It's not all about money, Mike. Many teachers actually choose that profession because they want to make a difference and any teacher worth a ____ knows that class size makes a HUGE difference. Doubling class size is a perfect way to scare off teachers. I've worked in dozens of public schools over the past fifteen years, doing artist residencies, teaching playwriting to students of all ages from first grade through high school. More students means less time for one on one assistance. More students means wayyyy more time devoted to behavior management and a whole lot less time devoted to actual teaching. I taught a program, BRIEFLY, in Queens where they stuck me in a room with forty-five eighth graders. I still feel guilty about this, but I had to quit. I was accomplishing absolutely nothing, and I am a very experienced teacher who has worked in just about every kind of environment under the most dire of circumstances. But there really was just no reason for me to be there other than to act as a babysitter, and not a terribly effective one at that given the circumstances. And so I left, leaving the school to rethink their approach. I don't get paid to babysit. To one of your previous callers - there is a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE between teaching elementary and middle school, and teaching college. ESPECIALLY when you're teaching in New Tork City public schools.