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Reading TL's thread made me realise that this could be a great way to get some help on a similar topic from a different angle. The reason I've started a new thread instead of jumping onto the back of TL's is to not turn discussion away from his(?) needs.
My situation is this: my wife and I are seriously considering moving from New Zealand to Utah. Our daughter lives with her husband and (soon to be 4) kids in Eagle Mountain, and our oldest son and his wife and 3 kids live in Phoenix. So we have 7 grandchildren (oldest is 8) that are the pull.
I'm a high school Art teacher at a school of about 1800 multi-cultural and -ethnic students. I'm head of a department of 5 Art teachers.
We have a pretty good idea of climate and lifestyle issues living in Utah (we spent a month there Christmas 2006-07), we think we could live pretty cheaply there and would look, at least at first, at living in Eagle Mountain where our daughter is.
The big concern is a job, for obvious reasons, and I'd love some feedback, from teachers especially, but anything from anybody would be helpful.
I know there is a teacher shortage in Utah (seems to be a worldwide phenomenon), but have not been able to find out if this extends to art teachers. My impression is that art teaching is not particularly valued in Utah compared with other subjects (I don't have anything concrete to base that on, just an impression) - is that an accurate impression? So I wonder about how easy getting a job would be.
Obviously, I'm also wondering about pay levels. I know it varies from district to district, but can anyone give me some idea of salary levels, especially as they relate to cost of living? From what I can tell from the Utah education websites salary packages include benefits in their calculation of total pay. So actual money in hand is significantly less than the total amount shown on the tables, is that right? But by how much?
I've been teaching 28 years, and I assume that length of service would count towards my potential pay level, but have not been able to find out for sure, and at what level I would be at. At the moment I'm paid around $78000 p.a. here, (about $US59000 at current exchange rates), with no benefits, but Auckland is more expensive to live in than Utah, so we are confident we could get by comfortably on significantly less than that.
Our biggest concern is financing our retirement. Again, from what I can tell from the websites my potential retirement benefit would be based on length of service (logical). We plan, if we go ahead, on being there around the end of next year; at that point I would be a couple of months off my 57th birthday, which would give me only about 8 years working before I retire. On the basis of that, retirement benefit income would be minimal. Is that all there is to it or are there other factors I'm not aware of?
The retirement issue will be the determining factor, but I would really like to hear anything related to high school teaching, art teaching in particular, in Utah. I know I can find some of this info through official channels, but there's nothing like 'on the ground' info. So whatever you can tell me would be great.
Including from the perspective of high school Art STUDENTS. It would be great to hear from your angle too.
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
I live in Eagle Mountain. You probably know, but winter and summer are very distinct here. Summer temperatures range up to 100F/38C, occasionally a bit higher, and it's very dry and dusty in EM in particular. (Dry everywhere, but older cities have much less dust than we do, being surrounded by dry farm fields.) It is an inexpensive place to buy a house, compared to the nearby cities. However, I think commuting to Salt Lake City or other cities might cost as much in gasoline as it saves in housing. There is no public transit available in EM yet.
My high school only had 1 art teacher, I think, for a student body of ~600. That was 15 years ago, and in a community largely populated at the time with blue collar workers, farmers and ranchers, which might have made a difference. The area has gentrified quite a bit, and there are more private schools and charter schools than there used to be in the state. I think these probably have a greater emphasis than the regular public schools on the arts. There are at least a couple of nearby charter schools dedicated to the arts. You can find a list here.
I don't have any firsthand knowledge about salaries. I found a list here, and these figures don't include benefits. The benefits are on top of the listed salaries. (It's not typical for any salary figure listings I've seen, not that I look at teacher salaries much, to include benefits.)
posted
I talked to my sister last night (she teaches band in Davis County,) and she says an Art teacher could expect to make between $25K and $35K per year. I never heard back from her about whether that accounted for your experience or not.
She has said in the past that you can expect your raises for the first five years to keep up (barely) with any increases in energy costs, after that it gets better. Of course, she said this before she got married and was trying to make it on her own. I get the impression her life has gotten a lot easier financially speaking.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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That's ALL they PAY you guys? Holy crap, man. What? You'd be impoverished. That cannot be right.
Cashew, if you move to Salt Lake, you can always move into the house I'm moving out of, if you want to rent a place (from my mother).
I have heard that the state needs teachers, but I don't know anything about how you would go about looking into it... Maybe start calling some local schools and administrators?
I believe you have to be accredited by the state in order to teach in the public schools. (I don't know!) There are some very good private high schools here, like Judge.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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The teacher who taught art at East High when I was in school there was recently arrested for his possible involvement in the recent ricin scare in Nevada. Perhaps his job is open.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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Thanks guys, appreciate the input. I'll chase the links. Anything from anyone else would be greatly appreciated. I kind of feel like I'm groping in the dark a little, almost to the point of not evn knowing what questions to ask in some areas. Appreciate the comments on charter schools scifibum, I've heard about them but still aren't exactly sure what they are. I'll read the linked stuff.
Scifibum, what part of Eagle Mountain are you in? My daughter and her family live in Revere Way, near Eagle Valley Elementary.
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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The median pay is an extra 10,000 past that cap you were just given of 25k-35k. I figure that commensurate with your experience you'd be making more than that, if they have the position available to give you. Link.
quote:Appreciate the comments on charter schools scifibum, I've heard about them but still aren't exactly sure what they are. I'll read the linked stuff.
I'm no expert, but I believe they are publicly funded schools that have two main differences: a) Smaller b) They are meant to fulfill a charter, which appears to usually place emphasis on technology, art, or some other area of focus, instead of the vanilla variety curriculum in place at the normal public schools.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:That's ALL they PAY you guys? Holy crap, man. What? You'd be impoverished. That cannot be right.
...we made near the low end of that last year, have two children, and live in Los Angeles. We survive...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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That's ALL they PAY you guys? Holy crap, man. What? You'd be impoverished. That cannot be right.
Starting pay for teachers in Kansas is not much different. Public Education in the U.S. is not a career known for its high salaries.
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Thanks ketchupqueen, all of that kind of info is really useful to me. We would hopefully be able to be mortgage free (or very close to it) after buying a house, so that would be a big lessening of our expenses.
(Scifibum, if you're LDS you're probably in my daughter's ward - they're the Browns, April and Chris.)
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Summer temperatures range up to 100F/38C, occasionally a bit higher, and it's very dry and dusty in EM in particular. (Dry everywhere, but older cities have much less dust than we do, being surrounded by dry farm fields.) It is an inexpensive place to buy a house, compared to the nearby cities. However, I think commuting to Salt Lake City or other cities might cost as much in gasoline as it saves in housing. There is no public transit available in EM yet. 
