Just wondering how education majors are faring with their job searches. Where I live, a place where people move to for the schools, those looking to teach high school have the best shot, and middle school may as well, but of my D22’s graduating class of elementary ed majors, she was the only one to even get interviews. I’ve sat on hiring committees, so this isn’t that surprising as local schools expect experience and stellar recommendations, but I feel like it’s worse this year with cuts to school budgets that result in leaving positions unfilled and moving to larger class sizes and fewer paras (one of the previous ways to get into a public school position). I have a sense that this might be more prevelent in the high paying New England/MidAtlantic areas than in other areas of the country .
She was the lucky one that got a position, but she probably would not have even gotten as far as an interview ( in one of the top rated districts in the state/country) without a very late position coming available (after the start of school) and multiple people in the district pulling for her.
I’m in Denver, and I’m a History professor with a background in secondary ed, and because of that, I work with our pre-service social studies teachers (who are all training for secondary ed licenses). So far, almost all of my students in the last 8-10 years who have decided to pursue teaching careers have gotten jobs. The few who haven’t, well, other careers turned out to be better choices (for the most part). Some (including some very gifted teachers) took long and circuitous routes with lots of long-term sub positions but eventually landed something that made them happy.
However – our enrollments (in the teaching licensure program) have declined significantly since 2020, and actually, even before then they had been declining slowly for some time. That might have contributed to our overall success ratio in placement recently – fewer students, less competition for jobs, more senior teachers getting fed up with [gesturing wildly at everything] and retiring. The Denver area (like the rest of the nation) is now heading over its predicted demographic cliff. Schools are closing (mostly elementary schools at this point). We’ll see in the next few years if our lower enrollments in the licensure program will be sufficient to counterbalance the decline in job openings for teachers.
Teaching positions in our area are very hard to come by. My middle kid got her multi subject credential a couple of years ago. She just started seriously applying last spring as she has a nanny position that pays very well and she wanted to stay on until the little one she works with was heading to school.
My daughter applied to around 8 districts last spring. We are in a huge metro area. So far 2 full time positions have even appeared. One was like your daughter’s with a last minute resignation the week before the start of school. 36 candidates applied in 45 minutes before they closed the on line link.
A good friend of mine is a recently retired superintendent. She tells me that enrollment is down and that many non tenured teachers were not hired due to budget and staffing cuts. So these teachers with 1-3 years of experience are all flooding the hunt for jobs.
My daughter remains optimistic. And she does have connections through parents, teachers and administrators she has worked with in various capacities. (Tutoring and babysitting) I do think that connections help a lot with getting a foot in the door.
She just texted me that she had a long term sub job interview today. A parent at the school knows my kid well and highly recommended my daughter to the principal. My hopefully soon to be teacher made it through to the second round.
congratulations to your daughter. In Texas there are many teacher positions unfilled; however, new teachers always start at the toughest districts and schools except for CTE (careers and technology education) positions where prior field experience is required. Texas teacher pay is laughable while the required work is exhausting.
It’s funny because my daughter actually wanted to work in a high needs district. She student taught in both a very high economic area in a well resourced school with high test scores and an economically disadvantaged school with a large ELL population and heavy DFS involvement. She preferred the latter and applied to similar schools, but somehow ended up in a very priveledged district.
SouthCentral Pennsylvania (Harrisburg area): My D22’s best friend graduated in Dec. 2025 with a degree in middle level (grades 4-8) education, with a concentration in science. She nannied through June for a family with 3 young boys. She interviewed this past summer at several good suburban districts for multiple positions in upper elementary school but wasn’t offered any of those jobs. She was hired as an 8th grade science teacher at a rough, 80+%-minority middle school. I asked her on Sunday how things were going. She said the first week was difficult but the second week was better, now that she is getting to know the kids. I agree that there is significant competition for new graduates looking for elementary positions in good suburban districts.
We have a number of young teachers in our circle (friends’ kids or D’s friends). None have had trouble finding work in OH, IL, TX, and CO, including those that graduated this year.
In CT, it’s a mixed bag depending on the places the grads are willing to go to, and the area of their certification.
Many of our more rural districts have smaller schools, but also a greater need as they have less applicants.
Students with degrees in special education, foreign languages, MS and HS sciences don’t have difficulty finding jobs.
Elementary education is tough in most districts around here due to declining enrollments…and this has trickled up to the middle schools as well.
The wealthier suburban towns sometimes want experienced applicants.
We have a good neighbor whose kid worked as a para educator and long term sub for three years after getting the masters degree. Really wanted to stay within a certain radius but couldn’t land a job. Broadened the geographic limits and was hired this year, and LOVES the new job. But had to become a little more flexible!
My friend got her teachers certification years ago, had 3 kids, got divorced. Over the last 10 years ago, she worked in elementary schools in Paterson, Newark and jersey city. Urban areas are easy to find jobs, the rest not so much, you need to know a guy. My 25 year old’s good friend got a teaching position in town, her dad grew up here, she lived across the street from a recently retired teacher at our elementary school.
I’m familiar with an urban public school district in Louisiana. There is definitely a teacher shortage, and local districts have spent a lot of money on teacher pipelines and recruiting. But then again, the pay scale is that of an urban public school district in Louisiana. There are no 6-figure teacher salaries no matter how many degrees or how much experience one has.
I have a friend who tried for years to get an elementary job in New England and worked as a para or nanny in the meantime. She finally gave up and went to North Carolina where she had her pick of jobs and housing was cheap. Only not cheap enough for what teachers are paid in NC. She ended up moving back to Maine and nannied until she recently took a classroom aid job for the benefits
Declining enrollment is the biggest factor. Unless a teacher retires, resigns, or moves, a position doesn’t open. Even then, with fewer students entering each year, sometimes districts/schools don’t need to re-hire to fill the position.
My oldest is a HS science teacher. They were fortunate to have an excellent student teaching mentor at a high performing high school. They have loads of professional experience working with kids and interview well. They were offered a job right out of their credential/masters program. This year, their school is looking for a physics teacher. They’ve gone through two rounds of interviews but can’t find candidates they feel are qualified. They moved kids and classes around and will re-post the job again next year.
That doesn’t seem very low. Some engineering and finance jobs are in that ballpark in non east coast and non west coast areas — supposedly well paid professions. Certainly at the 85k mark. I don’t understand then why some people say teaching is poorly paid.
Depends, my daughter started in a charter school outside Denver at $60K. 2nd year $65.4K. That’s in an area full of immigrants, etc - most would say, a non-desirable role, which is how she has the job. Rural and/or inner city schools need teachers.
My high level school district where my kids went has low starting salaries - but people like the safety and rich families. They start at $52.1K. Of course ,no state income tax, etc.
In Colorado, my kid doesn’t pay SS tax but gives up 10% of her pay and it’s made to 21%. I’m not sure how they invest it but it’s a defined contribution pension/401k all in one I think.
Of course, my kid had to spend $5K at Metro State of Denver on a credential but it got reimbursed.
There are jobs out there but you have better odds if you go to the areas people don’t want to go. Too many want to work with the wealthy - thinking it’ll be easier/safer, etc.
I have a teacher friend on Long Island - early 50s - makes $150K - which is crazy high - but then you live in Long Island and have NY taxes, etc.
But it seems a fine job for those who want it - but so many are getting frustrated because of the government interference and what you can and can’t do. It’s to the point of ridiculousness.
It completely varies by state. Just did some searching. The national average is 48k. Montana is under 37k. Only 35% of average starting salaries are over over 50k. Highest starting salaries are in CA which is 58k. These are all averages. I live in MA and most districts start at at least 58k. You can move up pretty quickly between yearly step increases, COA increases and shifting lanes while working towards or earning additional qualifications and degrees.
You can look up the teachers contract of any district as they are public record.
In Louisiana, the average (not starting) teaching salaries with extra compensation in the biggest (more urban) districts in SY23-24 (source) were:
Caddo: $65,669
East Baton Rouge: $63,572
Jefferson: $60,693
Orleans: $63,811
And this represents some definite jumps over the past two decades (when the average salary was about $43k). For most districts, one gets about $500/year more for each year of experience, up to 25 or 30 years of experience. Additionally, one usually gets $400-500 for each additional educational level (so an extra $450ish for a Master’s, an extra $450ish for a Master’s + 30 grad hours, an extra $450ish for a doctorate). So someone with a doctorate will earn maybe $1500 more than a person with a bachelor’s with the same number of years of teaching experience. So the starting salary isn’t super terrible, but the increases in salary for experience and education often don’t keep up with inflation. So basically, someone with a doctorate and 30 years experience will get paid about $16,500 more than a beginning teacher with only a bachelor’s.
