The legislature does not determine salary; that is a local school board decision. The protest is about the possibility of them paying an additional 3% into their retirement as part of trying to right the upside down boat of their division of PERA as well as raising the retirement age to 60. Too many retirees and not enough people working and contributing is the main problem. You want to continue with a defined benefit program instead of a 401(k), then you need to have more skin in it. State employees had to, so can the teachers. They also want to raise awareness for Initiative 93 which would tax people who make $150k a year or more and businesses in order to add money to a fund for the schools.