How much are teachers worth?

Just how much should teachers be worth?

At least $40,000 to start, the National Education Association argues. Last month, the nation's largest teachers union urged school districts to boost the average national starting salary by 34 percent, up from $29,733 -- a call that has sparked new debate about the value of teaching.

With an average starting salary of $31,000 in Central Florida, many teachers are hard-pressed and school districts are scrambling to retain teachers. Even the statewide average salary of $40,604, which includes teachers with decades of experience, is $6,000 less than the national average, the NEA estimated.

Not everyone thinks teachers' pay is inadequate, though.

Teachers usually work a 37-hour week, 197 days a year, Frederick Hess, a former teacher and director of Education Policy Studies for the American Enterprise Institute, pointed out.

"You can argue that [average pay] is quite reasonable for this kind of work," he said. Good teachers might be underpaid, Hess added, "but a huge number of teachers are paid too much."

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2003 estimated that the typical U.S. worker earned $17.75 an hour. On average, teachers earn $30 an hour, Hess said, when their shorter work year is taken into account.

The uniform salary schedule for teachers is a ubiquitous fixture of American public education. Developed in an effort to professionalize public education, it proved popular because it was deemed fair, easy to understand, and predictable. However, critics now argue that this system promotes mediocrity by rewarding poor performance while failing to recognize outstanding achievement. They propose merit pay as one way of rectifying this imbalance. They argue that many other professions succeed with merit pay systems--from lawyers and professional athletes to aluminum siding salespeople--so why not public school teachers?