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
They have more power because their union dues buy the politicians who make the laws that protect the teachers. It's a closed society. The unions will never be broken by new laws - just not going to happen. The only thing that ever makes a union obsolete is competition.
Teachers are not paid a lot,
Huh? That's an anualized salary of at least $70k, plus benefits. I don't know what the deal is in CA, but in RI teachers retire on 4/5 of their salary.
Private school teachers earn about $30k, on average.
The schools exist by and for the teacher unions.