Governor Scott Walker has leveled the largest assault on public education in the history of the state of Wisconsin. This is an attack on the middle class and an attack on teachers who are being treated as political tools and pawns. They're bargaining chips in negotiations.
Teachers, who play more of a role in economic development than anybody who wants to take a chance on Wall Street, are being vilified and targeted unfairly.
Nobody goes into teaching to get rich. They do it because they love helping people. They love the reward of seeing kids reach their potential. It takes a special person to be a teacher.
The wonderful thing about public education is that everybody's welcome -- the gifted, the talented, the challenged. The socioeconomically challenged kid can walk in the door and have a chance to learn and his or her only hope, because that home life might not be the best, their hope is that teacher.
Republicans are placing the burden of economic recovery on the backs of the middle class and our teachers. An economic recovery required because of the policies put in place by Republicans, resulting in wealth distribution from the middle class to the top two percent.
My mother was a high school English teacher at Granby High School in Norfolk, Virginia. She had three accelerated classes and three regular classes. My mother graded papers until the wee hours of the morning. She got her kids off to school every day. And when she came home in the afternoon, she was still grading papers, and then she was working on lesson plans on Saturdays.
My mom used to take tremendous pride in knowing that one of her students went off to the University of Virginia and became a doctor. She took a tremendous amount of pride in being part of that student's education.
And I know in my heart that teachers haven't changed over the years even though my mom died years ago and came from a different generation. They're still the same. I know they're the same because I was in that crowd at Madison, Wisconsin and I looked into the eyes of those teachers. They haven't changed a bit.
This philosophy that teachers are overpaid is running them out of the industry. And we don't have the quality teachers in the classrooms that we could have as a nation if we invested in what should be a shared value by all.
How about tax credits for teachers who want to expand their horizon and get maybe a PhD? Is that a good idea? And how about the income for people in New Jersey?
New Jersey has the third highest percentage of millionaire residents in America -- nearly 7 percent of the people that live in New Jersey are millionaires. New Jersey millionaires, how many of them are there? Well, there are 212,000 of them. How many teachers? A hundred and twelve thousand. There are more millionaires in New Jersey than teachers, but we're asking the teachers pay for everything. We can't raise the taxes on the rich folks over in New Jersey, maybe the top two percent maybe giving one more percent?
It's unfortunate. And now, here we go with the attack on labor. Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana -- let's keep up the fight. We can win this. And it's a long way from over.
And, mom, this is dedicated to you.
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Michael Moore: America Is Not Broke
Richard Trumka: Today's Heroes: The Wisconsin 14
Fast forward: in NY the school system provides (and pays for) 1,500 teachers to work at/for the teachers union. NY pays the teachers about $100,000 each AND the union pays each teacher $50,000. They school system has to hire another 1,500 substitute teachers to take the place of the original 1,500.
The teachers unions do not want their contracts put on the internet for everyone to see. They would have you 'believe' they are mistreated. Yet they only work HALF the time that an average office workers does and a FRACTION of the time that most salary workers do (can you say Engineer?).
Here is a link to view NY Teacher contracts. There are others for your state.
http://www.seethroughny.net/Contracts/TeacherSuperintendentContracts/tabid/54/Default.aspx
Keep in mind: Tenure. A Teacher can be wholly and totally incompetent and yet keep their job! Thereby 'damaging' the student... I've had my share of such teachers and my FIL was one too.
Unions (as they are now) destroy a persons ambition. Why not be able to reward the 'star' workers?
For Bernie Sanders' take on the war on the middle class, see http://tinyurl.com/LeeSanders
I believe Mr. Shultz would write the check along with all the others if that's the new tax law and I didn't see anything uncivil about the protests.
Don't lefties bemoan big corps squeezing out small business, but in education, you want big gov and unions (equals cant fire bad teachers) to teach your kids.
Crazy.
Since before the civil war, I believe. Except back then they were the southern democrats. Same people though.
March 6, 2011, by Jamie Dupree
The Obama Administration has quietly issued another 126 waivers to one provision of the Obama health law, putting the total number of waivers now at over one thousand.
The latest waivers were issued Friday by the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, a new agency set up by the Health and Human Services Department after the approval of the controversial health reform statute.
"As of the end of February 2011, a total of 1040 one-year waivers have been granted," reads an update on the agency's website from Friday.
"This update includes 126 new approvals," the agency states.
Unlike previous lists of the waivers - which were all listed on one web page - the CCIIO has now broken them out into seven different pdf pages, which makes it a bit more difficult to go through.
Some of the newest waivers have again been granted to labor unions, like Local 246 in New York City of the Service Employees International Union, Teamsters Local 20 in Toledo, Ohio, the United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Health & Welfare Fund in Atlanta, Local 247 of the Plumbers & Steamfitters Union in Alexandria, Louisiana, and many more.
The following paper was written about NY pensions:
http://wwwÂ.empirecenÂter.org/DoÂcuments/PDÂF/PensionEÂxplosion.1Â2.20102.pdÂf
If you download that paper you will have all the info on the 3% over 10 years, the 860K on retirement etc.
Now for comparison, private sector workers contribute 6.5 % of their income to social security over their complete work career (40 yrs), plus their employer contributes an equal share. By comparison, soc sec typically pays 25K per year, half what the median NY teacher pension is.
So, between the employee and employer, contributors pay 4 times as much for social security, for 4 times as long, and get half the benefit. Of course, the public employee's pension also has an "employer" contribution, which is the government, i.e. the same taxpayers who already are paying for soc sec.
There is a major mismatch here that needs to be addressed that has nothing to do with what anyone thinks of teachers, firefighters, or police. It has to do with the unchecked power of public employee unions negotiating with unaccountable volunteer community people and politicians who also want their votes.
Your statement is incorrect.
He had been 'teaching' math for many years without a college degree! Without ANY real qualifications other than his color (black). (Thankfully) he lost is job.
You can read about how the schools went through a new superintendent every year as one failed miserably after another. It seems a superintendent's requirements were only that they be a black teacher and he have a college education. Be qualified to run a $200+ million organization? Well, that is not required at all.
(Most) People are not paid for what they DO but paid for what they KNOW and their level of responsibility.
Teachers are well paid for their time. Let the schools stay open all year and (at the same hourly pay) they will make much more AND our children will be better educated?
It seems the RepublicanÂs, through Gov. Walker and their backers have shown the middleclasÂs that education for the less fortunate is not important to them. Therefore what needs to be done is to stop this huge welfare system that is in place, in order to reduce the deficit. The Democrats need to support this welfare reduction and pass legislatioÂn to increase taxes on the wealthy by closing all the questionabÂle tax deductions that those of the wealthy/coÂrporate welfare state use, to avoid paying taxes. Perhaps, if the wealthy weren't given such welfare perks by the governmentÂ, those in the middle and lower classes wouldn't have to subsidize them in paying down the deficit. The RepublicanÂs talk a good game, however, you don't see any RepublicanÂs saying the deficit is such a problem that we ALL must sacrifice. The RepublicanÂs aren't up for that and have no intention, under any circumstanÂces, of reviewing, never mind voting for cuts to the Welfare for the Rich tax programs. They have always seen the middleclasÂs as those that should pay the country's bills and no urgency will prompt them to change. Their short sightednesÂs by decimating the middleclasÂs so that they can no longer pay the bills, didn't occur to them. Let's now, in union, for the Union, move forward and pay off the deficit by ending this SOCIALISM for the RICH system.
"Go-BadgerÂs!
This is partisan union-busting, pure and simple.
It is the relationship of union and legistlature. scratch my wages, I'll scratch your reelection fund.
got it Sherlock.
There are differences in the funding of public education as to the ability to provide all the bells and whistles in our schools. As a student, I graduated from an inner city school that was not well funded and was a disadvantage for academic success. The schools were old and set on concrete sidewalks without the green spaces of the suburban schools, the classrooms were old, the textbooks well used, and the student body came into the building many social problems.
However, none of that mattered to the students who would go onto higher education, trade, or business schools; because of the teachers who encouraged the students to learn and made learning an adventure. Everything else was wallpaper, the most important key to learning was the teachers. I became a teacher.
Unions are the deal here, not teachers.
Please re-read the article written by Ed Schultz which was NOT focused on the subject of UNIONS.
Mr. Schultz, whose mother was a teacher, wrote about the importance of public education and the contribution that teachers have made toward the economic health of our nation.
The demonstrations in Wisconsin and other states are concerned with UNIONS as related to all state and public employees; and the reductions made to programs that will curtail services.
Ann
...he ducked the question entirely preferring to "educate" us that education helps people attain better incomes. No comment by him on the drive to reduce pay to WI teachers. Ben's just giving lip service to our middle class values...his real constituency (Obama's constituency as well) is the ultra-rich...
...they need the discussion to be on anything but TAXING THE RICH.
BTW: (wiki)As stipulated the Banking Act of 1935, the President appoints the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; they must then be confirmed by the Senate and serve for 14 years. Once appointed, Governors may not be removed from office for their policy views. The chairman and vice-chairman are chosen by the President...
(Wiki)