Allans assessment about the unions agrees with that of my mom who has been in education for some 20 years.
If one side gets too much power/influence then someone else suffers. A big business boss can acquire a monopoly and rape the workers and customers.
The same is true if labor pushes out the competition. That is the overwhelming factor in the CA system.
The CA teachers are suffering too with large classes and, among other things, integrating special needs kids with the rest of class. And you have new teachers being told to sink or swim while dealing with this. Someone somewhere in the teachers union is a very big fat cat.
Vouchers… and the money for them should come from the public system. It needs competition.