In the early 1980s, I followed my dream of having my own insurance business and created it from scratch. I ran up credit card debts, I often worked seven days a week and went 12 years without a vacation. I bought a catastrophic medical plan aftster going without medical insurance for many years because I couldn’t afford it. If I was sick, I lost money; and if I took a vacation, I lost money.

For my trouble, I was harassed and audited by the Internal Revenue Service. I paid painful workers compensation insurance premiums, and the public thought my industry was criminal. Laws were passed to cut my profits, bury me in paperwork, have me work longer hours and eventually force me to lay off my secretary in an attempt to stay in business.

With mounting taxes and no relief in sight, I walked away from my dream, as have millions of others who have tried to build businesses in this state.

I now am a teacher and have benefits that could not possibly be given by businesses that have to compete to survive. I get 11 sick days a year. If I don’t use them, they accumulate year after year. By the time I retire, I could take a full year off at full pay.

I have a pension that will allow me to retire at half my income after 20 years (not to mention Social Security as well), not just for my lifetime, but also for my wife’s lifetime. When I worked as an insurance agent, my retirement consisted of one year’s commissions.

I have excellent medical and dental benefits that only a chosen few in private industry would purchase. I have all these benefits because I am in a profession that does not have to worry about competition.

The taxpayers of California provide me with financial security beyond that available in private industry. No private company would allow employees to retire in their late 50s and pay them close to full salary for decades. Competitors would simply wipe out such a company.

Please understand that the vast majority of teachers are committed and work hard for your children, but there are more than a few who are not that dedicated. Private business would fire those employees. In public education, it costs roughly $250,000 to get rid of a tenured teacher, so most of these sub-par teachers continue to stay employed and waste your tax dollars.

I just hope that we don’t drive too many companies out of business who provide the revenue to keep me a float in my secure job.

I don’t expect the taxpayers of California to do anything about the problem until financial ruin happens, and I hope my days are over by then. I am grateful for my teaching job. It sure beats trying to run a business.

• Scott Hurban, a longtime Tracy resident, is a public schoolteacher in Stockton.