Seriously, and like the vast majority of people/voters agree. It’s a small fraction of people who say shit like “Wellll ackshually you only work 10 months out of the year so you’re really getting paid [insert some salary higher than their actual take home]”.

And we don’t care what those ppl think because Teachers are criminally underpaid and have been underpaid since the beginning of time. VA is 33rd out of 50 states for teacher salaries relative to COL and the national median pay is probably already too low to begin with. It’s insane. Teachers are literally preparing people to be functional, intelligent and informed adults…why wouldn’t we be paying them like we do college educated military officers, or agency Directors and higher level staff? It’s not like they didn’t spend 6 years seeking a higher education degree along with constant certifications and adaptations to new learning methods and requirements.

Sorry, I’m just rambling…I’m not even a teacher…but they’re pretty fucking important people and I will never stop advocating.

It's stupid, outdated, and misogynistic and I don't agree with it, but the reason is that teaching was seen as women's work, and they made the pay low as a barrier to entry for unmarried women. It's not meant to be the job of a breadwinner, the teacher is supposed to have a husband with a job that pays the bills so her income is extra. Wouldn't want those unmarried harlots living independently or teaching our precious children to have loose morals.