When the base number isn't the actual conversation
A district offers you a position and the salary lands on a step schedule tied to years of experience and education level, not a number you can simply ask them to raise.
What's actually worth a conversation is whether your prior experience, a year of long-term substitute teaching, a different district's tenure, gets you placed at a higher step than the district first proposed, or whether an extra duty like coaching or leading a club comes with its own stipend worth asking about directly.
New-offer mode runs that exact conversation, practicing how to ask about step placement or a stipend clearly instead of pushing on a base number that was never going to move.
What gets covered
The session adapts to the real negotiating room a teaching offer usually has: step placement based on verifiable prior experience, stipends for coaching, department leadership, or extra duties, and for a private or charter school where pay isn't schedule-bound, a more standard base-salary conversation.
You state your actual position out loud, and the AI on the other side responds the way a principal or HR contact handling a step-schedule district would, sometimes willing to review documented experience for step credit, sometimes not. Internal-raise mode exists separately, useful later for negotiating an added stipend or a step increase for additional certification once you're already on staff.
Scoring
What scoring weighs here
This session isn't scored on whether the position itself would be offered. It's scored on how clearly you make the actual, schedule-appropriate ask, step credit, a stipend, or a start date, and how you respond when the answer is a firm no because the schedule genuinely doesn't allow for it.
The penalty system still deducts for an abrupt ending, so a conversation that trails off instead of landing on a clear next step, verifying documentation for a step review, for instance, scores worse than one that closes with something concrete.
Frequently asked questions
Can I actually negotiate my base salary as a public-school teacher?
Usually not directly, since most public-school pay runs on a fixed step and lane schedule. What's often negotiable instead is which step you're placed at, based on verifiable prior experience, or a stipend for an extra duty.
What if I'm negotiating with a private or charter school instead?
That's covered too. Private and charter schools are less likely to run on a rigid step schedule, so the conversation can shift toward a more standard base-salary negotiation depending on the school.
Can I practice negotiating a stipend for coaching or a leadership role separately?
Yes. That's part of what new-offer mode covers, since a stipend for an extra duty is often the most directly negotiable piece of a teaching offer even when the base salary isn't.
What's internal-raise mode useful for once I'm already teaching?
Practicing a conversation about a step increase for a completed certification or an added stipend for a new responsibility, a different conversation than negotiating a brand new offer.
Related pages
Practice the negotiation a teaching offer actually allows
Rehearse asking about step placement, a stipend, or a start date out loud before the real conversation with a district or school.