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

It is a view as ubiquitous as it is simplistic: To improve public education, pay teachers more—a lot more. Union officials, education reformers, scholars, laypeople, and politicians of all stripes endorse this principle in one form or another.

Public school teacher compensation is roughly 50 percent above private sector levels. In addition to merit pay, fundamental reforms to help schools hire, promote and fire teachers according to the best interests of students is needed.

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.

The broader issue of how we can rethink the teaching profession, make fuller use of talented teachers, and wisely spend the dollars we do have is more important than debating what the "right" wage level should be.