‘I just have to do it.’ Teachers struggle with second jobs
Nationwide, 18 percent of teachers work jobs outside school, supplementing the average full-time teacher salary of
Teaching is hardly the only profession where people pick up second jobs to pay their bills, and many have the flexibility to do other work in the summer when school is out. But their numbers help explain the outrage behind the teacher revolts in states including
The Associated Press asked moonlighting teachers in four states to describe how they balance the extra hours with their day jobs and family responsibilities:
JANITOR
After a day of instructing first-graders at
"I usually do it right after school," Dale said, "because working with first grade all day, I tend to lose my energy pretty fast."
Dale, who has taught for six years, earns
She is trying to save money for college for the oldest of her three children, a high school senior. Her youngest, a first-grader, has to wait for Dale to finish cleaning before she can go home, but sometimes other family members help with the cleaning so she can leave sooner and spend time with her kids.
Her second job forces her to do lesson plans on the weekend, usually on Sundays after church and lunch with her family.
One day, her seventh-grade daughter was waiting in the car for her mother and said: "I'm sorry it's come to this, mom."
"It was a very heartwarming but sad moment to hear her say those words," Dale said. "I'll do whatever it takes to be in the career that I'm in, but also provide for them."
LYFT DRIVER
As
"It's super busy to drive during the week, but sometimes I just have to do it," said Lowe, 28.
She earns just under
By
"These kids are going to be taking care of you when you're older," she said. "Let's educate them; let's make them the best people that they can be."
Lowe left a job in health care in
"I went to school for this to be my career," Lowe said, "not so I could work three jobs just to be able to afford to go the doctor."
RETAIL WORKER
There was a time earlier in his career, when he was making less than
Now in his 19th year of teaching, with two master's degrees, he has reached top scale —
He paid off his college loans three years ago, and he and his wife only recently got out from a requirement to pay mortgage insurance because they didn't have enough for a full down payment when they bought their house.
"I became a teacher because I figured I'd get home and get my kids off the bus and do all these things. I never thought in a million years I would still be working so much. This was supposed to be a two, maybe three-year thing. Financially it never worked out," said Andros, whose wife works part-time as a health aide.
He makes a point to stay home with his daughters at least two weeknights, but as he looks to build up college savings for them, he frets over the volleyball and field hockey events he misses.
"I love what I do. The kids haven't changed. That part of it hasn't changed. But my daughters ask me all the time, 'What do you think of me becoming a teacher?'" he said. "It's a tough question to answer."
PHOTOGRAPHER
Despite more than three decades of teaching experience,
"Thirty-two years, I have to have a second job," said Phillips, who teaches first grade at
Phillips makes
"I can scrape by. I can make due on my salary if I just want to pay bills. That's it," Phillips said. "If I want to live, if I want to do any real living, I can't do it on my salary."
"A lot of people think, 'Woo, you make tons of money,'" Phillips said. "If you compare my salary to maybe somebody who works in fast food, I do. But if you compare my salary to somebody who works, say, at our local hardwood plant here, not so great. There's people there probably making as much as I am without the education, without the years of service."
Talley reported from
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