My husband was a teacher for 24 years, left teaching to start his own business.
I don’t know where this myth of great benefits began, but his were awful. When Obamacare first began affecting people’s insurance rates I heard many call in to a radio program giving examples of how much more they were paying for less coverage. We’d been paying even more than their new rates for even less coverage for years. I was stunned at how awful our insurance had been compared to others.
As for retirement, we couldn’t wait to pull out what he had paid into TRA (forced Ponzi scheme for teachers) and open an IRA. After 24 years of “investing” he got back less than he contributed.
Most teachers aren’t underpaid for what they do; science and writing teachers put far more time into prepping and correcting than others (my dad was a chemistry and physics teacher) so they might be. Coaches, however, are grossly underpaid yet it helps supplement a 72% salary. With coaching and teaching my husband worked about a minimum of 60hours/week (football) to around 75 + (wrestling). Plus there are weeks of unpaid time for camps and all the rest in the summer. That used cut into his summer construction income.
When I used to talk with other young moms, I couldn’t believe how much time they had with their husbands. They were home for supper most nights and on all day on Saturdays. I was jealous!
Depends on where you live.
My wife is a teacher. Her benefits are typically better than mine (three school districts and four jobs for me).
That is in three Midwestern states.
And that doesn’t count comp time, medical leave (never had a job where that is paid), maternity leave (ditto), pensions, etc.
So yes, benefits for public sector workers are in my experience better in total than for private sector workers.
You can’t compare coaches with regular teachers. Most coaches I knew received extra pay for coaching. Plus there were other benefits...especially if you won.