The two national teachers unions thought they had it all figured out: seek a $23 billion bailout for public schools and it would result in a windfall of dues money. Nearly $19 million for the National Education Association and almost $8 million for the American Federation of Teachers by my calculation – a handsome payback for the unions’ election support.

But the trough appears to be closing just as the unions were straightening their bibs.

That, of course, is a good thing for the American taxpayers – and the kids the union purports to put first who would ultimately be stuck with the bill.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) recently failed to garner the votes necessary to attach the Keep Our Educators Working Act to a supplemental defense spending bill, but D.C. lawmakers are expected to continue to push for the legislation.

Harkin would have needed 60 votes, and the support of Republicans, to attach the fund as an amendment to the defense bill, which recently passed without the school employee bailout amendment.

“I have no Republicans who will vote for it,” Harkin told Reuters.

My guess is that he’s got a few Democrats eyeing the November election and sensing a pitchfork mentality among the voters and they wouldn’t support it, either.

Its instinct to assume the bill is to keep teachers in the classroom. But the NEA and AFT were clear in their wording: an “education jobs bill.” It’s more than just teachers. About one-third of the NEA’s members are support personnel – custodians, bus drivers and food service workers – people who have no impact on the education of a child.

Yet the unions wanted to see those jobs (and dues) saved, too.

So instead of concessions at the bargaining table, instead of sensible cost-cutting reforms or tackling pension problems boiling over in states like Illinois (the teachers union there is actually pushing for the state to borrow to cover pension obligations), the unions want the gravy train to continue running on time.

The notion that schools are broke is laughable. Schools don’t have a funding problem; they have a spending problem.

Some Michigan schools spend well over $16,000 per employee for a health insurance package that kicks money back to the teachers union. By comparison, the average state employee plan is around $12,000.

In Ohio, the Cincinnati district last year spent over $7.5 million on sick and personal leave costs – state law requires 15 sick days a year per teacher, which are bankable. Remarkably, the district wasn’t able to calculate the cost of substitutes to cover all those sick days.

And of course, you have situations like in New York City where teachers are paid to sit in a room and do nothing constructive. That was costs taxpayers $30 million a year, according to the New York Times.

It would behoove Sen. Harkin and the other bagmen for the teachers unions to get costs under control before bellying up to the slop trough and demanding more. Until that happens, expect significant voter backlash and perhaps the end of your career in just a few months.