Out of State Teachers

I'm sure this has been done before but can you please answer again?

1) What county/state do you currently teach in?

2) Do you like it?

3) How is the cost of living compared to a teacher's salary?

4) Anything special you want to share about your district?

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We really want to relocate somewhere, but we keep tossing up between the various east coast states.

My parents are pressuring us to stay within a 10 hour drive so they can visit more often and his parents are pushing for Florida.

I see plenty of places are still hiring for next year, (I am certified math and business) however besides the major counties we have looked in to, I don't know anything else.

We looked into
Wake County, NC
Johnston County, NC
Charleston County, SC
Palm Beach County, FL
Broward County, FL


ETA: We also need to consider my husband's employment. He is currently an accountant, however Florida approved him to teach Business temporarily to reach certification. (His dream is to teach, however some states he would have to go back to school first)

Message edited 3/26/2009 4:42:06 PM.

Re: Out of State Teachers

I was in northeast Fl and things were pretty good.

lots of professional development
lots of standards based education
very data driven

laid back lifestyle with some hint of seasonal changes :)

miss the blue winter skies...they were nice to have.

i was able to buy my first home based on my salary - so even though i made 1/2 of what i make now, i could afford my home in florida, but am no where near ready to buy a home in ny

overall, if family was closer- i would have stayed. it gets easier the longer you are there.

Re: Out of State Teachers

I teach in Fairfax County VA, about 20 minutes from Washington DC

I love teaching in Fairfax, I used to teach in Prince George's County in MD, and it was a NIGHTMARE!! But Fairfax is great, we get alot of support and people are so friendly. its a beautiful area too.

You can get the pay scales for all of the VA county schools right off of their websites, the cost of living/pay is pretty comparable. Its not quite as much as Long Island though...

Re: Out of State Teachers

I teach just outside of Charlotte, NC. I won't lie--my paycheck is not wonderful. I got killed because I came here with my Masters, and they only pay about $2,000 more a year with it...I pay more than that for the student loan

Depending on the type of house you are looking for, the salary is pretty comparable to the cost of living. For us, we bought a larger house, and we use my pay to cover the mortgage.

Re: Out of State Teachers

I live and teach in Raleigh. We moved here almost 4 years ago- I am very happy with our decision and we have a much better lifestyle than we would have on LI.

I enjoy teaching here, but be aware that there are no unions in NC for public employees, so there are things that go on that would never fly in NY. For me, the trade off was worth it, but some NYers move down and are unhappily surprised at the hours and workload.....so I think you really have to do your research and decide whether you would be happy wherever you choose to move.

In terms of cost of living, it's comparable to NY in many ways. Housing and taxes are much less, and those two things make a huge difference for us. We bought a house, but stayed well within our budget- we chose not to go the new build big house route because that would have sucked up more $ than we wanted. I wanted to be able to not worry about paying the bills, and as a teacher if we moved down and bought a house for 300-400K we would have been in the same situation as we would have been in while living in NY (paying too high a % of our income to our mortgage.) We have a nice home in a nice neighborhood, but we were able to keep our mortgage at something like 1/4 of our income. I don't think we could have done that without leaving NY.

You do need to be aware that Wake County has a hiring freeze right now- I am not sure about Johnston but they are the district just south of us and get a lot of applicants because of their proximity to Raleigh. The fact that you teach math should help though- that's always a plus. Oh, and NC does have lateral entry (for your husband) but that's really more out in the rural counties- the bigger ones have a good amount of licensed applicants, so it's harder to get your career started that way....

Hope that helps. Feel free to fm me if you have anymore questions. It's definitely a big decision, and I remember how hard it was trying to figure it all out when I went through it. Good luck!

Re: Out of State Teachers

1) What county/state do you currently teach in? Fairfax County, VA

2) Do you like it? Most of the time ;)

3) How is the cost of living compared to a teacher's salary? It's not bad. We're not getting any pay increase this year, which sucks, but the pay isn't bad. As a pp said, they post all salary information online down here, so it's easy to find.

4) Anything special you want to share about your district? There are so many great professional development opportunities in Fairfax. I'm getting my GT endorsement for free, and there are always classes that I can take to get my +30.

Honestly, I love this area. It's not cheap and there can be traffic if live and work in certain areas, but overall I really can't complain.


ETA: it's a 5.5 to 6.5 hour drive from here to East Setauket (where my parents live).

Message edited 3/29/2009 6:52:11 AM.