First, I think that anyone who cares about the future of our country needs to support increased investment in education. Second, and related, teacher pay must be high enough to allow teachers to live in the jurisdictions where they’re supposed to teach, without having to take in a second job. Otherwise, the best and brightest, even if they feel a calling to teach, will be forced out of the profession. This means that even significant geographical differences in teacher pay are acceptable, so long as they’re justified by differences in the local cost of living.

As a minor nit, $42,000 is 53% lower than $79,000. The 88% number would be true if you reversed the statement, and said that $79,000 is 88% higher than $42,000. ☺