The International Schools Review Forum

How do teachers' salaries at elite US private schools compare to top-tier international schools? Let's not name the schools, please.

In my limited experience, not as well. No housing unless in a dorm. No flights. Taxes due. And the salary itself can be lackluster. US teachers still find it a good deal since they get smaller classes and compliant students.

It will depend. Most will have so so compensation because the compensation is not having to work in a public school. But the rarified top of the industry pays extremely well - much better than international schools. I know many friends making 100k+ at top schools in CA, NY, MA, PA, MD, DC, VA, and FL.

It's very low compared to public schools. Most americans I know who work in private schools do so either because they have some connection to the school (they went there or their kids go there and they get a family discount) or they have a spouse who makes enough money to support them. In the midwest, a public school teacher would start out in the $40,000 range. A private school teacher starting out would probably be anywhere between $25,000 and $27,000. FYI... all public schools in the U.S. are not terrible. If you choose a descent suburb, you can have the best of both words... good kids and good pay.

I generally agree with the previous contributors. In general in the US, in any given location the public/maintained DSs pay about 30% more than the independent/private DSs. The advantage for the independent/private DSs is that as selective DSs you get better students (they arent at risk) and fewer behavioral issues. As an IT coming to a US IS, the package is generally a local hire contract, meaning no relocation and no housing benefits. You will essentially get salary, insurance, and pension.
A public/maintained DS in the US on step 1in the first academic band (BA) would be around USD$40K, in a private/independent DS it would be about USD$30K. Those figures are a bit misleading though as its rare for a DT to start their career in a private/independent DS, without connections.

There are however a handful of elite ISs in the US that offer typical OSH packages, and top tier coin in their salaries, some of them around 6 figures. Most of these DSs are on the east coast with some of them having boarding programs. You also find a number of well paying DSs both public/maintained and independent/private on the west coast (CA). There are a few in TX as well (mainly in Houston).

If you are only planing on staying for a 2 year contract its possible to simply avoid paying taxes. You can claim exempt on your first year taxes, and then file for an extension, your first year taxes will only be around USD$16K by the time they come due, which isnt really on the IRSs radar. Beyond that you simply dont file. You will likely leave/depart the country before anything serious would happen regarding your taxes, and before you are noticed by the IRS.

I made about low $50K a year at a private school in the US. They started me with 8 years of experience. It was an day/boarding school with strong alumni support. The campus is nicer than a lot of college campuses. Actually, our school had better starting pay than the local schools, but it was in a state with very low investment in public education. There was no pension plan, but there was a 403b program with some matching funds available. Health care costs were absurdly expensive if you had any dependents and the deductible meant you weren't seeing a benefit unless you spent a lot in a given year.

Coming to Asia I make about the same (slightly higher) salary, but not paying for housing and not paying for a car allows me to save about 2 1/2 times what I did back in the US. The downsides being I'm not paying into Social Security and I can't contribute to IRAs because I don't have US earned income.

Eion

I would challenge the notion that you can make 100K + at private schools in the US, even at the top tier. In fact, at the very best New England boarding schools--won't name any names, but any ranking puts them among the best schools in the nations--starting salaries are usually in the 40K range. You do get free housing, and one of the best benefits is that at some of these schools, if they are indeed accepted, your children can attend for free, which is a 50-60K/year benefit. Where you are more likely to make more coin are actually private schools (as PsyGuy implied) in cities like Houston, LA, Dallas, Miami, or NYC where there are private schools, which charge huge tuitions, but don't have the prestige of true, top tier schools.

I'd be interested to learn which private schools in the US pay anything close to 100k. It certainly isn't any of the elite East Coast prep/boarding schools, and my friends in NYC aren't making much at their privates either.

Years ago I was considering a job at a private day school in the SF Bay area. Their starting salary was going to be around $100,000/year. It was a college counseling position, so maybe it's a lot higher than what they pay teachers. I was a bit surprised and I don't think it's too common. Granted the prices of housing in the area meant that by itself wasn't enough to afford much more than a condo.

I would agree from people I know who used to teach in the Northeast that the highly ranked schools pay their teachers pretty modestly and work them hard. I've heard of better salaries at private schools out of the Northeast.

The monthly rent for one-bed condo is around 3-4K. With 100K, you'll barely survive in SanFran at current prices. Many public school teachers are homeless there.

There are public/regulated DSs that pay 6 figures, and there are a handful of independent/private ISs that pay 6 figures. They are however very difficult to get into without connections, and they dont market or rep themselves as ISs.

PsyGuy wrote:
> [...] and there are a handful
> of independent/private ISs that pay 6 figures. They are however very
> difficult to get into without connections, and they dont market or rep
> themselves as ISs.

Without going into specific schools, there seems to be a handful of IS reviews on this site from Switzerland that pay in the 6-figure range. What do they rep/market themselves as if not ISs?

@idonteven

The Swiss schools market themselves as IS, though they are never short of applications. Its the US ones that I was referring to, they generally dont participate in the IE circuit, they dont generally go to recruitment events (fairs), they generally dont offer OSH packages.

Remember @marina? She left for a US job that paid - Net (not Gross) $100,000. I wonder how that's working out sometime, but the fact that she has been MIA on this forum for months tells me sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side (and in this case, back in the USA).

@reisgio

I remember @marina, and I assume she got what she needed from the forum and moved on.