A teacher plays an extremely important role in society. Most of today’s successful people have been through the hands of a teacher. The lives of the students in the class are always in the hands of a teacher.
The ability of the teacher to instill knowledge and have a positive influence on a student’s future is what defines learning.
The general role of a teacher is to follow a specific curriculum and then make the learners understand the teachings.
Without a doubt, the role of a teacher is beyond teaching in a classroom. There are many changes taking place in the world.
The absence of parents due to a busy work schedule makes the teacher the ultimate mentor, counselor, and external parent. This indicates that a teacher is a role model to the student.
However, for a teacher to be effective in the teaching role, the employment terms ought to be friendly. Most teachers are employed by the state or the federal government.
The terms of employment of a teacher need to be as friendly as possible if he or she is to impart knowledge to the students effectively. Most states and governments have put up necessary measures to ensure the lives of teachers are as comfortable as possible.
Are Teachers Federal Employees?
There has always been a big overlap between the state and federal government employees. The type of job classification, funding, and responsibilities can bring confusion when you want to distinguish the two.
The teaching job is one good example of such employment. It can be confusing to figure out if a teacher is an employee of the state or the federal government.
Even though public educators fall under the category of government employees, others are still under the state government. Teachers who work in institutions that are funded by the state are not federal employees.
They fall under the category of state employees because public learning institutions are under the jurisdiction of states.
Even so, the bulk funding of these public schools comes from the respective states.
The federal government provides grants and funds for different public schools but this is not directly. The funding is channeled through the education sectors of various states and not to an individual school.
In the US, education is one of the sectors that have been reserved for the states and the local governments. However, this does not exempt the schools from federal regulations from the government that ought to be observed.
The education sector receives its funding from the state but there is a financial boost through loans, grants, and other monetary awards from the federal government.
Elementary and high school teachers fall under the state government. This is where the majority of students attend. The same funding from the state is given to higher learning institutions such as community colleges and universities.
Who is a Federal Employee?
A federal employee is an employee of the federal authority. Most of them are federal government employees or any other organization that operates under the federal government.
This can include telecommunication organizations, post offices, television stations, or banks.
The federal labor code is in charge of setting out the various rules that govern the employment of these workers.
This set of rules includes vacation entitlement, working hours, payment terms, and the minimum wage.
Most federal employees work for a maximum of 8 hours per day. If you opt to work for longer durations, there are terms that dictate the overtime pay per hour.
Who is a State Employee?
On the other hand, state employees are non-federal employees who work for the state government. In most states, the elementary and secondary schools constitute the highest number of employees ranging from teachers to subordinate staff.
Reasons Why Most Teachers are State Employees
State governments have enticing perks for public school teachers. These are good packages that go beyond the ordinary retirement and healthcare plans.
This is why most teachers prefer to be employees of the state and not the federal government. Below are more reasons why most teachers are state employees:
1. Health and Well-being Plans
State governments provide health insurance plans for teachers in public schools. In most cases, the state can pay the insurance premiums for teachers.
Those with medical insurance coverage from another source have the alternative of receiving cash in place of the coverage.
Apart from health insurance, teachers in state government schools also enjoy dental and vision care insurance covers. These affordable comprehensive medical plans also cover the eligible dependents of the teacher.
Do government schools have policies on how a teacher should dress or the basic ethics when relating with students
2. Savings/Retirement Benefits
No one wants to work where their future is not considered. Most teachers prefer working for state government schools because there is a reasonable pension that grows so that the teachers can meet their retirement goals.
Most states also offer customized saving plans for teachers.
3. Career advancement opportunities
It is easier for teachers to train and advance in their careers. States have flexible career options for teachers. This gives them promotional chances so that they can advance to higher levels of their career.
Similarly, there is also job flexibility giving teachers an easy time balancing between their career and family life.
4. Paid leaves
Teachers are state employees because of a good paid and unpaid leave structure. States provide annual leave and vacation leave depending on the number of years a teacher has been in employment.
Other types of leaves you can enjoy as a teacher include sick leave, bereavement leave, union leave, and maternity leave.
Are Teachers Government Employees Or School Employees
Teachers who are working in public schools are automatically government employees. Even those who work under the local district are also technically employees of the government.
In the United States of America, all teachers in public institutions take an oath to defend the government constitution.
The same oath the teacher will take to uphold the constitution of the state where the school is located. This is one of the requirements that take place during the hiring process.
All public schools get funds from the state or local governments to facilitate learning. This is the reason why a teacher falls under the category of a government employee.
In most countries including the United States of America, all public schools get financial funding from the collection of local taxes.
Moreover, they are operated and run by government elected officials. This makes the teachers who work here to be a responsibility to the government.
Teachers can only be school employees in private schools that operate independently on their own. These are schools that run their affairs using the funds collected from parents through school fees.
In this case, a teacher becomes the employee of the school board. Besides,they must adhere to their set rules; for instance on piercing.
Advantages of Having Government Employees in Education
Government employees are important in the education sector. They ensure that the school districts in every state provide the highest level of education standard.
It is also their role to ensure that schools adhere to all the rules and regulations of the federal government.
However, the federal government has little input into the education sector. Their major role is to provide adequate funding to schools.
The state government makes the decisions that guide education conduct in the respective state.
State government employees set the rules and policies that guide the various learning institutions within the state. It is their role to know what standards each school grade needs to accomplish in a term.
In this way, they ensure that teachers are doing their duty perfectly by providing quality education to the students.
Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.