The author's statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions on the challenges faced by America's classroom teachers focuses on a few of the factors that lead to teacher frustration and burnout that higher pay, however well-intended, does not change. They include, but are not limited to, poor teacher preparation, deteriorating classroom conditions--specifically classroom disorder and disruption--shoddy curriculum, and increasingly the expectation that they will not just teach reading, math, or their subject areas effectively, but also play a quasi-therapeutic role in response to students' behavioral and mental health needs. We are asking teachers to do too many things to do any of them well at any salary.