I am a teacher and now a school administrator in CA. I have spent 13 years in a non-union charter school. Our school is WASC accredited and a "distinguished" school, not a fly by night pop up charter.
We primarily hire new teachers. Our school does not purchase any boxed curriculum, nothing scripted or "pre-made". Each teacher makes their own curriculum and lessons- from deciding what books to teach, to collaborating in cross-subject projects, to writing their own math problems. If we hire new teachers, they come in fresh, passionate and inspired in their subject area and ready to change the world. We can teach them our way to teaching, classroom management and excitement. My teachers start at $34K and top out, with a masters degree and 20 years experience at $70K. I don't think that's an unreasonable pay scale- few careers ask you to work 20 years with a masters to be inching your way up to $70K.
My teachers teach 188 days a year. That means this summer, they have four weeks off to revamp their curriculum, attend a mandatory (unpaid) tech conference, take their personal vacations and go to the doctor. We don't have vacation days and sick days are limited to keep subs out of the classroom. Our middle and high school teachers have 140 student contacts a day. Our elementary have 28, with no aide and no daily prep.
We get some duds- sure! But the benefit of being non-union is that every employee is at-will so we don't have to wait forever to let someone go.
