Nurses salary vrs teacher's salary

[ShayRN]

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.

[SunshineBaby]

I feel like I have a unique perspective on this issue as being a school nurse I work with 45 teacher's daily. It's funny because many times they will tell me they wish they had become a nurse and lots of times I wish I had become a teacher:specs:

I have to say salary and benefits for teachers and nurses must vary widely based on the posts here. As a school nurse I make about 28K and I have a BSN. Teachers make around 35K here starting out also with a bachelor's degree. I am considered a state of FL employee and my benefits are pretty good. It's $180 a month for family insurance and $17 a month for vision. I'm considered vested in 5 years and earn a good retirement. A con to that is I do not receive merit raises. I am at the mercy of the state legislature as to whether I receive a raise. School nurses have not gotten one in 2 years, not even a COLA. Teachers, on the other hand, get yearly raises. They have a union. Their insurance sucks in comparison to mine. I believe it's around $350 a month for family.

Now let's compare hours worked and I believe they are similar. I work M-F 7:00-3:30 pm. Teachers work 6:50 - 2:15. Now this may just be my school but I am usually the last one to leave the school, especially if I stay till 4 doing some paperwork. I do not take work home so I can see where that would add some stress for teachers.

I admire teachers. We have some GREAT ones at my school. I feel like I have an advantage as far as when kids start getting on my nerves, I send them back to class from the clinic. Where as the teachers are stuck with them:chuckle

I do want to warn teachers thinking about becoming nurses that 3 12's may sound attractive but I think it is an abysmal schedule for a mom. When I worked at the bedside, I felt like I never saw my children. 3 12's was actually 3 16's. On those days, I did not see my children at all. I had to miss holidays with my family (my baby's first Christmas:crying2:). The days I was off my other kids were at school or if it was my weekend off, I was wiped.

I :heartbeat my job now! And although I may have to scrimp and sacrifice here and there, I feel like I have the best of both worlds. I love my birth kids and my school kids!

Good luck to all and Happy holidays!!

[time4meRN]

Really, I'm studying for certification test, acls is comming up . I did Pals 3 mo. ago. I have an online disaster test to take that everyone says takes at least 2 hours. I get calls almost every day to come in and work extra. I go 12 hours with no break sometimes, no pee break even. But, I don't get the long breaks between holidays and at summer. I love teachers, I love what we do ....... but nurses work just as hard. But, with that said, I like nursing most days even after 30 years. Someone once said to me, " but teachers, teach our children'. My resonse was, I care for thier sick children , keep them safe and care for their loved ones. My husband is an aircraft electrician, he makes sure the jets stay in the air while flying over their homes and schools.

[tinybabynurse]

I am a former Elementary School teacher who is going back to school to become a nurse.

The 7 hours I was with the kids was the easiest part of being a teacher...I enjoyed it most of the time, and I just loved to teach.

It's the after school/weekends/holidays where I was constantly trying to get caught up. Either I had tons of papers to grade, lessons to plan, parents to deal with, classes I needed to take, etc. etc. My weekends were FAR from relaxing and the only thing I did on holidays off was bust my butt to try to get ahead. I hated that I could NEVER leave my work at work and I felt my family suffered because even when I was home I wasn't really "there".

Now, I took my job very seriously and I wanted to be the best teacher I could possibly be. I worked with other teachers who never took anything home with them...they graded everything as a class...I wondered how they really would ever know what their students needed help on if they weren't the ones grading the papers but whatever. And they basically ran off 100's of worksheets everyday and that's all the kids did all day. I suppose if you are that kind of teacher, then it's an easy, high-paying, no stress job with lots of time off. I just couldn't do it that way.

Oh, and where I taught you start at $27,000 with no raises for 5 years. And it's a free public education so you can't ask the kids to pay for anything, including school supplies. My "budget" for the year to pay for 30 kids school supplies was $300. I easily spent over $1000 of my own money on supplies for the classroom. My own 4 kids' fees/supplies where we live right now are over $300 each year.

Food for thought before you go registering for classes to become a teacher!!