It's hard out there for a teacher

I think I can speak with some authority on the subject of low pay for teachers, as I was a teacher for four years (1987-91) before going to law school. I can recall looking for a job and basically being shut out because I had a master's degree, and it was easier for the districts to hire someone with a bachelor's to fill the same slot, since they would make less money. As I recall, when I applied in one of America's wealthier districts, Montgomery County, Md. (my mother lived nearby at the time), the starting salary was about $31,000 with a master's. This was in 1990.

I share that just to give you a comparison to what young teachers are facing today in south Florida:

When Randolph Chancy took a job with Miami-Dade County public schools last year, he expected teaching would be a labor of love.

But he wasn't prepared for just how much labor would be required.

For Chancy, the $38,000-a-year salary he collects from the district is not enough to make ends meet. So every day after school, Chancy races to a pathology lab in Miami Lakes, where he works a second job as a lab technician.

"I'm a young, black male with a background in the sciences; I figured I could make a difference as a teacher," said Chancy, 30, a favorite among students at the Linda Lentin K-8 Center in North Miami. "I just never thought it would be this hard."

"It's crazy. It's all day, everyday: Go! Go! Go!" sighed Erin Hanson, a third-grade teacher at Sawgrass Elementary in Sunrise who also works two nights and Saturdays selling purses and accessories at the Kate Spade store at Sawgrass Mills. "You run yourself ragged."

Chancy and Hanson are two of a growing number of South Florida teachers working second jobs outside of the school system. Their jobs run the gamut: Some wait tables, while others work as paralegals, sales associates -- even grocery store clerks.

Despite the diverse array of jobs, most of the teachers share a common rationale: The cost of living is rising, and a teacher's salary isn't enough to cover the bills in an expensive urban area.

Surely the drastic tax cuts that the Republicans pushed through aren't helping matters, since they are leading to a reduction of some $24 billion in state revenue over the next five years. That's going to mean more cuts for municipalities, schools, community colleges, and universities now and in the foreseeable future.

And the low pay -- not to mention the opportunity cost -- hardly encourages young people to enter the teaching profession:

Jami Gatewood Sjogreen, a teacher at Sunset School Center in Fort Lauderdale, works an evening shift at a title insurance company. The 12-year teacher and mother of three young children rushes home every day for soccer games, cooking classes and doctor appointments.

"My lack of sleep really isn't the issue, as much as what I'm losing with my three kids," Sjogreen said.

[Josh] Diem, [a University of Miami] education professor, worries the trend is having a negative effect on future teachers, too. He said one of his students asked about second jobs in an undergraduate class last semester. The resulting discussion, Diem said, caused some students to think twice about careers in teaching.

Chancy is having second thoughts about his career.

He enjoys spending time with his students, especially when he can reach out to English language learners. Chancy himself grew up in Montreal, speaking French and Creole.

"It's like I have 90 children," he said.

But Chancy makes less money teaching than he would as a full-time employee at the histology lab. He and his wife are considering starting a family. And working 16 hours each day is becoming too much to handle.

At a recent dentist appointment, the hygienist pointed out that Chancy had started grinding his teeth -- a common sign of stress and anxiety.

"I'm happy, I really am," he said. "But being happy doesn't pay the bills. I have a lot of decisions to make this summer."

As a former teacher, I'm saddened, but as a parent, I'm disgusted. At what point is the country going to come to its senses and realize that we're losing entire generations of kids whose education is not as challenging as ours was, nor is it preparing them sufficiently to be contributing members of society in the future, because we can't attract and retain quality teachers? The problem is endemic, and it's going to have repercussions for many, many years. And the only way to fix it is to fund our schools the way they ought to be funded: generously.

But that'll never happen as long as the Selfish Republicans run the show.