Colorado

As a teacher in CA I didn't receive a raise (even cost of living) for over 5 years in the 2000s. And this was WITH a union. The choice was either get a pink slip or work for no increase. If you figure in the COLA we were working for a pay cut and our health insure co pays doubled as well as 75% of total support staff cuts, class size increases, 55+ hour weeks and we paid for supplies out of pocket. It has remained the same ever since.

One reason for this was Charter Schools. The public schools lost students so we received less from the state. CA ranks 46th in how much each school receives per student per year.