If it were not for the dozens of bright-eyed, energetic fourth- and fifth-grade Florida students that Michelle Lucas teaches math and science to each and every day, she’s unsure she would have stuck with her job as a Broward County public school teacher so long.

Historically low pay made more glaring by lingering inflation rates, ever-changing curriculum expectations and new laws restricting what teachers can and cannot talk about in the classroom have led Lucas to consider quitting after nearly three decades on the job.

“The only thing I like is being with the kids and that’s what keeps me here. I’m happy from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock. It’s the relationships that you build and seeing them learn — that’s amazing,” Lucas, 50, who teaches at Hollywood Hills Elementary School in Hollywood, Fla., told Yahoo News. “But everything else I hate.”

If it were not for the dozens of bright-eyed, energetic fourth- and fifth-grade Florida students that Michelle Lucas teaches math and science to each and every day, she’s unsure she would have stuck with her job as a Broward County public school teacher so long.

Historically low pay made more glaring by lingering inflation rates, ever-changing curriculum expectations and new laws restricting what teachers can and cannot talk about in the classroom have led Lucas to consider quitting after nearly three decades on the job.

“The only thing I like is being with the kids and that’s what keeps me here. I’m happy from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock. It’s the relationships that you build and seeing them learn — that’s amazing,” Lucas, 50, who teaches at Hollywood Hills Elementary School in Hollywood, Fla., told Yahoo News. “But everything else I hate.”