"I didn't get an 8% raise last year, did you?"

Actually, I did. Increased the salary schedule by 5%. We already get a 3% bump each for each step. We are also getting another 5% next year, and our insurance is going down dramatically (mine will be going down more than $100/mo with better coverage and more district paid benefits than before). Good teacher pay can be found (and is possible) but you have to look for it and district need to be willing to loosen the purse strings. And, I'm not so sure about the "same or better money for doing LESS work". Is the work hard? Yes. But, I also get one week of for Thanksgiving, two weeks off for Christmas, a week off for spring break, and 10 weeks off for the summer. And, I have a relatively secure career, where unless I screw up big time, I'll still have a job with a built in raise and a retirement fund year after year. Name another career like that. I will concede that teachers aren't getting paid what they should, but we are doing better than some people, including a lot of the families of the students we teach.