As of Monday, negotiations between the Los Angeles Unified School district and the local teachers’ union collapsed and more than 30,000 teachers are on strike. As a result, the classrooms have been made barren as a third of students are absent from classes. The district has lost $15 million in a day. The situation is abysmal.

The teachers' demands are few, but the solutions aren’t simple; especially in a state as bureaucratically-entangled as California. Teachers are calling for a 6.5% pay raise (which would translate to around $4,000 annually), 1,200 more persons for support staff, and that the district release funds from its more than $2 billion reserve.

When wages are examined, California public school teachers make around $62,000 a year on average, according to salary.com. For comparison, Texas teachers make around $53,000 in a state that is almost half as expensive to live in. For California teachers to live in the prosperity that Texas teachers do, they’d have to make around $75,000. It is apparent that the L.A. teachers’ union isn’t doing their job in gaining its members the compensation they desire. Not only that, but those unions also have a tendency to keep inept teachers in our schools.

We should also note that Texas is a right-to-work state, which means teachers don’t have to be a member of a union, nor do they have to pay union dues (which are more than $1,000 a year, in Cali). In fact, it is illegal in Texas for state employees to strike - at risk of losing their pension. Not being required to join a union means that teachers are not beholden to the union’s set salary and can go elsewhere to seek employment if not compensated properly.

Meanwhile, state funding and attendance are moving more heavily into charter schools, which unions have historically been against. And it’s no wonder - charter schools challenge the status quo by offering more educational options and remove some of the power from existing unions, by doing so. Charter schools spell innovation for the public education system and disaster for those at the head of unions.

Compounding the problems with California’s education system is that the state restricts school choice by not providing school vouchers (the chunk of taxes you’ve paid to your local district). However, that hasn't stopped nearly 10% of California families from choosing charter schools for their children. These schools have seen a growth of 150% in the last decade. Though more expensive, an equivalent amount of families are opting for private schools, as well.

Both private and charter schools in California, however, pay smaller salaries on average, but teachers move to these schools for improved working conditions, greater teaching flexibility, and better benefits. The benefits obviously outweigh the shortcomings, for these teachers.

On working conditions in California schools, a former California teacher reported, “I chose not to work in the public school system. Because of my credentials, I was able to work for a private school, and I was paid more than public schools in the area. Private schools have more to offer and they aren’t beholden to the same scrutiny. Private schools don’t have to worry about the standardized state test prep, and have more freedom in curriculum.”

My suggestion to California teachers is to move to where the money is: a different type of school, a different state, or a even a different career. Protest the current system by leaving. Remind your legislators of more successful policies like school choice and right-to-work; California bureaucracy and your labor union are failing you.