Rate of pay for Co-Op Teachers

[Soror]

If your co-op pays its teachers, what does it pay? Is it a set fee or a fee per child? I expect this varies from Mom led classes vs. bringing in an expert and of course depending on the area of the country but I'm just trying to get some ideas (I have some thoughts already but I'm trying to figure out if those are reasonable or not)

 

In the past, everything has been done on a volunteer basis where I live but I'm starting a new group and looking to change the dynamic. I'm tired of people have an entitlement attitude that others should provide all these free things and then not value it. I also think it is more than reasonable if a class to pay a $1 or so a kid per class to compensate teachers for their time and effort. I also think we'll be able to bring in people with some expertise and I want to give a good impression to the local community that we value them as well so we are more likely to get people coming back repeatedly.

Edited August 24, 2017 by soror

[scholastica]

In the co-ops around here parent-taught classes are free and the parent teacher gets free enrollment for their kids. When there is a non-parent teacher, they get paid directly by the parents and the rate is usually $8 per week for the first student, $5 per week for each sibling after that.

[QueenCat]

I've done both co-ops and tutorials. Co-ops had a mix of parent taught and outside taught. Parent taught got a small sum of money for supplies. Outside teacher got around $15/per class. It wasn't much. Money was collected at start of semester, no refunds if you dropped as the teacher still had to be paid. At tutorials, pay was higher. New teachers got $20/per class plus supply fees. Supply fees had to be documented. There was a very high level of expectation for well thought out lesson plans and preparation so the pay was not "high" for what was expected.

[Rachel]

If you want people with expertise, I would pay at least $25 per hour. If you are in a high cost of living area, then I would pay more.

[meena]

In our "co-op" the teachers set their own fees. They are monthly fees that work out to about $5-11 per class. There are also separate supply fees for certain classes, also set by the teachers. The more expensive classes are typically high school science lab classes. Class fees are paid monthly in advance, so parents are committed to pay for a month at a time whether their student attends or not.

 

A different co-op that we've attended in the past charged per semester. It worked out to about $3-5 per class plus supply fees. 

 

I think having parents pay for a set period of time, either month or semester, is a good way to keep people somewhat committed. There will always be people who don't show up every week (full disclosure: my family is one of those--sometimes we have schedule conflicts and we choose other educational opportunities over our co-op) but laying down a larger amount of money in advance typically keeps them coming back over the long run.

 

 

[mschickie]

In our co-op parent teachers charge for their classes but it is just for the cost of supplies.  The charge is per student.  Our co-op classes range from free to $60+ per class depending on what the class is.  Science and art classes usually cost the most since they have the most supplies.

 

We do occasionally have a professional in to teach a class.  Those classes are normally more money.  I think one of the last art classes we had by a professional was around $80 for the class.  Again that is a per student price.  The way we run that is after registration parents are sent a statement that shows them who they need to write checks out to.  They money comes into our registrar and then he distributes it to the teachers.

[TheReader]

My kids attend a once/week enrichment program; class tuition runs $40 to $60 per month, for 10 months, depending on the course. High school classes are usually higher fees, although my son's guitar class (which is only 30 mins, once/week) is the most at $60/month. There is also a supply fee, set by the teacher, and a building fee, set by the place we use. Parents get a discount of 5% if you pay the full year up front; the supply fee is paid at registration to reserve your spot and is non-refundable (unless the class doesn't get enough students enrolled); tuition is refundable if you drop (but is not due until the 1st day of class). 

 

Classes are 2 hrs long, once/week, and all come with a syllabus, grading, etc. so worth the (still relatively small) amount we're paying. 

 

For comparison, my son's math class didn't get enough students; she offered to meet us privately for $75/month, 1 hr/week; her "per hour" tutoring rate on the other hand is $30/hr. (the course as a group would have been $55/month). 

 

[G5052]

Just make sure that you understand the tax implications.

 

The IRS has really cracked down on non-profit organizations (yes, even homeschool groups) and especially how they pay teachers. Carol Topp on the conservative side and has an excellent website and ebooks: http://homeschoolcpa.com.

 

In our area (a very litigious part of the country), many of the groups have become non-profits in the eyes of the IRS and require parents to pay the teachers directly to avoid problems.

 

I taught locally for four situations In each case I declared the income on my taxes:

 

1. One group charged families a basic fee for building use, and the parents paid the teachers.They were set up as a non-profit.
2. The second was an individual and set themselves up as a sole proprietor, collected the funds, and paid me and gave me a MISC-1099.
3. I'm not clear on the third individual. I think she just mingled the funds with her own family and paid (or didn't pay at several points) the teachers. She never issued a MISC-1099 even though it was over $600 for each individual teacher.
4. The fourth individual was a sole proprietor and paid me, but it was less than $600 total, so no MISC-1099 was required.

The case of #3 was illegal, and I heard rumors that she got into trouble with the IRS. I also know that many of the teachers there didn't report the income.

[heartlikealion]

I'm helping in two classes this year. We don't get paid, but my perk is that dd can go into a toddler room during class. Otherwise the room is not available to her. Also, we got the email first for co-op sign up. Had we not, I don't know if ds would have made it into one of his classes. It was filling up fast.

[Pink and Green Mom]

The co-op I am involved with now has teachers come in.  1 day per week, 1 hour class.  Classes cost around $400-$500/year/student, depending on what the teacher charges.  High school science with labs are 1.5 hours, and closer to $600.  Parents are billed in quarterly payments.  If you drop, you have to still pay the charge for the following quarter.

 

I was involved in another co-op with mom led classes. Again, 1 day per week, 1 hour class.  Those ranged from $15-$20/month/student range.

 

In both, the teachers got IRS 1099 forms.

 

This is in Tampa, FL area.

[Soror]

Thank you guys for the input so far. So glad to read about the tax stuff too, that is good to consider. Perhaps we will just let parents kids attend free and let them get early registration to avoid all of that. I love the idea of being able to get a rl science teacher or foreign language teacher at some point but we don't have the commitment level to sustain that now (besides the issue of people having issues with certain science facts). 

[emzhengjiu]

My daughter takes one class, Japanese, at a local non-profit school. It's not a co-op because there are no requirements for parents to volunteer.  Her teacher charges $60 / month for 9 months. We may the tuition to the teacher. I've noticed for other classes tuition ranges from $40 - $80 / month depending on how often the class meets.  There's an $100 annual registration fee.  Although expensive for me, it's well worth the investment since my daughter loves studying Japanese.  She's dual credit this year at our local CC, but unfortunately the language classes there are not very good.

[heartlikealion]

Thank you guys for the input so far. So glad to read about the tax stuff too, that is good to consider. Perhaps we will just let parents kids attend free and let them get early registration to avoid all of that. I love the idea of being able to get a rl science teacher or foreign language teacher at some point but we don't have the commitment level to sustain that now (besides the issue of people having issues with certain science facts). 

 

Maybe a bilingual parent will join. My friend taught Spanish one time at the co-op (she's bilingual). Now that I think about it, some of our classes do have a supply fee (like I think they had a fee for Spanish books the year she taught). Ds' classes this year have a fee. I don't even know if they found someone that knows American Sign Language (they were looking for someone a few weeks ago), but they are offering it as a class and ds is signed up. Classes here are taught by parents and only meet twice a month.

 

I have no idea how they decided which classes to offer. I wasn't involved last year. Some of the classes didn't even have teachers (which seemed a bit backwards to me). Once they got the rest of the volunteers then they opened up sign up for children of volunteers. Then the next day? to everyone else.

[KungFuPanda]

In our co-op, the teachers set their own fees and the parents pay them directly. We have a good pool of parent experts in certain areas, but the tuition isn't set like a tutorial and is more to cover materials and operating expenses. My evening students pay much more per class than my co-op kids do for the same level of expertise. The difference is that in the co-op setting, my son is enrolled in other people's classes and he is only being charged a small percentage of what the class is worth outside of co-op. That's the difference between a go-op and a tutorial.

 

I'm in an educated area and parents choose what they want to teach. Our co-op is large enough that it has always worked out that there is a variety of options across the curriculum for every age group. Occasionally a parent whose children have graduated will return to teach a class at a tutorial rate, but this is usually a smaller high school class. It's been my experience that K-8 classes can be taught very well by intelligent parents. Even in a co-op setting most people understand that science and art will cost more because of all the materials.

[Guest]

Here's how it works at our co-op: there are both parent/member teachers (the majority) and a few outside teachers. The outside teacher classes are usually quite a bit more expensive than the parent teacher classes, because (obviously) it has to be worthwhile for a professional ___________ to come teach homeschooler kids and give up a day's pay in their regular field.

Some examples from my co-op's class schedule for fall (price per kid for ten weeks of classes):

 

Ultimate Frisbee: (parent teacher, but with credentials in this sport) $5

Astronomy for grades 3-5 (parent teacher, but with credentials in this field) $35

Battle of the Books (parent teacher) $15

Chorale (parent teacher) $20

Painting and Sculpture (professional artist, but former homeschooler) $50

Fencing (professional fencer, outside teacher) $88

 

My opinion: I do not think classes should be free, because then the participants put too little effort in and don't stand up to their committment. There is a scholarship fund for people who find the fees a hardship. OTOH, I do think parents who are part of the co-op should be willing to offer the class at a big discount over what market value would be in the community, because if it costs the same to take classes at co-op as it does in the community then there's not much motivation to be in the co-op (except for the efficiency of doing the classes on one day.) Also, it would be prohibitive to most people with more than two or three kids and the group would fail from underenrollment.

 

I am satisfied with the fee structure at my co-op.

[Guest]

I should also add this: the teacher sets the fee when the class is proposed. The board member(s) would discuss/negotiate if the fee is too far out of the norm. The members pay those fees for the classes their kids are signed up for (it is a la carte; some people take classes all day, some take only a couple). This way, the parent somewhat controls what they are able and willing to spend. In this way, the cost of expensive outside teachers (fencing, drama) is not getting "spread around"; the people who want and can afford those classes bear the "burden" of paying those higher fees. IMO, it would not be fair if the cost of a professional drama teacher was spread around so that everyone has to pay $50, even if all they want is a preschool music and games class that should be inexpensive.

[cintinative]

I'll admit to having not read the other responses but a few thoughts from our learning.

 

We used to offer a "teacher discount" if you taught a class but learned after meeting with a CPA (ETA: Carol Topp) that this could be interpreted as income for the teachers therefore now we have a tiered registration fee. Those that teach pay less than the others.  

 

Having a 501©(3) non profit status means you really can have no part at all in paying your "paid" teachers. So if you do have paid teachers, they need to do all their own invoicing and arrange for payments.

 

Many of our paid teachers have found that it is best that they have a cancellation policy. For example, if you cancel after x date you are still responsible for the full fee. This is listed in the course description because as I noted above, the co-op can have no part in the payment process. If someone withdraws they are responsible to figure out what is owed to the paid teacher and the paid teacher alone is responsible for seeking their fees as necessary.

 

Only the paid teachers get "paid" for their classes.  No one else is specifically paid.  Again, tax implications. We are a non-profit co-op.   We only have three paid teachers at present. My job as registrar is only to get them the names of their students and contact information for the families.  As far as what they charge, that is their option. If their fees were unreasonable, I suppose we could look for someone else, but since we are a non-profit and they do not "work" for us we cannot in any way be involved in influencing the fees they charge.

 

I am still learning a lot about this, so if anyone else has a comment/correction, let me know.

 

ETA: we also have supply fees but those are only to reimburse the teacher for his/her expenses for supplies/books/materials for the class. Not pay for the teacher to reimburse for efforts. 

Edited August 24, 2017 by cintinative

[Harriet Vane]

I taught in co-ops for almost a decade. I have a degree in English and Rhetoric, and I have professional experience as an editor and writing coach.

 

My co-ops met once a week, and I provided detailed homework for five days of work for high school English, writing, and history courses.

 

The co-ops I worked for typically charged $20-$25 per month or one co-op for which I worked charged $100 per semester per kid per class. (In other words, every class you enroll your kid in costs $200 for the year.)

 

This works out to a tiny, tiny hourly rate for the teacher. These last two years, counting up the hours I put in you could either say the co-op paid me $2-$3 an hour, or you could say that I worked the second semester for free. I came nowhere near making even minimum wage either way.

 

The co-ops I participated in gave NO discount at all for my kids to take classes.

 

Folks in each co-op complained each year about the high cost of co-op. They are not bad people, nor are they mean or stingy. They simply did not count up the hours a teacher must put in, and they do not account at all for a given teacher's expertise. Also, because co-ops have become so common, this has become the standard rate of pay. This rate does not even begin to come close to what a good teacher is paid out in the real world. The sad thing is, good teachers out in the real world are underpaid as well. No one gets rich as a teacher, and certainly not as a co-op teacher.

 

When a teacher is underpaid so drastically, there is almost no incentive to stay, especially if the teacher does not have children enrolled in the co-op.

 

So, just laying all that out so you clearly understand what you are asking teachers to do. And I highly recommend choosing to raise the bar on teacher compensation.

 

 

[Harriet Vane]

One further word on the subject of cancellations:

 

My classes are popular, and students tend to come back year after year. Many end up as private students of mine as well.

 

One year, a good number of students registered in the spring for my fall classes. They were allowed to drop the course up to three weeks into the semester. In August, before classes started, several students dropped. Some were enrolled in a brick-and-mortar school and no longer homeschooling. One large family moved away to another state. One or two dropped for other reasons. Combined, this meant I had to refund $2000 (yes, you read that right) AND it meant that one of my classes had only 4 students. The hours to prepare the class for four students are exactly the same to prepare for more students, but having only four meant I didn't even break even on that particular class. I chose to teach because I liked these teens a great deal, and because I hated to cancel a class when it was almost September.

 

Bottom line--I would not recommend having such an easy cancellation policy. At the least. there should be a non-refundable fee, and folks should not receive a refund if they drop after the first class. Period. At most, in consideration of how little co-op teachers are paid, I would actually recommend not refunding unless for a once-in-a-lifetime emergency. It's far too easy for folks to sign up and then pull out.

[mytwomonkeys]

My co-op is $150 annually. My son's current classes are $20 per class & they're for the whole school year. Other classes can be more (for example Art was $150 I think but it was outsourced to a teacher).

[Shellydon]

Our co-op offers both free parent led classes and fee based classes.  The fee based classes vary greatly.  A elementary level art class might be $25 a month with a $50 supply fee for the year.  High school Chemistry is $55 a month.  Algebra 2 is $75 a month (meets twice a week).

[Shellydon]

One further word on the subject of cancellations:

 

My classes are popular, and students tend to come back year after year. Many end up as private students of mine as well.

 

One year, a good number of students registered in the spring for my fall classes. They were allowed to drop the course up to three weeks into the semester. In August, before classes started, several students dropped. Some were enrolled in a brick-and-mortar school and no longer homeschooling. One large family moved away to another state. One or two dropped for other reasons. Combined, this meant I had to refund $2000 (yes, you read that right) AND it meant that one of my classes had only 4 students. The hours to prepare the class for four students are exactly the same to prepare for more students, but having only four meant I didn't even break even on that particular class. I chose to teach because I liked these teens a great deal, and because I hated to cancel a class when it was almost September.

 

Bottom line--I would not recommend having such an easy cancellation policy. At the least. there should be a non-refundable fee, and folks should not receive a refund if they drop after the first class. Period. At most, in consideration of how little co-op teachers are paid, I would actually recommend not refunding unless for a once-in-a-lifetime emergency. It's far too easy for folks to sign up and then pull out.

 

Agreeing!  Our co-op has the first month's fees due by June 15th and there is no refund after that date.  Registration begins May 1st, so parents have 6 weeks to add-drop with no penalty.  If a student drops mid year, they owe the teacher 2 month tuition.  Other co-ops locally require all tuition to be paid in  full by the time classes begin and their is no refund if you drop.

[Clemsondana]

At our co-op, parents pay teachers directly. The fees are collected and recorded by one of the few paid staff members (knowing what our registration fees are and how many people we pay a little bit to, it's more a labor of love than a job). Teachers charge around $15-20 per hour per month for each student. There are a few classes that are 1.5-2 hours (art and high school science) and those charge more per class, but the same amount per hour. Some classes have a materials fee at the start of the semester. Other teachers, including me, don't want to deal with keeping up with how much we spend on materials so we charge at the upper end of the fee scale and then buy all materials ourselves. Teachers pay a small amount of 'rent', which covers the costs of using the building and probably a little bit of administrative costs. Most of the teachers are parents or former homeschooling parents, although we also have some teachers who couldn't quite retire and like the 1-day/week schedule. They do get people with a lot of subject knowledge for the upper level classes.

[Soror]

One further word on the subject of cancellations:

 

My classes are popular, and students tend to come back year after year. Many end up as private students of mine as well.

 

One year, a good number of students registered in the spring for my fall classes. They were allowed to drop the course up to three weeks into the semester. In August, before classes started, several students dropped. Some were enrolled in a brick-and-mortar school and no longer homeschooling. One large family moved away to another state. One or two dropped for other reasons. Combined, this meant I had to refund $2000 (yes, you read that right) AND it meant that one of my classes had only 4 students. The hours to prepare the class for four students are exactly the same to prepare for more students, but having only four meant I didn't even break even on that particular class. I chose to teach because I liked these teens a great deal, and because I hated to cancel a class when it was almost September.

 

Bottom line--I would not recommend having such an easy cancellation policy. At the least. there should be a non-refundable fee, and folks should not receive a refund if they drop after the first class. Period. At most, in consideration of how little co-op teachers are paid, I would actually recommend not refunding unless for a once-in-a-lifetime emergency. It's far too easy for folks to sign up and then pull out.

 

Thank you for all your hard work. I agree with you cancellation should not be so easy, I was actually discussing cancellation fees with some others this a.m. I cannot see any reason to allow cancellation after classes start. I think the idea of a once off for cancellation is a good one, that weeds out people perpetually changing their minds. 

I'll admit to having not read the other responses but a few thoughts from our learning.

 

We used to offer a "teacher discount" if you taught a class but learned after meeting with a CPA (ETA: Carol Topp) that this could be interpreted as income for the teachers therefore now we have a tiered registration fee. Those that teach pay less than the others.  

 

Having a 501©(3) non profit status means you really can have no part at all in paying your "paid" teachers. So if you do have paid teachers, they need to do all their own invoicing and arrange for payments.

 

Many of our paid teachers have found that it is best that they have a cancellation policy. For example, if you cancel after x date you are still responsible for the full fee. This is listed in the course description because as I noted above, the co-op can have no part in the payment process. If someone withdraws they are responsible to figure out what is owed to the paid teacher and the paid teacher alone is responsible for seeking their fees as necessary.

 

Only the paid teachers get "paid" for their classes.  No one else is specifically paid.  Again, tax implications. We are a non-profit co-op.   We only have three paid teachers at present. My job as registrar is only to get them the names of their students and contact information for the families.  As far as what they charge, that is their option. If their fees were unreasonable, I suppose we could look for someone else, but since we are a non-profit and they do not "work" for us we cannot in any way be involved in influencing the fees they charge.

 

I am still learning a lot about this, so if anyone else has a comment/correction, let me know.

 

ETA: we also have supply fees but those are only to reimburse the teacher for his/her expenses for supplies/books/materials for the class. Not pay for the teacher to reimburse for efforts. 

 

Thanks for that info. How does the tiered registration work (if you don't want to post publicly a PM would be great). Because how I'm picturing it I can't see how it is fair for the teacher enrolling 4 kids vs. the one who only has 1 to enroll.

Here's how it works at our co-op: there are both parent/member teachers (the majority) and a few outside teachers. The outside teacher classes are usually quite a bit more expensive than the parent teacher classes, because (obviously) it has to be worthwhile for a professional ___________ to come teach homeschooler kids and give up a day's pay in their regular field.

Some examples from my co-op's class schedule for fall (price per kid for ten weeks of classes):

 

Ultimate Frisbee: (parent teacher, but with credentials in this sport) $5

Astronomy for grades 3-5 (parent teacher, but with credentials in this field) $35

Battle of the Books (parent teacher) $15

Chorale (parent teacher) $20

Painting and Sculpture (professional artist, but former homeschooler) $50

Fencing (professional fencer, outside teacher) $88

 

My opinion: I do not think classes should be free, because then the participants put too little effort in and don't stand up to their committment. There is a scholarship fund for people who find the fees a hardship. OTOH, I do think parents who are part of the co-op should be willing to offer the class at a big discount over what market value would be in the community, because if it costs the same to take classes at co-op as it does in the community then there's not much motivation to be in the co-op (except for the efficiency of doing the classes on one day.) Also, it would be prohibitive to most people with more than two or three kids and the group would fail from underenrollment.

 

I am satisfied with the fee structure at my co-op.

I def. agree that the cost shouldn't be the same unless the classes cost the same. 

[HSmomof2]

Our co-op has a mix of parent teachers and hired teachers. In our group, high school academic classes are paid $20/month/student. Any materials or books are extra. All other classes are paid $5/month/student with materials fee extra.

 

ETA: Cancellation policy is student can cancel with 30 days notice.Current month fee and materials fees are not refundable.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Bethany Grace

[cintinative]

Thank you for all your hard work. I agree with you cancellation should not be so easy, I was actually discussing cancellation fees with some others this a.m. I cannot see any reason to allow cancellation after classes start. I think the idea of a once off for cancellation is a good one, that weeds out people perpetually changing their minds. 

 

Thanks for that info. How does the tiered registration work (if you don't want to post publicly a PM would be great). Because how I'm picturing it I can't see how it is fair for the teacher enrolling 4 kids vs. the one who only has 1 to enroll.

I def. agree that the cost shouldn't be the same unless the classes cost the same. 

 

 

Our paid teachers are allowed to have different policies on cancellations. One particular teacher's policy is that once registered, you are obligated to pay the fee for her class regardless of if you drop it or not. All fees must be paid in advance of the co-op year or the child may not attend her class. The fees for 2nd semester are paid mid-way through 1st semester and the same policy applies. This has come about because of what one of the prior posters mentioned which is a loss of over $800 due to people "changing their mind" about a class or withdrawing from the co-op.  That is a huge loss for the teacher.  She does offer the option if the person withdraws to take classes with her privately (since they already paid her). So I think in the end it is very fair.

 

Our tiered registration fees apply per family, not per child.  So they look like this (drop off means parent not attending):

 

Family Membership Fees: 

Standard Family Fee: $110 per semester

Teacher or Director Family Fee: $40 per semester 

Board Family Fee: $40 per semester

 

Drop-off Family Fees (all fees are per semester)

$65 per Co-op Class taught by Co-op Volunteer (plus supply fees if applicable) 

$25 per Paid Class taught by a Professional Teacher (plus paid class fees)

$10 per Study Hall

 

Again, supply fees are extra. So if you are taking a high school chem lab you can expect some rather high supply fees, while some other classes have no fees. We now cover up to $10 per student per semester for supply fees before charging additional per class fees. So if I charge no extra fee, I automatically get $10 per child per semester.  In general class fees are very reasonable or nonexistent. 

Edited August 24, 2017 by cintinative

[ScoutTN]

Dd participates in a tutorial. 

 

There is an admissions process and it is selective. Most of the tutors are also parents or past parents. All have degrees and expertise in their disciplines. 

Classes meet one day a week for 32 weeks. Cost per class is $320-485 per class. Lab sciences are at the top of the price range. Classes are 50 minutes long.

We pay the tutors directly. Class size can range from 6-15 students. Some classes (mostly math) have optional second day study sessions, at the same cost.  Students must take 3 classes. 

 

There is a small fee for study halls and a per family fee which goes to cover the cost of renting the facility and also paying the director and the person who supervises the study hall.  

 

The tutors do this because they love homeschooling and love what they teach. They are not making much money, for sure. $10 per hour per student for class time is low, but the hours of grading and preparation make it much lower per hour in reality. 

[catz]

We are in a co-op, but I suspect many people would call it a tutorial.  The teachers are paid, but the board and volunteers are all parents.  Some parents are teachers.  But all teachers are "experts".  Our classes are $9-16 per student per 75 minute class period depending on the class.  That is similar to pricing on community ed in our area.  Which I suspect is somewhat high.  But definitely cheaper than classes you can take at museums and colleges locally.