Dual-income allows educator to remain in classroom
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U.S. News & World Report featured Arizona's 2015 "Teacher of the Year," John-David Bowman, who considers himself lucky, doing the job he loves without worrying about supporting his family.
"I decided to teach because I felt it would be a job I could do for a couple of years and I could give back to my community," Bowman said. "But I fell in love with the profession."
Bowman earns slightly over $50,000 a year for teaching social studies at a high school in Mesa, Arizona. He earns more than the $48,020 mean for the state, though that is below the $58,030 national median, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
He has been able to stay because his wife, a designer, earns considerably more than he does.
In Arizona, teachers have threatened job actions as they demand more spending on schools. Education union leaders have warned that cuts in school spending across the country are scaring away future teachers.
A report last year by Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University found that almost a quarter of the state's teachers hired between 2013 and 2015 were no longer teaching after a year, while 42 percent of teachers hired in 2013 lasted no more than three years.
READ: U.S. Teachers Say They Sacrifice for the Job They Love