Overall, should teacher salaries in the US be increased?

[AggregateDemand]

Yes, and most of the administrators and specialists need to be eliminated. The redundancy of school administrators is unsustainable, and it's the reason for the extraordinary cost of compulsory education in the US.

Once upon a time, the people with Master's degrees and PhD's were in the classroom. Now they often sit in a backroom somewhere, making pointless bureaucratic policy decisions that make school districts worse.

[AggregateDemand]

My mom is a teacher and works harder than many others.  There are many that simply know the union is there to protect them and do as little as.possible.  One of my moms best friends is a speech therapist in the school district and openly brags about how she doesn't care and that the district can't do anything to her.  She makes about $90k a year.

Therein lies the problem. Master's degrees and PhD's moved into administrative or "specialist" positions where they make lots of money but make little or no difference. The teachers who actually make a difference in the classroom are often under-paid and misrepresented by unions who only protect the lazy zealots and the over-educated administrators/specialists.

It's a pitiful sight, and I can scarcely fault federal regulators for overstepping their constitutional authority to fix it.

[AggregateDemand]

US teachers are paid more than their counterparts in most other developed countries:



I don't think many would argue that the quality of public education in the US is superior to that of most other developed countries. That suggests that teacher pay has nothing to do with the problem. It's not that complex.

This is make-believe data (no methodology cited) from a study which concludes that teachers around the world need higher pay, including the United States.

Here is some OECD data

http://www.oecd.org/edu/skills-beyond-school/48631286.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/education/school/1840245.pdf

Look at the increase in spending per pupil and experienced teacher salary. A majority of our educational costs are financing new buildings and new administrators.