[nilkn]

My partner is a teacher. She does indeed work 40 hours per week on average, has extensive time off for holidays, has the full summer off (she doesn't work at all during it), has a pension that when she retires will easily fund her lifestyle and more, and is paid the median household income for the city. It's not an easy job, but it could be a lot worse. She was also given a signing bonus and scholarship that together meant she graduated with $0 of student loan debt.

[vkhn]

Pensions, bonuses and scholarships seem to be exceptions.

Median income is also a poor indicator.

[nilkn]

Pensions for teachers are certainly common. I grew up in a completely different part of the country and all my teachers also had pensions. I'm not sure how the median income is a poor indicator -- she makes as much as the median household does for the city.

[thrower123]

In some states, teachers don't pay into Social Security, so their pension/retirement plan is in place of that. At least this is the case in Maine.

It's especially bizarre that the rules also penalize drawing on spousal survivor benefits.

[mcguire]

For a long time there was a bizarre loophole in Texas. Apparently, the decision whether or not to pay into Social Security was made on a per-school-district level. Most districts do not, so do not receive Social Security. Some do, and those retiring from there did get SS. The super-secret trick was to resign from your current position, somehow work for a week or so at one of the minority of districts, then officially retire and collect both your normal pension and social security. I have no idea how it actually worked, I just watched a couple of teachers of my acquaintance do it.

I believe the loophole has been shut down for several years.