text: For the State school budgeting,  the  budget is essentially a labor bill with a vast and generous benefits practice unavailable to the non government sector.  And,  it is about 3/4 of the employees working a very truncated "year",  which is a 180, @ 7.5 hours, contracted days of work,  with the pay spread out over 12 months to provide the illusion of "full time" work and remittance expectations.  Teaching staff is about as work prone as the US Senate,  which is not in session most of the time.    I believe in my local school district 88% of the budget is salaries,  wages, and benefits,  including the 6% of every salary dollar to PERS.  So the lights, water,  janitorial supplies, maintenance,  all come from the 12%.  Legacy payroll costs are significant as expressed in PERS mandated extra contributions and cadillac health insurance costs.  The 5% annual increase is primarily a salary and benefit schedule out of control,  not the cost of light bulbs and computer paper.