Graduate Degrees are NOT for Teachers

Once again, in my fantasy laden mind, I thought the public education system wanted an educated populace, in terms of its staff. Imagine my surprise when I came into teaching and discovered there was no stipend for acquiring more education. And in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), there was no pay differential for teachers with graduate degrees for quite some time up until recently.

Other Tampa Bay area school districts offer a salary differential (Sarasota is the highest), but only if your graduate degree is in the same subject area listed on your teaching certificate and you are actively teaching said subject (I believe this standard came into play after tenure was abolished in Florida in 2011). School districts want teachers to learn in-house and advertise this to prospective employees as free professional development (PD). Sometimes, this PD is paid [at your "standard" hourly rate which is some insanely low amount and not what is on your pay stub. The last time I remember it was $15/hr and you had to typically travel to it.].

And you can take all the PD you want, but it is not going to land you higher on the instructional pay scale. However, it will help you satisfy your points for teacher certification renewal every five years.

HCPS now offers a $1000 masters differential if you meet the criteria. Whoohoo! Let's do some math and see how much you can spend on booze and strippers:

The University of South Florida (USF), a public college, offers a Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree--geared toward those who were non education majors. The minimum credit hours for this program is 34.

The cost per graduate credit hour at USF for Florida residents is $431.43. And USF advertises that they have some of the lowest tuition rates in the state.

• $431.43 x 34 = $14,668.62

With $1000 in salary differential as a teacher with a master's degree and $14,668.62 in grad school debt, it will take...

• 15 school teacher work years to break even.

So, what are your options for more dinero?

• A. Work at least 15 years as a classroom teacher and in your 16th year, that differential will finally be worth something and you will be halfway to retirement
• B. Teach 3 years and meet the requirements to become a National Board Certified Teacher, if there is a pay differential for that still, and you see value in jumping through those hoops and while also paying for it
• B. Work 3 to 5 years as a "successful classroom teacher", then hop over to some non classroom resource teacher position--either school-based or district-based, or become a teacher mentor because you are tired of the classroom anyway and maybe you are actually good at teaching adults but do not EVER forget "other duties as assigned"
• C. Work 3 years as a classroom teacher and then get in the pipeline to become an assistant principal [for life]. (Whoops, I don't think you can do that with an MAT. You need an MEd.) and forget what it was like to be a teacher because you work 11 or 12 months, you are now better than everyone, you know everything, and you are excellent at taking orders from the District
• D. Leave public school education*

Some would say that a graduate degree is unnecessary for teachers: It does not make them smarter or improve their classroom management. I would argue that being at the university is critical for educators because that is where innovation happens and you are connected in real time to big thinkers (maybe not under DeSantis or Trump). It takes 5 to 10 years for educational research to trickle down into applied practices in public schools. And by that time, the application is outdated...and it is not like the districts will implement anything as intended, with support for teacher, or with fidelity. But more than that, *it is most helpful to be connected to people who know about other job opportunities, even just the university's own jobs.

Public school education is a trap. Don't stay in its dumb bubble.

Why did you get a masters degree as a teacher?