New Money, Old News

Because I am at a brand new school, we didn't get all of our funding right away. But now that it's second semester, they've released some of our funds so I'm actually going to start getting paid for some of the extra work I'm doing. Whoo-hoo!

So, I'm getting paid to do an after school tutoring session once a week. I will get about $50/hour. I've been doing tutoring every Wednesday from 3:00-4:00 all year, so it will be nice to get compensated for that work.

I am one of the Lead Teachers for my academy, which means I lead meetings, help handle discipline, and attend admin meetings for our whole school. For this job, I'm getting $25 per week flat, as well as $25 every other week for the meeting I attend.

So, for those of you keeping score, this means I'll be bringing home an extra $350 per month before taxes. Add this to the $200 or so I'll get for having my National Boards, and I'm looking at a pretty amazing monthly bump! For now, a lot of my extra money will go toward my Europe trip, and then I'll use it to meet my 2012 goals. There is a chance that we'll have to take furlough days at the end of the year, so the extra money could also help compensate for the loss of pay.

Also, the old news is that I know I will be getting a pink slip again this year. I hope that it will be rescinded before school's out, but there is a definite chance that I will be laid off for the summer and have to go on unemployment. I'd most likely be brought back before school starts, and be back-paid for the unnecessary layoff. But, time will tell for all of that.

My goal is to try not to freak out about the pink slip thing...it's awful, and stressful, and frankly insulting to the job I do each day. I have been teaching for seven years. My classes are huge, so the thought that we can layoff more teachers is a crazy thought. I am National Board Certified, I am a lead teacher, and I do a million other things each day. But, rather than focus on all of that for now (and hopefully in the months to come) I will enjoy my trip to Europe, and then start stocking money into my emergency fund. I can't control what will happen next; but I can be prepared.