Elisabeth Coate Milich, a brave school teacher, recently caused a big fuss when she posted her salary online. The teacher from Arizona shared her pay stub on social media, showing a small $131 rise that raised her yearly salary from $35,490 to $35,621.
Even though some people didn’t like her post at first, it has started a very important talk about teacher pay in the US.
Even worse for Milich, her pay is less than the state average, which makes things even worse. She stressed that teachers often pay for extra things, like buying tools for their kids, without getting paid for it. Milich is also still paying off her student loans even though she graduated from college 20 years ago.
It’s scary that teachers are having a hard time with money. Milich said that a lot of her coworkers have more than one job to make things meet. Some of them even work as waitresses or waiters. Today, many teachers can’t live on their income alone, which means that teaching is no longer a viable career choice.
Milich’s brave choice to talk about her pay has brought attention to the important problem of teacher pay. As the discussion goes on, it’s important that we recognise the worth and hard work of our teachers and work towards a future where teaching is a valued and stable job.
