Dave Eggers had an op-ed in the New York Times this weekend entitled The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries. In it, he argues effectively for paying teachers more. And in theory, I agree. Why wouldn't we pay teachers more for doing a job that is critical to the future of our country? Aren't our children worth it?

What Mr. Eggers fails to grasp, however, is that teacher pay is not the critical issue. He cites a McKinsey study that showed that "68 percent [of top-tier American college students] would consider teaching if salaries started at $65,000 and rose to a maximum of $150,000." By invoking this study, he is subtly suggesting that the teachers who are currently doing the job are not up to the job.

And, to some extent, that is true. There are cases of bad teachers in the system. And these bad teachers can have a devastating effect on some of the poorest and least prepared students in our system. So we must figure out a way to counsel them out of the system (something that is almost impossible to do currently in many districts, given the tenure and collective bargaining system in place).

But the vast majority of teachers are dedicated, intelligent, and capable. What they need are the tools and the skills to teach as a profession. And they need to stand up for reform -- real reform -- that will transform their profession.

Currently, most teachers (charters schools largely excepted) are represented by a union. The union's job is to protect the salaries and benefits of its members. That's it. And, to a large extent, the union has been doing a good job of it. But by letting the unions define the dialog -- and making the dialog about wages and benefits -- teaching (at least at the K12 level) will never be revolutionized.

Ask any teacher you know about their job. Yes, some will complain about the salary, but they knew that going into the job. The calculus of benefits, vacation, and tenure, plus the intangible benefit of the opportunity to make a difference in the community is why people entered the profession of teaching.

What makes people leave the profession? Administrative overhead tasks that take up too much of the day, no real training in the actual pedagogy of teaching, frustration with the fact that the students they brought up to grade level this year will be sabotaged by a poor teacher next year, crumbling facilities, and a public that is not supporting what they do.

If you want a case study for why just raising salaries is not the answer, consider the Rochester City School District. Under the leadership of union president Adam Urbanski, the city school district implemented The Rochester Contract in 1988. What did the Rochester Contract propose? Greater empowerment of teachers, and greater salaries. What did it promise? A flood of new, great teachers in Rochester, a renaissance of the public schools there, and a model for the rest of the nation.

What happened in Rochester? Well, salaries went up (as contracted), but performance stagnated and actually went down. Despite the herculean efforts of its new administration (Jean-Claude Brizard, the superintendent, was just named the superintendent of Chicago Public Schools), the graduation rate is at 46%. The system is still failing impoverished and minority students at an alarming rate.

So, if money is not the issue, how do we fix this? From all the work we've done with schools, we find three common themes:

1. Improve the learning environment
2. Help teachers teach better
3. Make the curriculum rigorous and relevant

Pretty simple stuff, but it can pay tremendous dividends. Dr. Beverly Hall, the superintendent in Atlanta, focused on these three things (plus trying to professionalize the operations of the central office) and turned one of the worst performing school districts in the country into one of the best. While spending less than 70% of what Rochester does per capita.

So, in the end, it comes down to management and leadership. Management, so that you can focus on critical items and see them through to completion without getting distracted by the day to day firefighting that is running a district, and leadership so that you can engage your students, parents, teachers, and community on the vision of better schools for all students.