By Jesse Russell

Today marks the last day of the National Education Association's representative meeting in Orlando, Florida. A top issue on the plate for the annual meeting was the pay of teachers nationwide. The NEA, which claims 2.8 million members, is taking the position that there should be a national minimum wage for teachers in the United States of at least $40,000 a year. The hire starting salary will help address the potential teacher crisis coming down the line as thousands of current educators retire. Donna DeKraai (dee-CRY) is President of the South Dakota Education Association:

[Deekraai]: "We will need to be able to bring in new teachers at a salary in which they can live. Right now it's very difficult for a young student or non-traditional student to come in and start teaching, be able to pay for a car payment, a house payment, get married, have children. It's very difficult on a beginning salary.

According to the NEA, experts predict a need of more than 2 million new teachers over the next decade with the need being highest in urban areas where the turnover rate of new teachers fleeing the profession stands at 50 percent during the first five years of teaching.