The Rebbe was against charging high tuition – a practice that only became commonplace around 27 Adar 5752…

Schools were expected to fundraise for good salaries etc. and no one was permitted to turn away a Jewish child despite paying zero tuition.

How many families are in Lubavitch today because Bedforn and Dean was the only school that would take them for free? (I know of one such family the came because even the bus fare was covered!)

The difficulty in fundraising is understood. But the schools can put in the extra effort to help – at least not to fundraise less when they begin to receive government money…

I am very grateful for the support staff in my school. When I began teaching, it was just us teachers and one principal who had everything on her head, from curriculum to ordering supplies to communicating with parents and teachers etc etc. The principal couldn’t do it all, which in turn made her less available for me as a teacher when I needed support. Later on, they hired more staff to help run the office. It made me able to be a much better teacher! I don’t have the headache of ordering classroom supplies by myself because the secretary does it. I don’t have to spend as much of my precious break time figuring out how to format the papers I want to print , since we have dedicated staff who deal with the computers and copy machines. I can focus on my actual job which is planning my lessons and connecting with my students.

Although support is needed when done right, oftentimes it is overdone and unhelpful. These staff, who might good for PR (which is why the administration is quicker to hire them), interfere with the real work.

As you pointed out in the title of your reply, these are support staff – to the teachers as well as to the students.
The teachers wouldn’t be able to teach (and certainly not be able to take on new jobs) without these support staff!

Schools are flooded with principals, assistant principals, secretaries, curriculum directors, program directors, an assistant per administrator……
We should maybe minimize all staff that are not directly teaching children and hire teachers to do the extra jobs for bonus pay.

“It is not about the salaries as much as it is about the general attitude of the parents and community toward the teachers.”

Meaning: these melamdim are coming into class every morning and teach despite the fact they had to borrow money for the last few months just to pay for groceries and other basics.

A raise is important, but the most critical issue is making sure no moisad thinks it’s ok to pay a Rebbe even one day late.

The moisdios are taking advantage of the fact that the Rebbe is against rebbis going on strike.