After taking a look at teacher salaries across America, a hedge fund billionaire decided that something just wasn't adding up.

Jim Simons, who made his fortune on Wall Street, actually began his career as a mathematician. Being partial to the field—and having deep pockets—drove him to begin personally allocating an extra $15,000 per year to 800 New York City math teachers.

Simons (pictured left) decided to use some of his $22 billion fortune to fund the Math for America foundation, a charity he now focuses on full-time after leaving his job at Renaissance Technologies, the company he founded six years ago.

Math for America plans to expand its reach to 1,000 teachers in 2016, giving pay raises to 10% of the city's public school math teachers.

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The National Center for Education Statistics reports the average teacher salary in the U.S. is just above $56,000 per year, and the starting salary for a NYC public school teacher is just above $45,000.

(READ more at Business Insider) — Photos: BurningQuestion, Gleuschk, CC

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