Lauren, What About Becoming a Teacher in Georgia?

Okay Lauren, here's another option I think is worth putting on the list: becoming a teacher in Georgia.

Since you're already working in education, this wouldn't necessarily mean starting your career completely over. Depending on your education and experience, there are pathways that allow people who didn't originally major in education to become certified teachers.

And the salaries in Metro Atlanta are better than I expected.

💰 What Do Teachers Make in Georgia?

There isn't one single Georgia teacher salary. Individual school districts have their own salary schedules, and your salary increases based on experience and education.

In many of the larger Metro Atlanta districts, a new teacher with a bachelor's degree can expect to start somewhere around the $50,000+ range, with experienced teachers earning considerably more.

Teachers with additional education and experience can reach the $60,000s, $70,000s and beyond, depending on the district.

And teaching comes with something that's becoming increasingly important to me when I look at careers for you: benefits and stability.

Public-school teachers typically receive health insurance, retirement benefits, paid holidays and breaks, sick leave and a school-year calendar.

🍎 So How Would You Actually Become a Teacher?

This is where I originally made this sound WAY more complicated than it needed to be.

If you already have a bachelor's degree, you don't necessarily have to go back to college and earn another four-year degree in education.

Georgia has an alternative certification route called GaTAPP — Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy.

It's specifically designed for people who have a bachelor's degree but didn't originally go to college to become teachers. Remember you can get a bachelor's degree in Education from Newlane University for a total of $3K and you can get it as quickly as you can.

The simple version is:

Bachelor's Degree → Qualify for a Teaching Area → Get Hired → Complete Teacher Training While You Teach

That's it.

There are certification requirements and testing involved, of course, but those are details we can deal with once we know what you're qualified to teach.

The important part is that you may be able to work as a teacher and earn a teacher's salary while completing your certification requirements, rather than stopping everything to go back to school for another degree.

📚 What Could You Teach?

That depends on your bachelor's degree, college coursework and the certification area you pursue.

Georgia has teaching fields including:

Elementary Education • Middle Grades • English • Math • Science • Social Studies • Special Education • Career & Technical Education

There are also specialty teaching areas.

Some subjects are harder for school districts to fill than others, which can create additional opportunities for people entering through alternative certification.

🏫 And There Are A LOT of School Districts Around Atlanta

This is one of the things I really like about considering Metro Atlanta.

We're not talking about moving somewhere with one school district and hoping for the best.

You could potentially look at districts including:

Gwinnett County Public Schools
DeKalb County School District
Fulton County Schools
Atlanta Public Schools
Cobb County School District
Clayton County Public Schools
Forsyth County Schools

And that's not even all of them.

So we can compare where you want to live AND where you want to work.

For example, if we're looking at places like Tucker, Avondale Estates, Decatur, Duluth, Suwanee or Peachtree Corners, we can also look at the school district serving that area, teacher salaries, openings and commute.

🏡 I Think That's the Bigger Picture

I don't want you to choose a career in isolation from the life you actually want.

If we're talking about leaving Phoenix, then I want to know:

Can you find a career you enjoy?

Can you afford a nice home?

Are the kids in good schools?

Do you have good healthcare nearby?

Can you build some financial security?

And are you living somewhere you actually like waking up every morning?

That's why teaching in Georgia interests me for you.

You're already in education. Instead of completely abandoning that experience and starting at zero in another field, what if you build on what you've already been doing?

❤️ So Lauren, Here's My Take

I'm not saying, "Lauren, you need to become a teacher."

I'm saying don't overlook it.

If your bachelor's degree and experience can get you into an alternative certification program, and you can potentially start teaching in the $50K+ range, receive benefits and retirement, and build a long-term career without going back for another four-year degree?

That's worth investigating.

Especially if Georgia is already on our relocation list.

And before making any decision, the next thing I'd want to do is very specific:

Figure out what YOU would qualify to teach — and compare what the major Metro Atlanta school districts would actually pay you.

Because that's where this starts getting interesting.