Eh, I think this ends up being a product of local school funding, at least in most smaller size school districts (i.e. not the size of LAUSD). I know my high sc

Eh, I think this ends up being a product of local school funding, at least in most smaller size school districts (i.e. not the size of LAUSD). I know my high school paid (and still pays now, a decade later) their teachers substantially more than the next district over. Most of the tenured teachers made 120k+. I don't think that was because they had a better union but because the school district made a conscious choice to try to be the best and to match private schools in quality. It all starts and ends with local parents willing to make a sacrifice in their quality of life to fund schools. Many cities around where I lived were much wealthier (higher home values by 50-100%, many high paying employers) but had much worse schools.