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School Employees picket over proposed Mt. Diablo School District cuts in as they emerge from the...

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The math is simple: California schools have less money than most other states, but their teachers are the most highly paid in the nation.
Per pupil spending, on the other hand, trails the national average by about $2,500.
Until the financially troubled state government finds more money to invest in its public schools, which make up more than half of its general fund spending, something has to give.
School budgeting has become a zero-sum game.
California school districts spend more than half of their dollars on teacher pay and benefits. In better times, when education funding rose each year to keep pace with the cost of living, so did salaries. But the state now gives schools less money for each student than it did
CHARTS
in 2005-06, when the average teacher made 11 percent less.
To make payroll, districts are laying off teachers and loading more children into each classroom. They are cutting secretaries, assistant principals, custodians, aides, instructional coaches and security. They are closing schools and slashing supplies. They are

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