N.J. teacher salaries debate continues amid Gov. Christie's school aid cuts
By Statehouse Bureau Staff
May 16, 2010, 6:30AM
Teachers from Somerset County protested impending school budget cut on Route 206 in Hiilsborough near Amwell Road in April. A study of teacher salaries shows the average pay for New Jersey teachers is $63,154, and the median salary is $57,467.TRENTON--Susan LiBrizzi, a divorced mother of four, earns $61,798 a year as a special-education teacher in the Flemington-Raritan Regional School District — enough, she says, to pay the bills.
Over the years, she has taken on summer jobs — cleaning houses, tutoring, baby-sitting — for extra cash as her salary has increased by $300 or $400 a year.
Now LiBrizzi, who has taught for 14 years, is due a $4,000 raise — and the governor wants her to give it back.
"I feel like staying middle-class is a struggle," said LiBrizzi, 48, who lives in Bridgewater. "I still have two more kids to put through college, and it’s scary."