Rush Limbaugh was discussing a SEIU protest last week where the participants were begging for a tax INCREASE.  There were school teachers, government employees, etc, in the bunch.  I want to quick focus on the teachers in this protest.  A light bulb went on in my head during Rush's monologue.  Of course, these teachers want a tax increase.  They are paid via tax money.  As are their lucrative benefits.  The CA pensions are $550 billion in the red!  These teachers aren't about to take a pay cut.  Rush said as much. The thing that really galled me here was that idea that there isn't enough money.  Better yet...  The notion that if given a tax increase it WILL be enough money.  I say bull!  It will NEVER be enough, but I digress...  So where does our K-12 school cash come from?  Property taxes, State/Federal Dept of Education redistribution, grants, etc...  I believe the total figure is over $500 or $600 billion spent annually on K-12.  I don't recall the exact figure, but it was around the same as on national defense or more.  The point here is that tax money isn't all the schools live off of.  Ever hear of a company called Target?  They donate a portion of sales to local schools.  Ever participate in a school fundraiser?  The truth here is that this bloated inefficient bureaucracy called education doesn't just live off of tax money.  They also live off every nickel and dime your kid can beg, borrow, or steal from some kind neighbor or business.  No matter that the cost of educating a kid is over $10,00 per year in many areas.  Way more than overseas and even some local private schools.  Take note that these overseas locales outperform American public schools.  It is bad enough that the teachers' unions have sold out our kids for unsustainable benefits, but they have turned them into millions of Slumdog pupils.  The kids are either shilling for more cash or spewing the latest Liberal social engineering lore.  I realize that some of these fundraiser are for class trips, sports, etc...  I'm not opposed to user fees, etc...  What I am opposed to is turning children into tax collectors.  I say there is plenty of money to educate our children.  American schools might not all be architectural masterpieces, but they certainly aren't the mirror image of Mumbai, and they shouldn't be portrayed as such.