A new Denver-based website allows teachers to find moonlighting jobs to earn extra pay.
The site, ByaTeacher.com, allows licensed teachers to find part-time jobs doing anything from tutoring, baby-sitting to gardening and house cleaning.
Bryan Carruthers, the site’s creator, calls the site the “Angie’s List” for teachers.
“Often times a teacher is spending equal or more time with our kids than we are during a school,” he said.
Carruthers isn’t a teacher himself, but said a lot of his friends and family are and he’s noticed how many need to take on a second job.
According to the Center for American Progress, more than 1 in 10 teachers in the U.S. had a second job in 2014.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the average Elementary School teacher in Colorado earns a little more than $50,000 a year.
“Teaching doesn’t make a ton of money unfortunately,” said Katie Paul, who teaches first-grade for the Jefferson County School District.
According to the district’s website, a teachers starting salary there starts at $38,000.
“I’m trying to save up to buy a house and move out (of her parent’s house),” she said, “and get on my own two feet and in order to do that I need to be saving as much money as possible.”
Paul signed up and said she’s gotten a few calls for potential jobs, but expects the number to go up as word spreads about the website.
Like Paul, teachers who sign up to the site have to provide their teaching license number to prove they’re an actual teacher and have passed required background checks.
Carruthers said they’re still working on ways to better vet potential customers before they hire teachers. For now, they’re required to sign a terms of conditions form.
Once a teacher is hired, they’ll receive 80 percent of what they earn.
The remaining 20 percent will go toward the site, with two percent of that money going to the teacher’s district’s PTA.
Carruthers wants the site to be more than just another pay-for-hire website.
“Compensation plays a role in that,” he said, “but I think ultimately the engagement and appreciation of the community is the biggest piece.”
He eventually wants to expand the site nationwide.
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