article he says the united states spends $50 billion a year on automatic salary increases based on teacher seniority. but seniority seems to have no effect on student achievement. he questions spending $15 billion a year on so-called salary bumps for teachers who get advanced degrees. he says such raises have almost no impact on achievement. the head of the nation's largest teachers union vehemently disagreed. >> i was a high school math teacher for 23 years. i can guarantee you that what i took as part my master's degree program in mathematics made a difference to me as a teacher. >> reporter: gates proposes the best teachers actually take on more students, five or six more per class, and be paid more, so more children can benefit from what those teachers are doing right. and a lot of teachers are going to take issue with gates over that. they say the more students in the classroom, the harder it is to reach all of the children in that classroom. ron claiborne, abc news, new york. all right, football fans can take a little breather -- a sigh of relief this morning, because