Going rate for babysitters?

true_norskie

We're spoiled...we have so much family in town we've had to have a non-family babysitter only once in 5.5 years.  Even that was a few years ago. 

However, now that we need someone I have NO clue what to pay her!  She's actually one of the teachers at daycare so it's not a local high school student.  I fully expect that her rate is much higher.  But my girls absolutely love her and we trust her so completely that we're willing to pay the premium (on top of the fact that we don't usually have to pay...).

So, for an experienced daycare teacher to watch my two girls 5.5 and 3 from about 6-9 pm, how much would I pay?  She won't have to feed them dinner and she might have to put them down for bed.  It might be a little shorter than 3 hours.

I have an idea in my head...I want to see if it's right.