the flaw in the Pay portion of this story is that a teacher with 20 years of work history could be earning 50K+ work nine months plus all the "snow" days that are time off thus, if they have a summer job at DisneyWorld or the GAP and their salary they could earn 65K+ a year, retire at 55 and start career #2 with a huge nest egg. (my writing needs some taching help this morning)
Teachers with a lot of years in the system are not doing so badly -- some NY teachers, with 20 years in, now make over $100K per year. And, they don't need any 2nd job at ther GAP. They probably don't care too much about a $2,000 bonus, either. But for new teachers making $25,000 in some places (and, yes, some teachers are still paid that little). they are having a tough time.