Still no decision

We still have not made a decision, though we are leaning towards ending our AZ adventure before it really even begins. Even being part-time, Jon will be making at least $15,000 more here in Michigan than he would in Arizona. It comes down to would we rather have financial security or job security? A third option would be to turn down the part-time position here and stay on lay-off, go to AZ and wait for a full-time position to become available then come back, but moving across country is expensive and I can't see us being able to afford making the move twice in just a couple of years (being perfectly honest we can't afford to move now as it is, the entire move is going on a credit card). We are waiting to hear 2 pieces of important information to make our final decision. We need to cancel the moving truck by Wednesday at the latest so that is basically our deadline.

Just to give you an idea of just how big of a pay cut Arizona would be, and since it's all a matter of public record anyway...he was offered $35,750 in Arizona. This school year he made just over $60,000 (not including his coaching and U of D job). Next year even being part time he'd make about $52,500. To make up the difference in pay one of us could easily pick up a crap job somewhere and we'd be no worse off financially. So that is the income aspect of it.

The next question is well, what about cost of living? From everything I have researched aside from housing (because in Michigan we are stuck with our mortgage and in Arizona we would rent at about half the cost of our mortgage payment each month) everything is more expensive in Arizona. Electric and water rates are higher, sales tax is higher, vehicle registration is higher, even getting the internet would be more expensive. Car gas and food are about equal in cost.

Our house, which has been on the market for a month and had the price reduced twice, has not even had anyone in see it. I feel like we are practically offering to give it away at the current price of $55,000 (assuming the bank accepts that price as a short sale...we bought it for $130,000) and yet no one wants to even see it. If we move we can't afford to continue payments so we'd foreclose, killing our credit which is actually really awesome right now since we are getting older and have had our accounts for various things established longer.

Everything I've said so far points to staying put. The only thing that prevents us from saying we've made our final decision is the lack of job security. In 6 years the music department went from 11 music teachers to only 5 and guess who #5 is. Of course after his first year at this job he was #12 so he's escaped really, truly being laid off now 7 times in theory. We've seen drastic cuts to the music program and 3 schools close, with 2 more scheduled to close next year. Really, he was hired 6 years ago for a job he was only qualified for on paper, he had the right certificate though zero experience teaching elementary general music. It was a 1 year position to fill in for someone on leave and now here we are 6 years later and he's still here. He's been bounced around more than any young teacher deserves, but he's always had a job. This fall he will start his 4th "job" at his 4th and 5th schools, and have his 6th and 7th principals (assuming we stay that is). Of course we really have no idea how secure the AZ job is, but without the strong teacher's union I doubt there as many politics involved. However without the strong teacher's union he can also be fired with little to no recourse.

So there you have it...financial or job security? That is the question.