My wife and I had very casually discussed the idea of moving to Alaska and going on an adventure, but it was never really serious. On a whim, I took a look at the Anchorage School District, noticed they had a job opening, and applied. I had a job offer within 3 days and had to start doing some research. This is the happiest year of teaching I've ever had.
I work from 8:15-2:45 and this year will work 30 fewer contract days and literally half the hours I did last year (I did the math). I make the same salary, have a bigger stipend, and my only responsibilities outside of school hours are four concerts a year. My insurance premiums for my whole family are $10,000 less than I paid last year in Texas. My wife had slim job opportunities in our location of Texas and had her choice of four job offers within 2 weeks of our move. We have one contest to prepare for in the spring, and the result has no impact on my job security. Are the bands as good as Texas? Frankly, no, but without all of the competition pressure it has been amazing to teach an entire school year where every day my responsibility is simply to make sure that the kids love playing music and hopefully get a little better on their instruments. It's what I thought I was getting into music education for two decades ago.
Now, I can go biking in the warm weather and skiing in the cold every day after school if I want. There are amazing parks and trails everywhere. There is a very active local music scene that I now have time to be a part of. I don't work any nights or weekends and will get 12 weeks off for summer. This has been the best career move I've ever made, and my family couldn't be happier.
Will I stay in education? I don't know yet. I told myself I'd give it three years up here and either decide to stick with it or transition to another career field with all of the extra time I now have in my schedule to help me make that move. Being inside the bubble of Texas music education made it really difficult for me to consider doing anything else, but once I started to let myself put any option on the table, I realized there are a lot of other ways to do this thing. I would encourage you to not be afraid to make a big change. The worst that could happen is that you decide to go back to teaching. With the teacher shortage in the US that will only grow worse, you won't have a hard time finding a job. Best of luck to you.
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