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THOMAS C. TOBIN and MELANIE AVEBay area teachers find themselves reflected in a new national study that shows they work long hours and spare little expense for their students.
It never occurred to Carol Dinsdale to track what she spent on her students at Mount Vernon Elementary School in St. Petersburg.
Then an accountant last year told her to save her receipts for tax purposes. The total: about $800.
Dinsdale, a 2003 finalist for Pinellas educator of the year, was surprised by the amount. "My husband said, "Yes, but sweetheart, these are your babies.' ... I guess in a way I spoil them."
Dinsdale, who teaches a class of eight to 12 emotionally handicapped students, is typical of others in her profession, according to a report - "The Status of the American Public School Teacher" - released Wednesday by the National Education Association, the nation's largest teacher union.
Based on a survey of teachers in 2000-01, the report says teachers typically work 50 hours a week and spend an average of $443 of their own money to help students during the school year.
The report has been released every five years since 1961 as a policy guide for educators. Among its other findings:
White women still dominate the teacher ranks even though about half the nation's students are male. Just 21 percent of teachers are men - a 40-year low. Only 10 percent of the 3-million teachers are minorities, compared with a minority student population of 40 percent.
Teachers who are minorities or male or under 30 were most likely to cite low pay as the reason they don't plan to remain in the profession.
Sixty percent of those surveyed said they would become teachers again if they were starting over, while 21 percent said they wouldn't.
Teachers spent an average of 12 unpaid hours a week grading papers, doing bus duty, advising clubs or other tasks.
The average U.S. teacher has 15 years of classroom experience - about two years more than teachers in Florida.
Teachers are more educated than ever, but their pay has lagged. The percentage of teachers with master's degrees has doubled to 56 percent since 1961, while salaries over the same period have increased less than 1 percent, after adjusting for inflation.
Dinsdale, for example, has a master's degree and 13 years' experience. She earns about $36,000 annually.
While many teachers will see themselves in the new survey numbers, each school district is different.
In Hillsborough County, the percentage of male teachers closely mirrors the national figure. But the county's teaching ranks are more diverse. Twenty-three percent of Hillsborough's teachers are minorities, more than twice the NEA survey percentage.
Michael Green, 26, is an atypical teacher at an atypical school: male, black and in his sixth year teaching language arts and reading at Webb Middle School in Hillsborough. Of Webb's 69 teachers, 36 percent are minorities and 36 percent are men.
Green won't speak for other men. But for him, the decision to teach was easy.
"I feel it's more of a calling for me than a profession," he said. "It's not really a job for me."
Some graduates have returned to tell him he made an impact, Green said. "That makes me feel good."
In Pinellas, a federal court settlement over desegregation requires officials to treat the paucity of black teachers as a "critical shortage." Last school year, 8 percent of district's teachers were black compared to 19 percent in the student population.
Among the efforts to attract black teachers: recruiting at more traditionally black colleges, guaranteeing new black teachers a spot in the district earlier in the year, and offering other incentives such as relocation money.
This school year, 11 percent of the new teaching hires are black, said Debbie Wedding, who heads the district's recruiting and retention efforts.
Pinellas has long had a "very aggressive recruiting program" for black teachers, said Michelle Dennard, president of the Pinellas teachers union and member of a biracial panel that monitors the district's integration efforts.
"It's a national problem," she said. "I'm of the opinion that we really need to try and grow our own here in Pinellas, and nurture them from the cradle."
As for local teachers who spend their own money in classrooms, Dinsdale, who shells out $800, is not alone.
At Town 'N Country Elementary in Hillsborough, fifth-grade teacher Jean Urban, 50, keeps extra supplies on hand for new students so they won't feel different from their classmates.
Can teachers be good and not spend extra time and money?
"I'm sure there are some," Urban said. "But I'm not one of them."
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.