Definitely what needs to be done is that teachers need to be given more respect for the work that they do. This includes not paying them below anything else a mathematician could make elsewhere, and in general making it a better environment (who cares if your math teacher is the best at math if s/he has a bunch of bullshit standards to get through). I'm a college student who would love to be a math/cs teacher but I don't see it as anything sustainable or worth it.
Yeah, I see the same two issues: money and autonomy.
I don't think that teaching necessarily needs to pay as much as what strong math majors can earn elsewhere, but it does need to clear the "comfortable middle class" barrier. Here's the thing - the comfortable middle class barrier includes owning a pleasant house in a safe neighborhood, travel, the ability to afford child care, and so forth... in SF, that probably takes $200k or more a year. Honestly, I'm not sure $200k even covers it. So this is a tall order in some places. And while SF is insanely expensive, this is still true of a lot of urban areas (los angeles, boston, certainly new york...)
Autonomy is also critical. Strong math students will not be willing to engage in this profession if they are excessively constrained by a bureaucratic curriculum that prevents them from applying their knowledge, skill, and passion for teaching. They'll leave.
Now, combine the two - low pay and low autonomy, and there's no way.
I'm not sure people understand just how much money and autonomy it would take to get really strong math and related students to go into teaching. Incremental changes are welcome, but not close. This is an order of magnitude difference.
