Pay raise for what? They have been slacking on the job for a year and a half in many venues.
Oh, there are hard-working and highly dedicated teachers out there, always have been, But the profession has also attracted a lot of ideologues, those who were looking for an “easy” college credit and cheap diploma, and those who just had some underlying sadistic streak that want of manipulate children, those with skulls full of mush.
The child-tamers and the messianic indoctrination specialists are a real damaging factor in the upbringing of our youth, and the “easy path” ones are producing lasting harm to children by turning off all desire to even attempt to learn, living lives out in a vacuum.
We need teachers, and always will, but their worth should be determined by merit, not seniority. And merit may be a very difficult thing to access, especially by school boards that “go along to get along”.
The way I see it:
Teaching today can be incredibly difficult if you’re a good teacher that wants to teach real stuff. In many districts, everything is standing in your way. Awful administrators and policies that prevent you from controlling your classroom and giving out the grades that people deserve. Forced indoctrination either due to explicit policy or a result of having to teach to a test that has been taken over by leftists (Example: AP U.S. History). Parents that don’t give a damn. Kids sexting each other in class. Stupid colleagues in the teacher’s lounge. And the list goes on. Good people can only put up with that for so long.
On the other hand, if you are a leftist idiot who just goes with the flow, it’s nine months of dull work, three months of play, and people act like you’re a hero. Not bad.