PARIS, Idaho – Everyone knows that teaching in public schools is not the highest paid profession.

And teaching in small schools with very tight budgets often pays comparatively little.

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But even small school districts invest more in their staff than most people might imagine.

One example is the Bear Lake, Idaho, district, which has a total enrollment of about 350 students.

In the 2015-16 fiscal year, the 65 Bear Lake teachers were paid a combined $2,634,004 in base salaries, which averages out to $40,523 per teacher. That doesn’t seem so great for a job that requires a four-year degree.

But they also received $625,685 worth of medical benefits (for an average of $9,625 per teacher) and the district made $298,169 worth of retirement contributions on their behalf (an average of $4,587 per teacher).

That means the school district paid an average of at least $54,735 per teacher.

Look at it another way. The teachers are paid for a maximum of 156 days of work per year (including five paid holidays) because the district has a four-day academic schedule.

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The district did not honor our request for the required number of hours per day, but one publication said Idaho schools on four-day weeks typically have days about one hour longer than usual.

So we will assume that Bear Lake teachers work nine hours per day.

Based on the average compensation of $54,735, that comes out to about $350 per day and about $38 per hour. There are a lot of working people in the U.S. who would like to earn an hourly wage like that.

The superintendent’s base salary in 2015-16 — $92,067 — also seems pretty meager, compared to superintendent salaries around the nation.

But the compensation package also included $13,689 in medical benefits, and the district made a $10,421 retirement contribution on the superintendent’s behalf. All of that adds up to a pretty nifty $116,177.