Response to Jeffrey Keefe’s review of “Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers.”

Public school teacher salaries are fair and their fringe benefits far outclass private saector jobs. In total, public school teachers are overpaid by more than 50 percent which costs governments over $100 billion annually.

Do teachers work dramatically longer hours than other white collar professionals? No.

The implication of Occupy Wall Street's demand is that teachers are paid far too little given their skills. The opposite is actually true: According to our analysis of salaries, fringe benefits and job security, most public school teachers are paid considerably more than what they could earn in private-sector jobs.

Research suggests that on average-counting salaries, benefits, and job security-teachers receive about 52 percent more than they could in private business.

We estimate that public-school teachers receive total compensation roughly 50 percent higher than they would likely receive in the private sector.

The public commonly accepts that public school teachers are "desperately underpaid," in the words of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and that raising teacher pay should be a priority of education reform. But is this true?