Nurses salary vrs teacher's salary

Nurses General Nursing

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There was an article in our local paper about a teacher who just lost his job for "fratanizing" with a senior student. The paper states that his base salary was $67,000 a year. My reaction was:idea: I started to do some math. Based on 185 day/year school year that is $362.16/day. OR 45.27/hour. No weekends, no holidays and summers off. Hmmm, maybe I am the stupid one.

Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.
. I am a third grade teacher right now in Michigan making 55K a year while finishing up my masters. I will be making 65K the next school year, and then once I hit tenure in two years I'll be at 70K.

See, this is what I meant when I started this thread. I have been an RN for over 10 years. Have my ACLS, specialized in cardiac and now hospice care. I have worked every other weekend, every other holiday for 10 years. I have worked 7am-7pm, 3am-3pm, 3-11, 11pm-7am, 10pm-6am, etc... I have NEVER made 65K a year. Can't imagine I will make that in two years. Basing that on an average school year of 185 days, you will make over 47.00/hour in two years. I do believe teachers earn every penny they make, I would never say otherwise. HOWEVER, I also believe that nurses should be making at least that as well. So why aren't we?

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Specializes in Trauma/Burn ICU, Neuro ICU.

hi shayrn,

i just retired from teaching friday after 24 years (high school science), and begin my clinicals in sep in an accelerated bsn program. i agree with you, too. you're not paid enough. at the risk of sounding defensive, you really need to know that many, many teachers spend many, many hours per week grading papers, and planning lessons. i taught lab science courses - chemistry, etc - and spent many hours setting up labs, not to mention cleaning up. [no matter what, the kids will not clean up properly!] so you should really factor those hours of work into your equation. as a side note, paper grading is grueling as well as boring.

you should probably use hours worked, rather than days worked. to say that teachers work 187 days would be the same as saying that nurses only work 3 days per week. so for 50 weeks then, nurses only work 150 days per year. but, based on hours worked, i still agree that nurses work more hours for less money. here is a scenario:

let's say conservatively that a teacher works 8 hours per day - that's 6 hours classroom and 2 hours homework for 5 days per week.

that is roughly 1500 hours per year. divide that into $65,000 and it comes out to $36.00 per hour.

let's say that a nurse works 12 hours per day times 3 days per week. with two weeks for vacation, that is 150 days x 12 hours, equaling 1800 hours per year. 300 more hours per year than a teacher, and at a lower rate of pay.

here is a final thought: who of us, whether teacher or nurse, went into the profession for the money??! :roll

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Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

Here is a final thought: who of us, whether teacher or nurse, went into the profession for the money??! :roll

:heartbeatOk, 'nuff said.:D

Welcome to the wonderful world of nursing, hope you brought your skates;) (Oh, and a wacky sense of humor, lol)

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I can't beleive about teahers making that much. Actually I can, they have strong unions inthat state. In texas, in Austin after 4 years of teaching - with 2 masters degree I was making 39,000. My friend retired after 20 years and he never made more that 50,000. Depends where you are.

And yes, teachers are d---ed important, indeed, without them nobody would be nurses either!!!!

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Specializes in ER.
:yeahthat: I am also a former high school English teacher. I grossed $36,250 my last year teaching. My husband is currently teaching in a small school district here in Texas. He has been teaching 8 years. His salary this year is $38,000, and his insurance is crap! Teachers get an additional $250 in salary for each year of teaching experience, and they earn an additional $1,000 for a Master's degree. His school district does not pay for graduate school, and they pay for very little of his school supplies. My sister is an LVN. She made $47,000 last year, and has awesome insurance.

It always amazes me that so many people think that teachers really have it made. Yes, I had a lot of days off, but so do nurses. Do the math. Many nurses work 3 12 hour shifts a week. 3x52=156. That is assuming they work every week of the year. I know there are nurses who work extra shifts. I acknowledge that, but there is no way that I could work 36 hours per week as a teacher. As trophywife stated, many teachers work 60+ hours per week, and since they are on salary, they do not get additional pay for this. I know nursing is hard work and can be stressful, but I can't wait to have a job where I can leave work and go home without carrying more work home with me. Also, working conditions for secondary teachers are horrible. ugh. I won't even get started on that.

I would encourage anybody to go into teaching (except for my own kids, of course), but do it because you love kids and think you would like teaching, not because you think it offers great pay and benefits. Some school districts do offer this, but the vast majority of them don't.

yet with nursing you are exposed to bodily fluids that could potentially kill you. Now teachers don't have that, do they? :D There's a reason nurses are paid more money. Life and death.

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Certainly NOT the norm in education to make $70,000/yr on a teacher salary. If I had made that much, I'd have probably stayed with it. After 12 years of teaching I only made $40,000/yr. I do miss the time off. There are so many similarities between nursing and teaching. I feel more in control of things as a nurse, however. No one makes it my fault/responsibility if my COPD patient continues to smoke like a chimney. It was my responsibility in teaching to make sure that Johnny was an A student when he refused to do the work either at home or in class. And it was my fault if he wasn't. It's a crazy world in public schools, as it is in hospitals, but I'll take the hospital craziness any day.

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Specializes in ER/OR.

Where I live, nurses make nearly 20K more a year than most teachers. Teachers salaries are abysmally low. I'd rather have to take care of a sick person for a few days than deal with a sassy-mouthed kid who's mother thinks he can do no wrong for 9 months! :twocents:

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I give so much credit to those who teach. I could not and would not do it for all the money in the universe. Kudos to those who are dedicated to this profession.:bow:

I will stick with nursing ANY DAY!

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Teaching is another grossly underpaid profession. We live in a very backwards society where salaries are concerned.

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It's amazing for me to hear about teachers making so little in other states...39,000 is a starting salary here in SE Michigan right out of college.

I agree, we all did not go into teaching or nursing for the money.(unless you're a crna...hey, I have the right to say that jokingly since my mom has been one for 33 years! Clearly she didn't go into it for they money..she started at $9 an hour!) There are a lot of similarities between the two professions, especially when you look at the qualities of these amazing individuals. It may seem like teachers get a lot of money at 65K for the 10 months of the year they teach, but keep in mind that there is take home work. I believe there is less "grading" take home work in elementary school from my experiences, but more time spent planning due to the numerous different subjects being taught. FYI, only terrible teachers teach the same stuff every year. Yes, it's the same content, however each year brings a new bunch of students that you need to develop new lesson plans, activities, etc. for. You can't "catch" kids attention using webkinz in math anymore when they are "so last year".

:D Enjoy your day everyone.

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There was an article in our local paper about a teacher who just lost his job for "fratanizing" with a senior student. The paper states that his base salary was $67,000 a year. My reaction was:idea: I started to do some math. Based on 185 day/year school year that is $362.16/day. OR 45.27/hour. No weekends, no holidays and summers off. Hmmm, maybe I am the stupid one.

If you want to be unhappy, check out the income of corrections officers (they work as guards in prisons). They get a lot of overtime and make a lot of money. They aren't required to have a college education. When an inmate goes to a hospital, they are accompanied by 2 corrections officers during their stay.

Inmates get full medical benefits.

Do you every wonder how much society pays for the care and feeding of criminals?

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in the cincinnati area my mom who has a masters degree in education and has worked at the same catholic elementary school for 16 years only makes $32,000. pretty crappy

:eek:THAT'S APPALLING!!!!

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