You teach 26 kids and what do you get....

...not enough money to get out of debt, if you believe a new report from the State Public Interest Research Group entitled Paying Back, Not Giving Back: Student Debt's Negative Impact on Public Service Career Opportunities. It's a quick read, only 17 pages, and their main theme is that students are deterred from entering into public sector careers like teaching and social work because the student loans they carry won't be doable on the money they'll make. Using their numbers they say that 33.2% of Washington teachers who go to public universities have a debt load that will "exceed manageable levels", which is well above the national average of 23% but still not high enough to get us into the top ten (just eyeballing, I think we're 15th in the nation).

It's worse if you go to a private school, where 50.6% of graduates can't make it on a Washington salary. I've wondered for a while why anyone would spend $50,000 in tuition to go and teach in a public school; my second-tier degree got me in the door just fine.

(All due apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford for the post title.)