[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

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.

Twisting what Im saying.
I think teachers should pay into thier benifits.
I think teachers union should sacrafice
Teachers are one of those specific fields, and not just another generic diploma. I would assume its a lot harder for a teacher to find another job without going back into training.

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?

Is there an age requirement?

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 hate to see sports being cut down, and other extracurricular events.

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).

Agreed, but thats not gunna be there.

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.

Who was given the choice? Individual teachers, or the unions and districts?

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.

Correct, but I changed my mind to see if it stayed non-political...for now.

I was thinking about that, but take a county like monmouth where you range from the Rumson/MidSouth/Holmdel towns to the Asbury/Neputne/Long Brand areas. I dont think that having 21 districts would reduce the number of overhead positions, just restructures them.
I think any BOE that have zero schools should have been eliminated overnight.
How do you value one school over another? How do you value one kid over another? If every school gets the same money per student, how is that fair to schools that have special needs? How about schools like Monmouth County's vocational and specialized high schools like High Tech High, MAST, and Allied?

Its a tough call, but this to me way a hatchet move. I hate when education is cut, and its always cut first.