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We'd like to set up a remedial math program in our church. To do so, we would need to hire at least two teachers who could design courses in middle school and high school math, and teach them.

I'm a journalist by trade and know nothing about how this is done. So I thought I'd come here in search of advice. I need to know where to recruit such teachers and how much they'd want to be paid. This will enable us to begin budgeting for the project.

I'm hoping someone here can clue me in on how to proceed. Please reach out to me with a response ASAP. Thanks.

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    $\begingroup$ My apologies if I'm being naive, but why would a church offer math courses? $\endgroup$
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Jun 25 at 5:37
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    $\begingroup$ The title needs to reflect the post's content more. When I just read the title, I thought this was a job application posting. $\endgroup$
    – Syed M. Sannan
    Commented Jun 25 at 8:21
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    $\begingroup$ Are you talking about actual courses taught by experienced/licensed K-12 teachers? Or something more like tutoring? The latter would be much less expensive and easier to set up and run, and you can still have structure, a curriculum, homework, etc. $\endgroup$
    – user1149748
    Commented Jun 25 at 19:40
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    $\begingroup$ What is the target audience of your program? Do you want to help students currently in high school get better grades/ understand the material of their current maths courses? Or do you want to teach people above high school age the material they should have learned in high school? If the latter, do you need some kind of formal degree to hand out or is it sufficient if they understand the relevant material? $\endgroup$
    – quarague
    Commented Jun 26 at 10:51
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    $\begingroup$ @JochenGlueck it is a very long tradition in the United States that churches (and other religious institutions) offer all manner of social services, either directly as part of their ministry or by providing space for non-sectarian such organizations to do so. English language learning is another very popular such activity. $\endgroup$
    – kcrisman
    Commented Jun 26 at 19:30

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Hiawatha (what a great name!),

This is an awesome question. Hard to answer. But awesome. And I love how direct you were.

Googling math teacher salaries for Boston, they range from 50-100K. With the lower end more entry level and seniority the main factor for the range. Because of the job insecurity (the jobs did not exist in the past, and may not in the future), your positions will be a bit less attractive than the norm.

As a quick budgeting calculation, I'd figure (1.3)x(60k)x(2) = 156k/year for two full time positions. The ".3" represents a quick guess on a modest benefits package (at a minimum, you're looking at employer side of social security tax). Maybe round it up to 200k/year to include some slop (supplies, laptop, etc.--some of this could be modeled as one time, but to keep it simple, figure 200/yr).

If you can get a grant, I would be generous about budget guesses (make it 250 or 300). If you are operating with parishioner funds, the converse.

Thinking about the problem (I quite like Jochen's question), I would consider starting with one, versus two (unless you have access to grant money). Always better to pilot things.

Furthermore, I would argue for trying to minimize time spent on curriculum design (economy of scale argues against small programs designing things) and get something ready made. Probably something you buy. Some aspects of the first person, first year will need to be spent on program design/adjustment (I doubt you, your committee figure it all out), but I would differentiate this from full scale materials crafting.

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    $\begingroup$ In Germanny you would recruit a math student, probably a master student, but even a good high scholl student in 11 or 12 grade is good in tutoring younger kids. maybe there are also retired math- teachers in your parish ? I would look for these first, In all these cases you would pay by the hour, considering that teachers als so need time for preparation the pay will be in the range of 3 to 4 times the minimum wage. $\endgroup$
    – trula
    Commented Jun 26 at 14:10
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    $\begingroup$ @trula And what is Germany's minimum wage? (Can you help me, in the U.S., understand it in dollars?) I ask because in the U.S. earning the minimum wage is not enough to rent a small apartment. $\endgroup$
    – Sue VanHattum ♦
    Commented Jun 26 at 15:31
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    $\begingroup$ @trula: I'm somewhat skeptical. One might hire a math student to do some tutoring or something similar. However, OP wants people who "design courses [...] and teach them". This requires a considerable higher qualification. Regarding 3 to 4 times the minimum wage, this estimate seems to be very much at the low end. Does this include the employer's share of the health insurance and social insurances? Does it also account for 4 weeks of paid vacation and several days where the employed teachers are on sick leave (and yet paid by the employer)? $\endgroup$
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Jun 26 at 20:03
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    $\begingroup$ I edited out the weird part and left the somewhat reasonable answer $\endgroup$
    – Chris Cunningham
    Commented Jun 26 at 20:09
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    $\begingroup$ @trula: Regarding "pay by the hour": If you mean to only pay the teachers for hours they actually teach (and not for vacations or sick days), this is only possible if the teachers are considered as self-employed. However, in the situation described by the OP the teachers design a course for the church and regularly teach it. They're paid by the church rather than by the students (I don't think the students are supposed to pay for this service). This makes the teachers employees of the church and trying to sell it self-employment would likely count as "Scheinselbständigkeit" in Germany. $\endgroup$
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Jun 26 at 20:10

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