I teach in Texas also. Teacher salaries are a joke. Teachers knew this when they entered the profession. Most are dedicated to their job and take a real interest in their kids. As mentioned before a teacher does not only work the hours of the school day. Your child may go from 8 to 3:30 but the teachers are there before the day begins and after it is over. We are required to be there from 7:45 till 4:00. But this is only the start. Teachers routinely arrive early and stay hours late to help their students. Then there is the hrs spent at home every night grading students work and planning for the next lesson. All of these hrs which in some cases double the time "on the clock" are without additional compensation. Not to mention inservice (which was mentioned) which are salaried days and conferences or workshops which are often in the summer or on weekends. I cannot think of another profession that routinely gives up a week of personal time oftentimes in another city away from family without compensation. And all of this is done with a non-competitive salary with below average insurance and retirement benefits. I won't even get started on the quality of students we get these days. Bottom line is Yes, teachers deserve better than the country is giving them.

Here are a couple of salary links:

Actual Average Teacher salaries for 2003 by state
http://www.aft.org/salary/2003/download/2003Table1.pdf

Actual Starting Teacher Salaries for 2003 by state
http://www.aft.org/salary/2003/download/2003Table1.pdf