If Obama is successful in lengthening the school day for American students, will we as taxpayers be forced to increase teacher pay as well?

That would seem fair, wouldn't it? Good teachers already work crazy hard for relatively small salaries; it would be rather rude to expect them to do more without compensation. Though, I'm not sure expecting them to do more is a good idea either way.

i would imagine. if the teacher have to work for longer, i think they would want more money... i know i would

I agree! Kids don't need a longer school day...they already get up very early and spend about 7 hours a day in a restricted environment. I would expect to receive more pay if I had to work longer hours, wouldn't you? Perhaps a better solution is to lengthen the school year...year-round schooling would be better...parents who work wouldn't have to find babysitters all summer long. Instead, take shorter, more frequent breaks. This would also alleviate some of the knowledge kids lose over the summer and keep us from having to remediate the previous grade at the beginning of the year

If you work more hours at your job, do you expect more pay? I would think so. However, teachers are not paid hourly. If they were, they would be really, really, really be rich. They have a certain amount on their contract and they the amount is divided up for each month for 12 months. They don't work for 6 weeks out of each summer and attend workshops which they don't get paid for but are required to go to. I don't think it's a good idea for the children to have a longer day. They need time to do their homework, take piano lessons, go to soccer practice, and have dinner with the family. Their day is already long.

If the teachers are working longer hours, then obviously they should make more money.

Maybe yes and maybe no.

A much better question is: Why increase the school day at all? Is this at all related to education or is there some other reason? What do parents have to say? Do parents have a right to decide how long their children spend in school or do politicians? These questions seem like far more important ones. Did anyone ever ask them what they want?