I know everyone seems to want to pay teachers a higher salary, but in most school systems, they are already guaranteed a pay raise every year through the unions

I know everyone seems to want to pay teachers a higher salary, but in most school systems, they are already guaranteed a pay raise every year through the unions. Even if they did nothing to deserve it. Most jobs tech jobs start out high, but plateau at a certain salary range (you also don't automatically get a raise every year). If you are a teacher long enough (10+ years), you will get up to the $70-80K range (I know a couple of older teachers that get paid this much). With summers and many more vacation days, it evens out in the end. If you want better performance, we need better teachers. Because the unions will not allow us to put a measure on performance, the result is bad teachers getting into the system with the inability to fire them. I'm also finally glad they are putting an end to "rubber rooms". If you don't know what they are, take a look here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/education/29rubber.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/education/29rubber.html Another waste of our tax dollars that has been going on for years....