Michelle - I know its different in the States but in Canada experience counts and respect for experience counts alot when you are being interviewed for a teaching position. I have heard statements like "...it's time for you to leave and make room for someone..." before. If you have been in the system for any amount of time, you know its underfunded to the point of crumbling.

Schools are not safe. They need earthquake upgrades, there isn't enough supervision at recess and lunch and they are dirty. Many classrooms have inadequate ventillation and molds and fungus thrive. We do not have free breakfast and lunch programs. All special support services have been drastically reduced (psychologists, counsellors, speech and language therapists, special education teachers and teachers aides). When the classroom teacher cannot access services for students, it is the students who lose. How do you think that by, 'stepping up to the plate', you can solve these problems?

In addition, I am assuming that you do not have children of your own or a mortgage to pay. When you are young, the salary is sufficient and you can afford to subsidize the system. When you have your own family, its your own children that are making the sacrifice. Besides that, it won't solve the problem. Parent groups and individual teachers who donate money only contribute to the problem of an inequitable system.