I do not know that they do not deserve 30% raise. I would guess they probably do. I think most teachers are underpaid for their responsibility. The issues I have and would address are tenure and unions protection those.who should not be teaching. If they want the 30% I have no problem but tenure goes away and performance standard will be developed to ensure that the teachers are earning their money.
The only reason they have ANY responsibility is because parents have abdicated their role to government civil servants who quite frankly don't give a rat's rear end if Little Billy can type his God Damned name so long as they get a pay day. You're not going to budge the NEA, AFT or the tooth fairy on tenure. This is why Scott Walker resorted to his ham handed tactics. There was no other way to break the stranglehold Public Employee unions (NEA, AFT in particular) have on states.
A performance standard would be a free market in education. Once parents have a choice that is at or near cost neutral, all schools will have to compete for business. The schools with the best scores will be able to attract more students. Standards would be raised for entry simply by the the good schools ability to have enough class space. The poorer performers would be forced to up their game or rish having to few students to absorb the infrastructure and would rightfully fail. As soon as they failed an upstrat company would jump in to assume their place and educational quality would be upgraded to attract more students.
For example, The Pinelands Regional School District spends $16,743 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 59% on instruction, 39% on support services, Test score wise they rank in the bottom third state wide. Can't even meet NCLB Act criteria. Avg Salary = $50K
Compare this to the school I went to in PA, The Central Bucks School District spends $10,339 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 63% on instruction, 34% on support services. This school district consistently ranks in the Top 100 nationally.The Central Bucks school board and the Central Bucks Education Association have approved a four-year contract that breaks up the infamous salary matrix, freezes all teachers’ salaries for the first year, reduces future pay raises and increases teachers’ health care contributions.
So as you can see salaries make precious little difference in performance as those taking a wage freeze deliver far better results. So perhaps Chicago should freeze or cut the salaries at under performing schools.