Although teaching has its perks, like summer and Christmas break, it’s definitely fair to say that teachers teach because they have a passion for helping young people learn and grow, and not for the money. Teachers are paid so little, in fact, that some have to take a second job.

We have multiple teachers in the building who take the extra steps to be able to pay the bills and do what they love. Mr.Laurie, an English teacher, works the night shift at the Rio Grande as a part-time bartender because he wouldn’t be able to support his family otherwise. “Financially, we need it,” he said.

Mr. Laurie isn’t alone. Language arts teacher Ms. White teaches paint and sip classes at Studio Vino in Centerra. She said that although now she keeps the job for extra spending and travel money, she initially got it when she switched districts in order to make ends meet. “I took a pay cut to come to PSD. I’ve never regretted it, but it left our budget a little short,” she said.  

Dean of Students, Mr Ruffner, works at the Budweiser plant for some extra cash. “I don’t need it to eat, but I need it to spend the way I want to spend,” he said.

Ms. Mauch previously worked a job to make an ends meet. She said, “It’s disheartening to me that we can’t fund a system that supports the people who are dedicated to our children and their future in a way  that allows them to live in the community in which they teach without seeking financial support from a second job.”

Teachers shape the generations who will define our future, yet we still fail to pay them reasonably. Recent ballot measures like Amendment 73, which would have raised taxes to help fund our schools and create better wages for our educators, would be a step in the right direction, but those measures have continuously failed.

Ms. Manzanares, who coaches at Rocky, spoke about amendment 73’s failure to pass and how she felt, “…amendment 73 failing is bad for teachers, especially those of us who do a lot of extra curriculars at the school because those extra curriculars help to fund and support us at home. So we’ve got to pick up and do more of those things which is awesome for our experiences at the school, but we’re running out of time to be really good teachers and good at our extra duties.”