SACRAMENTO, Calif. – New data reveals that teachers and other school employees take home the bulk of education dollars in California.

But the state spends far less than other states on other types of education needs.

The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert blog highlighted the problem yesterday:

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“California’s average teacher salary is the fifth highest in the nation this year, but its per-pupil spending is the 12th lowest – indicating that the state is committing an extraordinarily high proportion of each school dollar to those salaries and relatively little on administration and other school expenses.”

In other words, union teachers are a high priority in California, but students are not.

As the blog points out, most states with high teacher salaries also spend a lot per pupil.

“New York, for instance, is No. 1 in average teacher salaries at $75,279 and is No. 2 in per-pupil spending at $19,523,” according to Capitol Alert. “The other three school systems higher than California in teacher salaries are Massachusetts, District of Columbia and Connecticut and all three spend at least $13,000 per pupil.”

The data, which comes from the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Education Association, is very interesting, but it isn’t exactly surprising. Big Labor has dominated California politics for decades, and union officials are experts at squeezing every possible tax dollar from the public coffers.

California is doing things the union way, and students, parents and taxpayers are getting the shaft.

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Liberal politicians will argue that California should spend more on public education, but that won’t fix the problem. The union’s me-first mentality is far too engrained California’s public schools. The more money that goes to schools, the more the unions and their members will pocket.

The only real solution is to pay educators what they’re worth. If a teacher is helping students achieve academic success, they should be rewarded. If they fail students, they should be fired.

In essence, the seniority, tenure, and pay systems devised by Big Labor need a serious overhaul to shift the focus from the adults back to the students.

Until that happens, California schools will continue to throw away unimaginable amounts of tax money on undeserved raises for all teachers, while the students and parents the system is supposed to serve remain an afterthought.