastery."
Paul Campbell finished his stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, got his degree and began teaching at Goleta Valley Junior High School this year. The SBTA member was shocked to learn that instead of making more money than he did in the service, he would actually be taking a pay cut with his salary of $33,000 a year. He lives with his wife, a linguistics professor, and their two young children.
"When I heard about the teacher shortage, I thought that the salary would reflect the demand for teachers," says Campbell. "When I looked at salaries for other entry-level jobs, I was surprised at how low teaching salaries are. But I enjoy what I do, and that will keep me in the classroom."
Campbell says he tries to live sparingly. "I have cut out frills, like television. I can't afford cable, and without it, there's no reception. We are renting, but I'd like to scrape together enough money to buy a home someday. We seldom dine out. I used to enjoy ballgames, but I no longer go. The hardest thing is that I can't travel to see my family on the East Coast. It's too expensive."
It's a disservice not to pay teachers their worth, asserts Campbell. "The pay is so low that you may not attract quality people to the profession. I think everyone suffers as a result."
Jim Reed's favorite pastime doesn't cost a lot of money, but he can no longer afford the time. To make ends meet, the Pescadero teacher has taken on the duties of school athletic director and is coaching three teams in addition to teaching English full time.
Suffering is minimized when teachers are paid a decent wage, notes Sonya Howes, president of the Association of Pleasanton Teachers.
Salaries there range from $41,479 to $70,326.
"We're very happy and we feel appreciated," she says. "Large numbers of new teachers are applying here. Turnover is probably lower than in other districts. Teachers can qualify to buy a new car or a house in the community. The money we make sounds like a high salary for teachers, but it's not a high salary considering this community, where starting homes go for $300,000 to $400,000."
Even though teachers there pay for their own medical expenses, they are way ahead of their peers on the salary schedule.
"You have to have a sense of humor when husbands and wives are both teachers," says Laura Abel, an English and theater arts teacher at Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville. She is married to Dennis Abel, a physical education teacher at El Cerrito High School and member of the Richmond Teachers Association.
"We think about everything we want to do before we do it," says Abel, a member of the Vacaville Teachers Association who has been teaching for 10 years. "We live differently than our friends. We don't do a lot of things that other people with two incomes do. We don't go out much. For us, a Saturday afternoon movie is a treat. Other people go out to expensive dinners, but we don't. There's a local Mexican food place that we go to for 20 bucks. We have lived in the same home for 25 years and have just gotten to the point where we can buy a new car."
Lately, she has thought about leaving the teaching profession. "I'm sending out five resumes a day," says Abel. "As much as I love the kids, it's getting harder for that to be enough. I would like to be respected, too." A decent salary, she says, would make a big difference.
Many people have the wrong idea about teachers, adds Abel. "They say we have a nice, long summer vacation, but it's really a forced layoff. We're only paid for 10 months a year, and the money is stretched out over 12 months. It's not easy. Teachers are nice people. I wish they could get some financial reward to go with the spiritual reward. Knowing you are doing something good is nice, but you should also be paid fairly for it."
Over the years, Molly Whiteley has watched the salary gap widen between herself and those outside the teaching profession. But as a teacher in the lowest-paid district in Marin County, she has also watched the gap widen between herself and teachers from surrounding districts.
"Ten years ago the gap wasn't that big," says Whiteley, who has taught 13 years at Lagunitas Elementary. "But the gap has gotten bigger and bigger. Teachers who have worked 10 years in this district are making $10,000 less a year than the county average for teachers."
Whiteley, who puts in 50 to 60 hours a week for her elementary school, also instructs future teachers part time at San Francisco State University's education department. The university job provides benefits for her husband and two children; her teaching job only provides benefits for herself. Her home was purchased years ago, but she doubts she could afford to buy a home anywhere in the vicinity on her wages today.
"We get by," says Whiteley. "We don't have fancy furniture. My husband does all the remodeling. We can't hire anybody. We take educational vacations."
Sometimes her financial situation makes her angry. "It's clear to me that teaching is still considered 'woman's work.' The low salaries show that people still don't value education and the people who deliver it - mostly women. One thing is obvious: If we want to attract and retain the best and the brightest, it won't be with these salaries. California is on a steep slide."
Basically, she adds, California's lack of support for teachers translates into lack of support for kids.
To survive financially, Jim Reed has taken on extra responsibilities at Pescadero High School. In addition to teaching English, he's now the school's athletic director - running the athletic department and coaching three sports teams. "That gives me $8,000 more, in addition to my $31,000 salary," says Reed, who has been teaching four years. "But I'm never home. I'm at school from 7 in the morning until 9 at night. I should be here from 7 to 3, and then go home and work on lesson plans."
Reed, 52, made big bucks as a consultant to private schools before he was bitten by the teaching bug. "I woke up one day and wanted to be a teacher. Today, I'd still say yes. It was the right thing. When a student realizes a concept and you reach that teaching moment, there's nothing better," says the La Honda-Pescadero Unified Teachers Association member.
"But certainly the salary has caused a lifestyle problem," says Reed, who lives with his wife (a forest ranger) above a restaurant in the coastside town of Montara. "Luckily, the kids are grown and we are debt-free, or we couldn't manage. But it's not easy. I spend a lot of money buying things out of pocket. I spend $300 to $500 a year on everything from sports equipment to pens, pencils, construction paper, markers and even books. I buy kids binders. A lot of these kids are migrants, and don't have these things if I don't buy them."
Most teachers are nice people, or they wouldn't be teachers, says Reed. "But it always comes back to the basics, which means money issues. We have to start dealing with teacher salaries. There may not be many teachers left if we don't."
