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Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28
What do you think the boards are gunna do: reduce their pay, or fire a bunch of expendable teachers?
I think that teachers need to take a more private sector approach to benifits, no doubt. And BOE members and superintendents need to have their pay levels reworked.
But this does none of that. This gets rid of teachers, and not reduce pay levels. Sure, you will get some to budge.
Tell me if you are in their shoes, would you cut your pay in a tough economic times? Or would you just get rid of a few new teachers. Whats the real difference between 30 kids to a class or 40 kids to a class? Is music that important? Do we need to offer Italian or French or even Spanish in schools?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28
I agree but the BOE is not going to make the cuts you did they will fire the teachers with a few thousand dollars in college loans. This IMO was the wrong way of cutting the fat. IMO the cut the meat as well.
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What planet do you live on where no one is laid off or has their wages frozen or benefit costs increased? You bring up college costs? Really? Red herring much? People in the real world have those issues too. Many schools have starting rate over $50,000. Teachers are not fast food workers making minimum wages. I agree, a great teacher should make $100k, but the system is so f**ked it is impossible. The union will never allow the purging of bad teachers.
And again I'll tell you in most districts in this state BOE members are not paid. And you can go vote the BOE members out if they do not do what you want. Problem is BOE is getting to be such a PITA to be on that no one is running. There were incumbents running unopposed. Hey, how about you STFU and run?
Plus voting down a school budget is almost a worthless process, there is very little they can do. It goes to the town govt, and they can’t remove anything the state requires, and the budget must adhere to state guidelines. My gut is voted down budgets lead to the end of expensive sports (ice hockey) and other non-class stuff. The teacher cuts are already in the budget for the most part.
I know of school districts cutting admin/non-teaching staff and not filling positions, foregoing capital improvements, cutting sports and other non-class activities. It's not all teachers. And music and the arts are important. As are languages. Besides the state mandates require them. Go look into those unfunded mandates. We also need before and after school programs, especially in the ‘Abbott’ districts. That would help low income kids 100000 times more than a new football stadium (I’m looking at you Neptune).
All I am saying is if the local unions had a choice to open a contract and freeze wages in exchange for reduced or eliminated job losses and they said no, well, they had a choice most people in the real world do not get. Around here, according to what I’ve read, the locals that reopened the contract got a no layoff in return.
The whole system is a disaster. We need to eliminate local school districts and go to a county level setup which in theory eliminates a lot of overhead positions. Like district curriculum coordinator and lots of superintendent roles. I don’t know if they have any employees, but South Belmar has a BOE! No schools mind you, but they are a district. And there are many districts with K-5 or K-8. Kill them off now. And there should be no local teacher contract negotiations. And school costs should not be so reliant on property taxes. I’d rather see it come from the state with each district getting $x per student, that is it. There's no $$ left in NJ.
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Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon
i posted this yesterday but bonzo deleted it....now its on the same topic. cut the teachers budget and put that money somewhere else in the state.
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Correct, but I changed my mind to see if it stayed non-political...for now.