A teacher‑consultant is someone who combines the professional integrity, pedagogical skill, and ethical acumen of a dedicated educator with the strategic vision, advisory thinking, and business‑savvy of a consultant.
In a traditional school-teacher agreement, schools often act in a kind of ‘parental’ capacity: we are ‘taken care’ of by our school in exchange for our unconditional loyalty, much in the same way a parent promises to take care of their child. I propose a different metaphor: teachers and schools as partners. We are business collaborators in student success, and will think about strategy and upside in tandem.
The Dual Identity: Teacher + Consultant
- As an educator, I bring deep mastery of math and computer science plus real‑world instructional experience across diverse learners.
- As a consultant, I think carefully about the school’s needs as an enterprise. I help craft a strategic partnership that will, at bottom, bring reduced long-run expenses, improved and more reliable service, and upside potential in the form of content creation and other marketing outreach.
The problem: Treating Teachers Like Children is Expensive
Schools traditionally incur major costs not only for teacher salaries, but also for housing them on‑site:
- According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for state & local government workers (including public K‑12 teachers) benefits cost about 38.4% of base wages . That includes employer contributions to retirement, healthcare, paid leave, and unemployment insurance.
An NCES analysis reports a median fringe compensation offset of 29.7% on teacher wages, exceeding wage scales. Benefit packages add up and grow every year as the cost of healthcare, retirement, and insurance also grow. - Internationally, school districts spend between US $1-$8 billion annually on energy, representing 2–4% of their operating budgets.
- In a realistic sample calculator used widely by school business officials (the “School Facilities Cost Calculator”), operating costs average $5.65 per square foot per year, of which $0.71 is utilities; administrative (HR, facilities office, oversight) adds another ~$0.63/s of expense.
- That same cost calculator assigns a capital cost of ~$9.61/sf annually to reflect depreciation of building and infrastructure over time.
- On average, public schools worldwide spend an average of $18,600 per pupil/year, of which about 10% is capital outlay (facilities) and another ~9% on operations & utilities.
By replacing in‑school presence with remote instruction or consulting, a school sheds a proportional share of those operating costs: utilities, building amortization, janitorial services, and facility administration that make up roughly 9–10% of aggregate per‑student budgets.
So What Does a Remote Teacher-Consultant Change?
A teacher-consultant thinks differently:
- No physical classroom footprint is required → eliminates most utilities, HVAC, custodial, and space-related capital costs tied to your session hours.
- The school no longer needs to allocate HR, maintenance‑management, or facilities oversight resources to you during your teaching hours.
- No wear & tear on district-owned equipment like projectors, student response systems, room laptops, etc.
- The employer benefit cost is transparent and contractually fixed; schools can budget for it without long‑term building overhead.
- They avoid administrative space allocation (principal’s office, assignments, supply storage).
Even if you collaborate occasionally in person, the bulk of the cost burden can still be avoided. Plus, many districts carry unfunded deferred maintenance exceeding $100 billion, so avoiding these costs is meaningful and an easy win.
Moreover, a teacher-consultant acts in accordance with the school’s virtues and is an immediate and clear source of value and meaning.
According to economist Eric Hanushek, students assigned to an exemplary teacher learn one-and-a-half years of content in a year—versus six months with a poor teacher; their impact is far greater than class size, funding or curriculum changes. Such effectiveness isn’t necessarily tied to their credentials either. It’s the intangible – yet still very real – skill and dedication that people remember.
A 2024 meta‑analysis from Engida et. al. confirms that teacher quality is the strongest factor shaping student achievement, even more than socioeconomic status or school resources.
The point is this: when teachers act as strategic business advisors, schools and teachers can win together. This mindset lies in sharp contrast to the lose-lose mindset of blame, irrationality, fear, and distrust that plague so many teacher-school relationships today.
The choice was between “right” and “wrong”, between moral victories and business success.
Now, we can have it all.