Teachers forfeit raise?

I was watching Fox and Friends this morning and a story about a school that was asked to forfeit their raise in order for everyone to keep their jobs. It was reported that if everyone, in this particular school system, agreed to give up their raise, then none of the teachers would be laid off. Talk about being put in a tough situation. On one hand, you want to be a humanitarian but, on the other hand you need to take care of your own family. There is also the issue of those teachers close to retirement and how this type of decision will, in the end, affect their retirement benefits.

This upsets me that the educators responsible for bringing up the youth of our nation is put under this kind of pressure. Why is our society willing to pay singers, actors, ball players, etc. huge sums of money for their talent but not to those whom they entrust with the lives and intellectual growth of their children? We are our priorities?