US - Do teachers get paid in Summer holidays?

[Sharnita]

In Michigan the state required testing for elementary/middle school kids is in October so schools start after Labor Day and pretty much truck through without a break until November. Then you might have an inservice, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, MLK, etc. to break things up.

[Lynnv]

A minimum of 180 school days are required by Colorado state law. There is, however, an hourly option which allows schools to go by hours (1080 for secondary schools) rather than days.  DH's district is way above the minimum (195 days IIRC), but others cut it much closer.  I know that, despite having 4 days off for the flooding, they are nowhere near close to the minimum instructional days/hours for the year.

[kherbert05]

I get paid for 180 days and 8 hours comp time. It is spread over 12 months. Texas did this song and dance thing a while back with the start date.

When I was a kid we started mid August
WHen my sister was a HS freshman they moved it to Tuesday after Labor day (first week September)
Then they moved it back to mid AUgust
Now it is the last week of August.

So new teachers in my district Start work 2nd week in August (new teacher training), but they don't get paid till the 15th of September. The end of August check is actually for the previous year. Apparently they started year around pay checks back when school started after labor day. When the date moved back to the normal August date - they still owed teachers from the previous year. The solution was to keep the "first" pay check of the year at Sept. 15. The district does give some advances on their pay so they can live. But for one coworker that blew up in her face. The district kept taking money out of her account after the advance was repaid. When it was figured out they had to pay her back and it totally screwed up her taxes.

My first year we didn't get our 2nd December pay check until we got back in January - because there was literally no one in the office to cut the checks. (Back then we got paid every other Friday instead of the 15th and 30th.) We had 3 weeks off. Having a paycheck delayed right after Christmas was hard. We had a new superintendent - he hit the roof and that never happened again.  We used to occasionally get a pay check a week early. Now it is the 15 and 30 unless those land on a weekend/holiday. Then we get paid the last weekday before the holiday.

[camlan]

Around the US, 180 days of school seems to be the most common standard.

Most schools in New England get two weeks off in the spring semester--one week in February and one week in April, instead of the one week in March that many other areas get.

Some schools in Maine still close for a week or two in the fall, around the end of September or beginning of October, to allow students to work in the potato harvest.

Snow days are also an issue in snow country. Most school districts will allow for school closures on their calendar--there will be 3 or 4 days at the end of the school year that will be used to make up days where the school had to be closed because there was too much snow for the students and staff to safely get to school. If the winter is mild and no/few snow days are needed, those days won't be used.

My sister works at a private Catholic school. When they have snow days, the teachers post assignments on-line and the students are expected to do them at home and turn them in the next day school is open. This way, the school can close for snow days, but still end the school year on time.

Religious holidays vary by school district. Some will only have Christmas off. Others will take into consideration the population that they serve and there might be a variety of religious holidays where the school will close--Rosh Hashanah, Good Friday, Eid Al-Adha.

In New Hampshire, cities and towns have a property tax to fund the schools. However, in some more rural areas, there simply isn't enough money/tax base to pay teachers and keep the schools in good repair. So since the 1990s, there has been some sort of state funding for such areas, to make sure that there is a certain minimum dollar amount per pupil, so that schools won't lose their accreditation.

[AmethystAnne]

<snip>
But across the river in Kentucky, they found that funding education through property taxes to be unconstitutional (according to their state constitution). I have no idea how they pay for their schools.

KY home owner here. I haven't yet completely read all the responses, but wanted to answer.

To fund education here in this state, a 3% surcharge is tacked onto and collected from bills for electric/water/propane/telephone/Internet/cableTV, annual vehicle taxes, insurance policies of all kinds, and payroll taxes. (Just to name a few off the top of my head).

[dawbs]

*snip*

Some schools in Maine still close for a week or two in the fall, around the end of September or beginning of October, to allow students to work in the potato harvest.
*snip*

While it's definitely not an 'official' holiday, it's pretty par for the course for teachers to make *SURE* that they don't schedule tests on the first day of firearm deer season.
(way-back-when, we had some instructors who got on the case of some kids about 'sport' being so important, etc.  A few of the more seasoned instructors had to explain that for a lot of these people, it's less about 'sport', more about feeding their families)