The shell game is: (1) we have surpluses - we won’t use them to raise teacher pay, we’ll use them to pay for tax cuts instead; (2) we cut taxes, we no longer have surpluses, now we can’t pay for pay raises; (3) we aren’t raising enough revenue, now we must cut public services
god I hate this faux populist bullshit. K-12 is also free for rich people, as are public parks, the fire dept, libraries etc. Study after study shows means testing is the quickest way to gut programs for the rich AND the poor because it erodes the public base of support.