Posted: 1/23/2010 7:02:12 AM EDT
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The local school district is always crying about the need for more money(aka raise taxes).
I sorta don't mind paying taxes for things that benefit the entire student population(computers, books,chem lab, whatever) What I DO have a problem with is the idiots want to always take taxes to build another fucking football stadium. Why in F&^K do they do this? Does high school football make money or is it an ego thing? |
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The local school district is always crying about the need for more money(aka raise taxes). I sorta don't mind paying taxes for things that benefit the entire student population(computers, books,chem lab, whatever) What I DO have a problem with is the idiots want to always take taxes to build another fucking football stadium. Why in F&^K do they do this? Does high school football make money or is it an ego thing? It is strictly Ego, you can play football just as well in a cow pasture as you can a 20 million dollar stadium. |
Something I always raise hell about when they scream for higher taxes is the amount of empty school buses that run routes. Why are they sending all the full sized, 48' long school bus to run maybe 10-15 kids on a route? 
Why not have some more mid-sized units when some of the older, larger sized ones are retired? How much $$$ is wasted on bus routes that could be trimmed by asking the little darlings to (ahem) actually walk a mile to school? Every time I suggest this, most PC types go aghast at the thought. |
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Quoted:
The local school district is always crying about the need for more money(aka raise taxes). I sorta don't mind paying taxes for things that benefit the entire student population(computers, books,chem lab, whatever) What I DO have a problem with is the idiots want to always take taxes to build another fucking football stadium. Why in F&^K do they do this? Does high school football make money or is it an ego thing? Same thing here, but what they HATE is when you get a copy of the budget , then call them with the following questions 1 How much money did you recieve last year?? Answer 20 million ( for example) 2 How much did you recieve this year?? Answer 22 million 3 So , um , isnt 22 larger than 20?? Answer yes, but its not that simple, the cost of running a school goes up every year sir.
4 I understand that, but if you recieved 2 million more this year , does that also mean you received 2 millon more last year??/ Answer , every year is different sir . 5 Thats not an answer , how much more did you recieve last year? Answer It was 4 million more last year sir , but I assure you we are holding down spending as best we can 
6 So let me get this straight, over the past two years your funding has increased by approx 25 % and youre still asking for a new levy?????
The real answer OP is that they use the new levy money to give large raises to teachers and admin. The rest of funding increases pay for those pesky things like books and buses |
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Something I always raise hell about when they scream for higher taxes is the amount of empty school buses that run routes. Why are they sending all the full sized, 48' long school bus to run maybe 10-15 kids on a route?
Why not have some more mid-sized units when some of the older, larger sized ones are retired? How much $$$ is wasted on bus routes that could be trimmed by asking the little darlings to (ahem) actually walk a mile to school? Every time I suggest this, most PC types go aghast at the thought. We need a good way to stipulate that money gets spent on shit like textbooks, dry erase boards ($12 at Home Depot), wall maps, calculators, science lab gear... you know, CLASSROOM EQUIPMENT. Maybe hire more teachers if you need it. Maybe maintenance on some of those old-ass schools that are falling apart in some districts. Teacher pay raises? Most teachers I know would be happy with close to Cost of Living Adjustment plus breakfast tacos when we have to come in early for stupid meetings. Not on fact-finding junkets, consultants, educational specialists that work in the district office, administrator pay bonuses, et cetera. Spend that at the bottom and not at HQ, and you'll get more value for it. |
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There's a hundred different ways they could cut spending but they never do anything but spend more.
The underloaded school bus is a good example. What gets me is I pay taxes out the ass and then those buttwipes CHARGE me to attend a game. Hey Bud, my taxes BUILT that stadium. |
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A big part of the increase is contractually obligated raises and increased cost of benefits for employees. To keep the status quo, they absolutely require huge tax increases every fucking year.
The district I work in had the voters reject our budget this year, so we're trying to work with either zero increase or a markedly reduced increase from what we expected. They're not cutting the bullshit extra-curricular stuff, they're cutting teacher and staff positions. A lot of school districts operate in fucking la-la land, and they're not doing well at ALL with the spoonful of reality they're being forced to swallow. |
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The local school district is always crying about the need for more money(aka raise taxes). I sorta don't mind paying taxes for things that benefit the entire student population(computers, books,chem lab, whatever) What I DO have a problem with is the idiots want to always take taxes to build another fucking football stadium. Why in F&^K do they do this? Does high school football make money or is it an ego thing? Same thing here, but what they HATE is when you get a copy of the budget , then call them with the following questions 1 How much money did you recieve last year?? Answer 20 million ( for example) 2 How much did you recieve this year?? Answer 22 million 3 So , um , isnt 22 larger than 20?? Answer yes, but its not that simple, the cost of running a school goes up every year sir.
4 I understand that, but if you recieved 2 million more this year , does that also mean you received 2 millon more last year??/ Answer , every year is different sir . 5 Thats not an answer , how much more did you recieve last year? Answer It was 4 million more last year sir , but I assure you we are holding down spending as best we can
6 So let me get this straight, over the past two years your funding has increased by approx 25 % and youre still asking for a new levy?????
The real answer OP is that they use the new levy money to give large raises to teachers and admin. The rest of funding increases pay for those pesky things like books and buses Sadly, I doubt most of that $$$ goes to giving teachers raises. And if it does, its not a big raise... |
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The local school district is always crying about the need for more money(aka raise taxes). I sorta don't mind paying taxes for things that benefit the entire student population(computers, books,chem lab, whatever) What I DO have a problem with is the idiots want to always take taxes to build another fucking football stadium. Why in F&^K do they do this? Does high school football make money or is it an ego thing? Same thing here, but what they HATE is when you get a copy of the budget , then call them with the following questions 1 How much money did you recieve last year?? Answer 20 million ( for example) 2 How much did you recieve this year?? Answer 22 million 3 So , um , isnt 22 larger than 20?? Answer yes, but its not that simple, the cost of running a school goes up every year sir.
4 I understand that, but if you recieved 2 million more this year , does that also mean you received 2 millon more last year??/ Answer , every year is different sir . 5 Thats not an answer , how much more did you recieve last year? Answer It was 4 million more last year sir , but I assure you we are holding down spending as best we can
6 So let me get this straight, over the past two years your funding has increased by approx 25 % and youre still asking for a new levy?????
The real answer OP is that they use the new levy money to give large raises to teachers and admin. The rest of funding increases pay for those pesky things like books and buses Sadly, I doubt most of that $$$ goes to giving teachers raises. And if it does, its not a big raise... Im in Kali and we don't even have busses. The teachers don't get shit,,,,,,,, but the district office just got a brand new 30miliion dollar building and hired more district staff. wtf?????? oh yeah, they need more money for the children this year. |
| I have been a middle school science teacher for 16 years. In Texas there is NO collective bargaining but I am happy with my salary considering the time off. The thing that bothers me is the huge amount of money the district gives to companies that train and consult. It is a huge industry! You would also have a stroke if you saw the price of school books and supplies that districts pay. All types of vendors fleece the districts and administration loves to spend it. I think we could cut out big shot speakers, ridiculous training and buy from lowest bidder! |
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this is how my kids school supports its short funding issues. (K-8th)
no fundraisers like selling chocolate bars etc.. they have a board of parents called the (kids school name)support organization. every month or so they have a meeting and discuss funding for different school activities. the teachers can even go to the meeting and ask for funding for anything they need for their class, teaching materials, crayons, pens,pencils, etc.. this is how they raise all the money for the year. once a year in the fall they have a fall carnival and auction. they hire a few of those inflatable rides and have a bunch of carnival type games. every ride and game takes tickets in to play or ride and the tickets are sold before and during the auction for like 25cents or something like that. as far as the auction goes the support group goes out to the local communities and hits up the local stores for donations to auction off. gift cards from Walmart, trips to Branson, Zoo admission, and all kinds of stuff basically something for everyone. and the parents get involved too every class puts together a class basket for the auction, every class is different and each one has a theme, llike John Deere, a moms day at the spa, dads tool basket, hunting, family night. and I always make a few projects in my shop to donate. the board also runs the consession stand for all the school functions. over the last couple of years the board has put in all new playground equipment, bought uniforms for the various temas, put in a baseball/softball field...etc and have paid for the various class pizza parties and a bunch of other stuff... not too bad for a lil podunk elementary school...huh edit:my old high school back in Fla.used all the money from all our fundraisers/taxes etc.. to build a brand new stadium back in the 80's when the drafting class needed new tables, the mechanics class didnt have any tools or equipmnet etc...I thought that was bullshit even back then! |
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They've cut funding for music, art, and sports, children pay big bucks to ride the buses (and that's why there's 450 SUV's waiting outside the elementary everyday), the teachers sure as hell ain't getting rich so all the money is going somewhere ... according to my aunt and uncle (both school principles in two other states) the middle management has exploded. Where it use to be on manager per 25 or 30 teachers what they do is promote teachers up and out of teaching positions into some sort of management position for tens of thousands of dollars more - plus the cost of replacing the teacher in the position. Bingo - explosive growth and complaints about the student-to-teacher ratio.
But since nobody holds them accountable nothing gets done. |
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They've cut funding for music, art, and sports, children pay big bucks to ride the buses (and that's why there's 450 SUV's waiting outside the elementary everyday), the teachers sure as hell ain't getting rich so all the money is going somewhere ... according to my aunt and uncle (both school principles in two other states) the middle management has exploded. Where it use to be on manager per 25 or 30 teachers what they do is promote teachers up and out of teaching positions into some sort of management position for tens of thousands of dollars more - plus the cost of replacing the teacher in the position. Bingo - explosive growth and complaints about the student-to-teacher ratio. But since nobody holds them accountable nothing gets done. Not so much "managers" around here. We have the same number of departmental chairpeople and such. What we do see is a lot more "director of advancement and process" kind of positions. People making six figures or nearly so whose titles and duties are so vague that I don't even know if THEY know what they're supposed to be doing. The salaries for even the logical admin positions are out of control as well. Used to be you didn't go into education expecting to get rich. The other thing we see is an explosion in costs for special ed. Every third kid seems to need "accommodations", so we spend money on that and money on people to supervise that, and money on lawyers to quibble over it. Like I said, I work for a school. Maybe some of what's wrong is that we're not giving the community what they're asking for, but a whooooole lot of what's wrong is that we are. |
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The Governor here (I actually think it was Tom Ridge) approved an amazing deal a while back concerning the Teachers Retirement System (I think he increased retirement pay by around 33%...) and then provided no increased funding for it. Fast Eddy Rendell has delayed funding for the program also, so, pretty soon we are looking at a massive property tax increase just to fund (as per the deal) the teachers retirement system. Add to that lower State level public school funding, increased costs all around, School boards doing the bullshit "Anticipation" thing, and you have a recipe for property tax disaster here in PA.
Its pretty sad when our scumbag Governor starts warning us about the impending tax debacle that is heading towards us like an out of control freight train. Pennsylvania State Constitution prevents citizens from stopping any tax increase at the school board level. We really, really need to change that. Right now, only power we the citizens have, is who we vote for when they do fill school board seats. And once filled, they always approve tax increases. Its for the children............................ |