Pension in Georgia: You were vested in 10 years and they took out about 7%. They did not take out Social Security.

To the person from Sweden: Salaries vary greatly from state to state and are based on degree and experience. They are lowest in Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico and one of the Dakotas, North,I think, and Louisiana was down there with them until they got embarrassed last year with a couple parishes starting at $23,000. They are highest up North. Massachusetts has one of the best pay scales starting I believe around $50,000. Georgia pays the highest in the Southeast with the average I believe around $60,000 (They encourage higher degrees and have a lot of older teachers, especially in metro Atlanta. The increases have always been tilted toward the veterans and they are given in percentages, not dollar amounts like in Louisiana, so they mean more.) A few states supplement teachers who work in hard-to-fill areas like math, foreign languages and special ed. Some don't give you credit for all your years when you transfer from another system so the pay is inflated on paper.

If you are curious about America's teacher salaries, go on the State Board Of Education website for whatever state you want to investigate. It is usually called TeachGeorgia or TeachHawaii--whatever and you can usually find a salary schedule. Some states have a base salary and then the local school boards add a supplement.

ONe thing that states use against paying better, especially in the South (although they might pull it in other places), is they say the cost of living is cheaper than in the better paid places. May be true, but you have to have the same amount of education and pass the same tests and jump through the same hoops to get certified! You also often have to pay more for gas because, outside of the large cities, there is no or inadequate public transportation and some teachers drive an hour each way to get to work every day. There are fewer large cities in the South.

Don't think Nevada is the only place where teachers buy stuff for their students. In the first place, you need supplies right at the first year and are lucky if what little you get comes in after a month. Then if you are special ed. the kind of stuff you need might be different. I was really glad when I bought my own digital camera. I could take pictures of my kids and make language boards without having to pay to develop them. Even at a well equipped school where I was the digital they had had only a couple megapixels.

New Orleans wsa the worst. I spent about $200 before school started in August 2005 and then lost it to Katrina.

But yall have it worse in one way in Nevada. I can't believe they top out your salary scheule at 9 years! That is ridiculous. Go to Georgia. They top you at 20 and pay fairly well. Nevada must not care much about keeping its veteran teachers if they top yall out at 9. It takes 3 years to learn your job (sometimes 5 for special ed.) so they have just barely gotten their money's worth topping off at 9 years.

Schools are getting that way, though. They don't realize that teaching is a skill that takes years to learn and just flock to these cheap TFAs and alternate certificate people that they don't have to pay as much. Well, you get what you pay for, and you can't get a Cadillac for the price of a Kia.

AFter Katrina New Orleans did not re-hire its teachers and had all these rookies. Then they had to hire a bunch of security guards. So they spent more than they would have if they had hired us all back and gave us a FEMA trailer. St. Bernard Parish, where all the housing was under water, did just that and had a 12 grade school up and running in less than three months!

Of course I have heard that Vallas, the guy that is over the Recovery District in New Orleans thinks it is ok to go through a crop of teachers every two years. He is not one of us, yall.

But back on topic, I think teachers always have and always will have to buy at least some supplies. Back in the days of the one room schoolhouses, the teacher was expected to bring a bucket of coal for the potbellied stove in the school room and take it out of her $10 a month pay check.