Assuming 500 hours per year, that's $47,875 before taxes...too low for what I was thinking...around $60k to $70k for the right person.
The pilot would have to understand that the flight school cannot afford to pay a 20-year seniority level pay up in the six-figure range. The flight school, however, would need to understand that having experience requires a certain level of income...not to mention that it may need to cover a couple older kids and/or ex-wives.
This, of course, would be limiting to many smaller companies, but there should be no reason why a school with over 15 airplanes could not afford to pay that for a CFI...or am I away with my dreams and out of touch with the ab initio training industry already?