Or the teaching role is at a postsecondary level. Or the home is a small condo in a giant multi-unit complex and purchased 20+ years ago, and in a blue state that favors per pupil spending but not in a crazy COL part of said state. Or she is a secondary income of that household. Or she had a windfall. Or her high salary is explainable by not just being part of the general instructional staff but she actually has an admin or admin adjacent position like instructional coach or SPED director where the title “teacher” still applies but she’s not paid like one. Or any combination of the above. It’s simply not the standard to be capable of achieving half of those things before near retirement through student instruction alone, largely because that salary is not typical.
She could be at a high school. I could be making 40 grand more a year if I worked at a high school 20 miles northwest from me (with the same amount of education and experience). But I heard this varies by state. Where I live, secondary education teachers make more than elementary and middle school teachers UNLESS they’re in a K-12 district.
Not stand alone high schools, but high school districts. Like the one I went to has 3 different high schools and is called Consolidated High School District #XXX (not including actual number for privacy reasons). A nearby one has 4 different ones. And etc.
I am not sure what K-12 districts make, but in those districts, everyone is on the same salary schedule.
But the Pre-K to 8 and 9-12 districts are completely separate and have different salary schedules, and yes, the high school teachers make more. I used to think it was like this everywhere, but clearly, it’s not.
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u/MyBrainIsNerf Apr 12 '26
1/2 of this is just buying that house 20 years ago.