And this money, I am sure, came right out of teachers pockets!
Yes. The union actually went to the bank to borrow more money to fight it. What was the collateral? The paychecks of union members.
Hundred million dollars on the campaign spent by 292,012 teachers = $342 each,
average salary of CA teacher = $56,283 per year
342$ about 0.6% of a salary is a small price to pay, to guarantees pay increases of greater percentages and tenure for life.
Teachers are not paid a lot, but the waist the education system, and the control over the state budget to waist even more every year without accountability at a time when CA is broke is the problem.
Why do these 292,012 teachers have more power on 50% (going to education) of the state budget than the rest of the 300 million people, who live in the state, That’s 0.1 percent of the people controlling 50% of the budget, and we are supposed to live in a democracy?
http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/NumTeachCo.asp?cChoice=StateNum&Radio2=T&cYear=1999-00&submit1=Submit
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fb/yr05teachsalaries.asp