Don't worry Bob, Dubya is out of office and has been for over 5 years now.

My Dad and people who think like him.

While the state pension system is a broken one, I hate to see the teachers that dedicate their lives to help raise and teach everyone else's family take the blame. The job of a teacher isn't typically one that is lucrative, of course there are exceptions and there are ones that take advantage of the system, but good teachers need to be rewarded and not be the punching bags they have been.
No intention on attacking anyone's views or opinions, but the benefit that a teacher earns is widely misunderstood. A teacher contributes their share, by law around 10%, into their pension fund. They are then required to work until the age of 55,which may not allow them to receive their full benefit depending on years of service. However they are now required to work until 67, who wants a 67 year old watching a room full of their kindergarten kids, or believes that a 67 year old is able to control a room full of teenagers? In addition to a pension they may not be able to maximize, teachers are not eligible to receive social security benefits that all other tax payers receive.
As far as a teachers schedule and salary, having teachers as friends and family, I can tell you they are certainly busier than the 8-3, Monday thru Friday, for 9 months everyone gives them a lack of credit for. What isn't seen by most of us is the teacher going in early to prepare, staying late to help a struggling child or working with a parent, working on their class and curriculum before school is in session.

I'll also add that teachers that decided long ago that this was going to be their career path realized that they weren't going to get rich, that as hard as they worked there would be little room for advancement or raises. Those who don't work in the public sector have different opportunity, for better or worse. The measure of a teachers hard work is in the kids, not by the car they drive or the neighborhood they live in.