I understand what you are saying but I would argue that few jobs have as much of a long term economic impact as teachers. They serve as child care during the day allowing parents to work. They teach and care for children who then grow up to be wage earners and business starters. The quality of their future work and the direction they take can often be linked directly to the quality of education they had in elementary through high school.

Living in a district with poor quality schools strongly encourages those that can afford it to send their kids to private school (me included). I am very not rich. The money I spend on private school would allow me to start a business, retire early, donate to charity or any number of things. The quality of local teachers and schools has a massive impact on my financial well being. I would gladly pay more in taxes to raise the quality of public education if it allowed me to save on private school. Sadly public education in many areas is very weak and the low teacher pay as well as the general lack of respect causes many people that would make excellent teachers to seek employment in other fields. Our children, economy and nation suffer as a result.