A study from the National Council on Teacher Quality said teachers are receiving fewer pay raises since the economic recession began. A press release from the NCTQ said, “In 80 percent of the districts sampled (33 out of 41), teachers had a total pay freeze or pay cut in at least one of the last four school years.”
“There is no question that teacher salary growth took a hit post-recession,” Kate Walsh, president of NCTQ, said in the press release. “The good news is that the economy is strengthening and districts are slowly getting back to investing more in teacher pay.”
However, Eastern Michigan University students who are studying to become teachers said they’re not discouraged from pursuing a career in education.
“To be in this field, you have to ask yourself, ‘Do I want to do it?’” Fatma Jaber, an EMU senior, said.
She has a passion for teaching people how to read and said money is not her motivation to become an educator.
“You have to want to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said.
Jaber also said she’s more confident about finding a job upon graduation with a teaching degree from EMU.
“The job market for EMU students is still great,” she said. “I think we still have a better chance at getting jobs.”
EMU senior Bridgette Sotzen only has a student teaching position left in the fall, and then will have completed her degree. She said she has already heard of the lack of pay raises in the teaching field.
“It’s not how it used to be with a 3 percent raise every year,” she said.
But when asked if this discouraged her at all with her choice of career she said, “Not even a little bit.”
Aubree King, a senior at EMU who hopes to teach elementary students, echoed the sentiments of other EMU students who still covet a teaching degree.
“For me personally, it was never about the money,” she said. “I’m not surprised by the reduction in pay, because teachers are not a priority in our society.”
Ashley Murphy recently graduated from EMU and took a teaching position in Mississippi, but she’s not sure what she’ll be teaching there. She said although teachers aren’t receiving raises and many times have to pay for supplies out of pocket, it never hindered her career choice.
“I never sought out being a teacher for the money,” she said.
