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My Mom retired from working in the business office of a regionalized school system and part of her job was the payroll and balancing the books.
Teaching is a tough often thankless job and it takes many years and even decades to reach a good level of pay upwards of 6 figures. The biggest problem in the school system was that they heads of the school would go to the towns looking for overrides for their budget "it is for the kids" and in most cases they were handed what they asked for.
What was down right criminal was the average teacher made approx. $45,000 plus benefits while the administrators, Superintendents etc.. and the technology department heads were all making well over $100,000.
I think that is how it is in most schools. The teachers that are down in the trenches each day make far less than the heads of the schools that have very little if any contact with the kids.
Yes, and there are FAR too many school/district administrators. There is NO need for so many. But this is what happens in any government bureaucracy, and it wastes a HUGE amount of taxpayer $$$$$ for what essentially is nothing but a cushy jobs program.
At least in IL, the teachers protesting are in Chicago. The average salary of teachers in Chicago is $71K. In my opinion, a lot of them are overpaid. They can't even speak properly.
That average is brought up because of suburbs where the average teacher is making almost $100K. Teachers with masters degrees earn more than that. Teachers who also coach can make double that.
I think the protests are primarily from teachers in large cities, so the issue is being muddled.
What many people don't realize with the teacher protests is they aren't JUST doing it over their wages. I am a paraprofessional in Arizona, I will get paid about minimum wage as of January when it increases to $12 an hour. I will be paid just pennies over the minimum wage. I think I'll start looking elsewhere for work. What I do is NOT a minimum wage job. As a paraprofessional I've: assisted in running a classroom, changed students, bathroomed students, break-up potential fights, even helped calm students down. There is typically a shortage every single school year of paraprofessionals whether they switch schools, retire or just leave the job for something else. Some switch middle of the year. Not a paraprofessional but the similar behavior technicians role (which is more on helping with behaviors) we have in district I saw one quit in the weeks before the school year (no sign she was out in the end of the year) and then a new one came in late August but was out within two months due to "personal issues."
Then you also have to look school conditions as well. Arizona has had tons of issues with these. A number have textbooks with the Berlin Wall still being a thing. That is now three decades old. There are numerous schools with more money needed to keep schools in working order. There are even more where they have issues with working buses.
Yeah, it is all about teachers wanting even higher wages...
What many people don't realize with the teacher protests is they aren't JUST doing it over their wages. I am a paraprofessional in Arizona, I will get paid about minimum wage as of January when it increases to $12 an hour. I will be paid just pennies over the minimum wage. I think I'll start looking elsewhere for work. What I do is NOT a minimum wage job. As a paraprofessional I've: assisted in running a classroom, changed students, bathroomed students, break-up potential fights, even helped calm students down. There is typically a shortage every single school year of paraprofessionals whether they switch schools, retire or just leave the job for something else. Some switch middle of the year. Not a paraprofessional but the similar behavior technicians role (which is more on helping with behaviors) we have in district I saw one quit in the weeks before the school year (no sign she was out in the end of the year) and then a new one came in late August but was out within two months due to "personal issues."
Then you also have to look school conditions as well. Arizona has had tons of issues with these. A number have textbooks with the Berlin Wall still being a thing. That is now three decades old. There are numerous schools with more money needed to keep schools in working order. There are even more where they have issues with working buses.
Yeah, it is all about teachers wanting even higher wages...
A person with a degree in chemistry plus a teaching certificate will always be under paid as a teacher.
True. There is a reason that it's relatively easy to get hired to teach math or science but hard to come by a position in a non-terrible school teaching English or history.
Which goes to I think a broader point, which is that this is a kind of fruitless debate because there's no one correct answer to whether teachers are over- or under- compensated. It varies pretty wildly based on subject and geography. A math teacher in Oklahoma might as well be doing charity work, and good luck to a school trying to find and retain someone qualified. A history teacher on Long Island is hugely overcompensated and likely got their position through nepotism/personal contacts.
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As a paraprofessional I've: assisted in running a classroom, changed students, bathroomed students, break-up potential fights, even helped calm students down. There is typically a shortage every single school year of paraprofessionals whether they switch schools, retire or just leave the job for something else. Some switch middle of the year. Not a paraprofessional but the similar behavior technicians role (which is more on helping with behaviors) we have in district I saw one quit in the weeks before the school year (no sign she was out in the end of the year) and then a new one came in late August but was out within two months due to "personal issues."
There are numerous schools with more money needed to keep schools in working order. There are even more where they have issues with working buses. 
