"Question for n5667: Shouldn't pay for teachers/police reflect the number of years of college education required to do the job? Teachers begin at 4 years of college paid at their own expense (I've had 6 yrs of college). Police get 6 months of training which is paid for them and they receive pay for going thru the training. Death statistics for police officers are skewed by counting all causes of death rather than causes of death arising from the unique dangers of their job description.

Second, teachers in Santa Cruz County are not paid wage equity with other counties in the State of California, but police/sheriff's are.

Isn't this a LOCAL problem of misplaced and patently unfair LOCAL policies regarding the relative value of police protection vs. education of our youth?"

A college education does not infer on an individual added competance. It may grant them knowledge, but having a diploma doesn't necessarily suggest a person deserves to be paid more money.

For police, the on duty death rate is 21 officers per 100,000. I doubt the rate is so high for teachers who are "on duty." And if the past few weeks are any indication, police officers have to deal with a rather more dangerous element of society than teachers do, in general.