The thing teachers unions have been most effective at is undermining what was once a great education system. Tell us about how badly we have slipped in world-wide student standing.....Take away their pay until they improve US student standing.
It isn't the government employee unions. It is socialism.
In a generation or two they will say the same about Obamacare. At first socialized medicine won't be that bad. Why? Due to the values of those doctors, nurses, and administrators trained under a primarily private system. In a few decades that is when the true horror of socialism will emerge.
So....Can you see? The education system ( that once upon a time) seemed great wasn't. Why? Answer: Modern government schooling is built upon a foundation of single-payer, compulsory attendance, and compulsory-funding **socialism***!!!!
Modern government socialist-entitlement education was doomed to failure from the beginning.
Solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. Begin the process of complete separation of school and state.