Nurse Salary vs. Teacher Salary?

greenfiremajick · May 25, 2009

I was talking to a friend this morning and she is just finishing Nursing school and said that she could have become a Teacher with better hours and the same pay? Is this true? I know as a RN we start at $20 an hour. Is this the case for Teachers. I have always been told RN's are paid so well and Teachers not so well. Was I always misinformed? I googled this very question and I didn't get any clear answers. I would love to teach and also get my RN degree and possibly be a RN part time if thats the case.

From what I can tell, if we looked at an RN starting at $35,000 annual and a teacher starting at a rate of $35,000 annual, teachers make less.

Here's how I figured it:

One poster said (and i believe they are right, teachers normally put in aprox 55 hrs per week. That means they are putting in about 2200 hours over the 10 month teaching period (and don't forget about the job I did, which was teaching SPED and attending regular IEP meetings in the afternoon). So back to hours....

Teachers put in 2200 hours over 10 months. That means aprox 220 hours per month. Being paid 3500 month means the teacher is making $16 hr.

Nurses put in about 36 hrs per week, totaling 144 hrs per month (1,728 hrs per year), which when calculated at $35,000 per year, means $20.25 per hour minimum......

All of this is without considering taxes, medical, etc......

Think I'll stick with the whole idea of nursing!

HappyBunnyNurse · May 25, 2009

I taught school for six years before leaving to do get my BSN. I will make more money in this, my first year of nursing than I did in my sixth year of teaching. Now when I work overtime I actually get paid overtime! I am still amazed that many days(not all, but most) I actually get thirty whole minutes for lunch. I also don't have to "hold it" nearly as often (if no one is in distress I can actually go to the restroom). I really loved teaching and actually had good test scores but I just couldn't take the lack of respect anymore. I was only physically assaulted once but verbal assaults were daily from both parents and students. All those people who act crazy at the hospital also have children and act pretty much the same way at school. Nurses at least get some respect for our education and knowledge. People seem to have an inherent lack of respect for teachers based on the many misconceptions about the job. Some of those misconceptions have actually been posted on this thread. I miss many things about teaching and nursing is by no means an ideal job. However... when I've had a really bad night at work I drive by my former school on the way home and remember it could be worse!

Lovely_RN, MSN · May 25, 2009

I like nursing better than teaching at least as a nurse my hours off are MY hours. Dismissal was at 2:45pm but sometimes I would work at home until 9pm or 10pm at night. The difference with nursing is that I can't take the patients home and I really appreciate being able to leave my stress at the time clock. For me being an elementary school teacher was like being a mother to 33 children. When you are in the classroom there is no escape. No unplanned bathroom breaks or the ability to sneak off for even 3 minutes to gather your thoughts. If you're not on prep or lunch your stuck with the kids and sometimes you just want to get away but you can't.

The salary for teachers when I started out in 2003 in NYC was 39k annually. I think it's about 43k now so it's roughly equivalent to what I make as an LPN with no OT but far less than a new grad RN 63k-65k with no OT or differentials. I think that's kind of disrespectful considering that it took me 11 months to get my LPN and 4 years to get my B.A. I will make at least 20k more as a new grad RN and I only have an ADN in nursing.

Bumashes, MSN, APRN, NP · May 25, 2009

Here in po-dunk Mississippi, our teachers aren't paid diddly. A new grad teacher with a Bachelor's makes $18500-$23500 depending on the school they get a job at. Whereas, as an ADN nursing graduate you start around $19-$21/hr, so about $35000-$40000 per year. It's disgraceful what they pay teachers down here. Nurses aren't exactly getting rich either, but geez...$18500?!?! Ridiculous!!!

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · May 25, 2009

In my neck of the woods teachers start at about $1500 per month, and they have to pay about $300-$400 per month for their health insurance. Do the math. It doesn't work. Imagine if they have student loans. I have no idea how the single ones survive.

However, after they have over ten years in with their district, they can make over 50k.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · May 25, 2009

I have to take this back. I just checked, and teaching salaries have gone up in my area.

Gentleman_nurse, MSN · May 25, 2009

"However, after they have over ten years in with their district, they can make over 50k."

Statistics show that 50% of new teachers leave the profession within 5 years.

Gentleman_nurse, MSN · May 25, 2009

in washington state, class sizes are 26 children to class. if the child has a disability, such as adhd, the child is counted twice, leaving the teacher with a class count of 25 children. and teachers do uphold the class size and have the right to refuse additional children in their classes.
yes, that is correct. if a teacher's class sizes exceeds the legal maximum, they can complain. but otherwise they can not refuse students.
in this environment, even in the best of locales, such as california, try upholdng staffing ratios, with a resistant management and/or administration.
and like other areas, up front, it may seem that teachers are paid less than nurses, but at the end of the day, who really has the better compensation?
let's not get into a contest of who has it the worst. both professions have their roles, traditions, stressors, and rewards. both professions are not easy, you will your earn money 3x over.
and lets not talk about union resprestation. it is rare for nurse to have a union who has done anything, to improve working conditions, pay, benefits, etc, except the california nurses association and the nnoc.
it boggles the mind that nurse still have the mindset that "unions are bad" , and "i wouldn't work for a union hospital for all the tea in china", all the while almost falling down from overwork, low pay, no respect, or control over the work place. teachers unionized years ago, to allow them the academic freedom to teach, without interferance from the administration, or school boards.
a union is not a hired gun that comes into town. a union is made up of the workers who support each other, thus it is only as strong as the people within it. the union starts with you!
nurses have yet to figure out the obvious- refusing to unionize has led nursing to where we are now. and teacher have the better pension, benefits, working conditions because they were able to figure out that they would be up you know where without a paddle, it they did not unionize and left their career up to greedy school boards. and parents cannot stay in a classroom all day and pester the teacher or interfere with the class, like they do to nurses in a hospital.
not necessarily, there are weak unions that allow these things to happen.
i cannot imagine why nursing has not been smart enough to figure out that yet. jmho and my ny $ 0.02.
lindarn, rn, bsn, ccrn
spokane, washington

i empathize with your frustration with nursing. as a teacher, we share many of the same complaints (lack of respect, less autonomy, too many student/patients). sometimes i wonder if becoming a nurse is exchanging the witch for the troll. if you're considering becoming a teacher, i welcome you and encourage you to consider options. as you can see from the dialog, the grass isn't greener over here either. however, teaching can be a very rewarding profession. in my education program, we had quite a few health care professionals.

good luck in your quest for fulfillment!

greenfiremajick · May 25, 2009

Nurses at least get some respect for our education and knowledge. People seem to have an inherent lack of respect for teachers based on the many misconceptions about the job. Some of those misconceptions have actually been posted on this thread.

I agree with everything you have just said, but the part I agree with most, is your above comment....Do you know I actually had a FRIEND tell me one time, that teachers were simply glorified babysitters?

Music in My Heart · May 25, 2009

I agree with everything you have just said, but the part I agree with most, is your above comment....Do you know I actually had a FRIEND tell me one time, that teachers were simply glorified babysitters?

And how, pray tell, did this friend learn to read or write or spell or do math? Or didn't they and now choose to blame somebody else for their own lack of performance?

greenfiremajick · May 25, 2009

And how pray tell, did this friend learn to read or write or spell or do math? Or didn't they and now choose to blame somebody else for their own lack of performance?[/quote']
dangit....wish I had thought of that as a response..........

kitti419 · May 25, 2009

I agree with everything you have just said, but the part I agree with most, is your above comment....Do you know I actually had a FRIEND tell me one time, that teachers were simply glorified babysitters?

Hmmm.. babysitter: $2/hr per kid. Let's see...30 kids x 8 hrs x $2 = $480/day for approx 10 mos ( minus weekends) = 220 days at $480/day = $105,600.

Off the top of my head seems like a babysitter would be getting paid more. :twocents: