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Ok I skimmed through the thread . . I am sure someone mentioned this already .. . maybe Rudey.
The context isn't as simple as teacher salaries being too high or even too low.
The context is that public school teachers are basically government employees. That means they are not part of a system that creates tangible wealth. So all the salaries and bennies that teachers get, at whatever level, is paid for by tax-payers.
When teacher salaries go up, taxes go up to pay them.
So the question becomes, how much do we want to compensate government employees that exist outside a normal market system. There has been a backlash in the NE as police salaries approach 100 thousand a year for patrolman.
In the distant past, civil service positions, teachers etc, were generally not considered to be very well paid, but had a lot of benefits.
There was near perfect job security, more time and holidays off than the average person, and ususally excellent health packagaes and stuff.
In recent years, compensation for civil servants and teachers has gone up enormously. Mostly for two visible reasons, they are allowed to have unions and they are exempt from the normal free markets.
Now teachers and civil servants make relatively high salaries in a lot of areas and have great benefit packages as well as a great deal of time off.
So the issue is less, what are you worth based on intangible rhetorical factors, but what we as tax payers want to and can afford to pay you.
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