School Zone

The New York Times ran an interesting graphic comparing teacher pay and hours, looking at 114 larger districts in the United States.

(The data was compiled by the National Center on Teacher Quality.)

If you have a few minutes, check out the Times' graphic -- you can sort it by pay for first-year teachers; pay for teachers at the top of the scale; and by the length of the school day. It's interesting to peruse the list when it's sorted various ways.

For those of you who are interested, but want the nutshell version, here it is.

First-year teacher pay:

- High: $51,500, Washington, D.C.
- Low: $30,000, Albuquerque, N.M.
- Buffalo: $32,900 (ninth-lowest)

Veteran teacher pay (top of the scale):

- High: $101,000, Washington, D.C.
- Low: $46,900, Meridian Joint District, Idaho
- Buffalo: $74,700 (28th highest)

Length of workday:

- Longest: 8 hours and 30 minutes, Dallas
- Shortest: 6 hours and 30 minutes, Portland, Maine
- Buffalo: 6 hours and 50 minutes (sixth-shortest)

Of course, national studies have their own set of complexities, given different circumstances in different states. I think it's always helpful within national studies to also look at how Buffalo compares to other districts in New York.

Rochester teachers make $41,800 in their first year, about 27 percent more than Buffalo teachers; and at the top of the scale, Rochester teachers make $90,900, about 21 percent more than Buffalo teachers.

(The study did not include information about the length of the day in Rochester. I called over to their union office, and the short answer is that there is no short answer. The contract does not spell out the length of their workday.)

- Mary Pasciak