Its interesting to see that the same issues happen in the USA as up here in Canada regarding teachers. We have strikes every time a contract is negotiated. Up here a teacher presently maxes out at $72.000.00 and they just signed a 3 yr deal that will bump that up 10% so pay is not a good issue up here anyways, and they have the best pension plan in the country. What those poor folks have to do is put up with kids that have all kinds of behavioural issues and learning disabilities in many cases never mind the ever increasing violence. They are very well paid but deserve every penny. What burns me is that being unionized there are a few who are untouchable and should have never been accepted into the profession. But in my experience ( 2 young kids ) with the school system its mostly the overly political school boards that mess up education, they should just let the teachers do thier jobs ! I'll get down off my soapbox now.