The political divide in America comes down to those who receive taxes, and those who pay them, but even if government simply printed money rather than use taxes, a position I often advocate, people who work directly for The State exhibit a level of sanctimonious entitlement that workers in the private sector just don't; and the worst by far, is teachers. The solution is Vouchers, where taxes follow the student, so if $12K/yr is allocated to your kid, you can spend that money with whomever you want, private or public schools, assuming the student is meeting standards set by The State. Of course, Teachers Unions fight vehemently against this concept because sanctimonious entitlement is worth a lot.
Washington State recently had a Court-ordered increase in Property taxes for schools in a misguided attempt to make kids learn better, even though there are countless studies showing that more money does not equal higher test scores. However, that was not enough for teachers, who average about $60K/yr in our area, with senior teachers reaching about $90K, and that's for only 9 months work, so they went on strike even though it's illegal. It shows how tied into government the Teachers Unions are that they fear no repercussions from breaking the law; in fact, they only benefit by it. So from the first day of schools, there's been 100s of teachers in red shirts just down the street from our house.
My son, Heath, and his wife, Jessica, just got married at my house. Rather than a traditional Wedding cake, they had cupcakes, 100s of cupcakes; cupcakes my wife, Gwynne, and her friends made for days before the wedding. I asked why there were so many; my goodness, way more than a Wedding cake's worth, but they assured me that there had to be enough for 400 guests. Somebody miscalculated, because by the time the Wedding cupcakes came out for consumption, people had ate and drank their fill; we were lucky if 100 cupcakes were gone. What do you do with 100s of cupcakes after you've given away as many as anyone can carry? This is why I know there's always a reason for everything; consider the math; 100s of cupcakes, 100s of teachers picketing... The teachers are still picketing, and considering our school board is composed of Apostolic Lutherans, it seems a long strike is likely, but at least they got cupcakes.