Now lets talk about new teachers. My fiancee is making 31,000 this year as a first year teacher. Sounds good, until you take a few thousand out of that for buying her own supplies. Then add union dues, taxes, etc.
A 8-3 job? Riiiiiight. She leaves at 7:30 every morning and isn't home until at least 6pm every night. Work over then? Nope, more grading papers. Spends weekends developing lesson plans. All this while also taking 6 credit hours a semester for the next 2 years to get her mandatory masters degree in the 5 year time limit.
Teachers are the most underpaid people in society. I say leave them alone.