The number of politicians who essentially say all public servants should be fired or live on starvation wages is rather low as a percentage of all elected officers, particularly on the local level. It's rare that you will see a local politician come right out and say "We should not be paying teachers." This phenomenon is supported by the two related factors, in my experience: Teachers tend to be not too shabby at lobbying on this level, and the large contingent of people with children don't like the idea that their kids are being neglected.