My wife's contract hours are longer than that (7:00-4:30 or 4:45), and if you're doing your job right, there's no way that you can get by just working during contract hours. She easily puts in more hours than I do (and way more productive hours) for half the pay that I get.

But keep telling yourself that teaching is a dream job to justify not paying teachers what they deserve and consistently underfunding the education system in Utah. As we continue to pay teachers like they're not qualified for more pay and we just expect them to put in the hours necessary for a paycheck, we'll continue to end up with teachers that are not qualified and only put in the minimum hours necessary to get a paycheck. All I know is that I'm glad my kids won't be in Alpine School District.