DAYTON, Ohio – Teachers in the Dayton, Ohio school district are starting off the new school year with a self-serving protest over pay issues currently under negotiation with district officials.

Hundreds of teachers dressed in red and donned buttons exclaiming “Dayton Teachers We’re Worth More!” at the district’s annual start of school convocation held at University of Dayton Arena Tuesday, WDTN2News reports.

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“Your teachers in Dayton public schools give many countless hours of themselves, away from their families, and money out of their pockets to make sure that children are learning, growing and being lively, productive citizens in the Dayton community and as teachers, we deserve the compensation and more to help us help those students,” Sandra Gavin, negotiator for the Dayton Education Association, told the television station.

Gavin said the DEA wants the district to “pay teachers what they’re worth,” but neither the teachers union nor district officials will explain to the public exactly what the union is demanding in negotiations, which have stalled in mediation, WDTN reports.

The convocation – an annual district event intended to rally teachers before the school year – went on as planned, with Superintendent Lori L. Ward highlighted the importance of the district’s teaching staff, and focused on the implementation of Common Core and other goals for the new school year.

“We have seen improvement in our reading scores. We have seen improvement in our math scores. No where where we need to be, but we have one instructional purpose in Dayton public schools and that is writing in all subject areas,” she said.

Meadowdale High School senior Allison Mayfield-Brown served as the keynote speaker for the convocation, and stressed the important role the district’s educators played in helping her earn a spot at Ohio State University following graduation.

“They have been very, very, very important to my success. I attribute a lot of it to them,” Mayfield-Brown said, according to the news station.

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While there’s nobody disputing the fact that Dayton teachers play a critical role in the success of the city’s youth, both in school and after graduation, the public deserves to the current terms of union contract negotiations.

Local taxpayers could argue that their financial support for the school system, and teacher pay in particular, is perhaps the most important element in the long-term viability and success of the district as a whole.

If Dayton educators want the public to pay them “what they’re worth,” then school and union officials should be willing to have a candid conversation about teacher pay, and would be wise to consider a pay system that’s based on student performance.

Currently, Dayton teachers aren’t paid “what they’re worth” because union contract provisions force district officials to pay educators based on an arbitrary scale tied to union seniority and accumulated college credits.

Parents and taxpayers should join with educators in demanding a pay system that puts student learning first by paying teachers “what they’re worth” based on their ability to inspire students to succeed, instead of the current system that pays all educators by the same archaic pay scale.