By Ty Tatman (Zane Trace EA) OEA Director | This post originally appeared in the in Winter 2019 issue of the Communique, a publication of the Central OEA/NEA.
Moonlighting is often defined as “any type of work that is done in addition to your primary job and after traditional work hours.” For years, a great number of educators worked second and third jobs as a financial necessity.
Collective bargaining and strong union contracts helped make teaching a sustainable career, and moonlighting among educators became less prevalent throughout the latter part of the 20th century.
More recently, financial situations have changed and unconstitutional school funding systems have presented a burgeoning dilemma. More and more teachers have to work outside of the classroom just to get by.
Collective bargaining and strong union contracts helped make teaching a sustainable career….
According to Edweek (June 2018) one in five teachers works a second job. This statistic is somewhat up to interpretation as they counted a supplemental contract as a “second job.” That is up for debate. Is coaching, advising, or tutoring under contract to the same school where you teach truly a second job? If that’s the case, yours truly is working about ten jobs but I digress.
The average educator’s salary is below the living wage in more than half of America.
A Vox Magazine report says that up to 18% of educators work part time jobs outside of the school system. That is a staggering number when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that less than 5% of the full-time work force in all other occupations works any kind of second job.
Whether it’s waiting at a restaurant to make ends meet, as a sales clerk at a department store, teaching driver’s education classes on Saturdays or coaching the indoor track team – too many teachers have to work second jobs to get by.
The bottom line?
The average educator’s salary is below the living wage in more than half of America.
As the burdens of the education profession grow larger and larger, it’s not fair to see educators having to work even more outside the classroom!
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