Teachers make an impact on students' lives every day, but are they making enough money?
"Certainly teachers never quit talking about it," Joe Sumter with the Knox County Education Association said. "And it's something that affects every teacher."
The National Education Association says the average salary in Tennessee is $47,979 a year, putting Tennessee 39th in the country for teacher pay.
The top state is New York, while South Dakota and Mississippi sits at the bottom.
In East Tennessee, Alcoa School District pays the biggest salary. Teachers' paychecks there hit an average of nearly $58,000 a year.
Maryville School District averages $56,000 a year, according to data from the Tennessee Education Association.
Knox County is 45th out of the 137 districts, coming in at about $48,000 a year on average.
Sumter says teachers deserve more.
"It's about paying people what they're worth, and paying people for the job that they perform," Sumter said. "And I think often, the money teachers get does not translate into the work that the put in, because they're working, usually, over 60 hours a week."
But there's a big difference outside the U.S.
Data from the Huffington Post shows teachers in the small European country of Luxembourg can make a whopping $138,000 a year.
The U.S. is ninth in the world, maxing out at $60,000 a year.
Most teachers have their master's degrees, usually meaning about five years of school.
But there are a lot of jobs where you can make more money without the struggle of school.
Indeed.com says electricians make about $36,000 a year in the East Tennessee area.
Garbage men make an average of $35,000, and coal miners can make as much as $65,000 a year according to Payscale.com.
"I truly believe that getting education right is critical for our state," Gov. Bill Haslam said at the 2015 State of the State address.
There's some hope on the horizon for Tennessee teachers.
Under Haslam's proposed 2018 budget, more than $100 million has been allocated for a 4 percent raise for teachers.
The plan marks the third year Haslam has set aside money for teacher pay.