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The solution is not for those who have been stagnant to complain that teachers should be stagnant too. The solution is to tax that 1% that have done so well.
What does the income of the top 1% have to do with teachers salaries??
This is what happened over the last 10 years or so - the wealth gap has grown to where it was in the 1920's. The top 1% owns most of the wealth in this country. That creates a shrinking middle class.
America boomed in the 50's - that's when unions were getting a decent pay for the average worker. That's when our economy soared. Now we're back to where it used to be and the (private sector) middle class is now looking at their neighbors (public employees) and getting miffed. They're scratching and clawing to make ends meet with no raise in a number of years and cuts in benefits while watching their taxes increase $300 to $800 per year for the schools.
How to fix this?
If the damn Bush tax cuts were not approved for the top 1% (these are people making millions) then more money would close the deficit that we're now experieincing. THIS won't help our schools (because that's local), but this will help our economy (which will help the middle class - which will help the schools).
It would also be nice if laws were written to promote keeping jobs in the country.
he only reason should be supply and demand. If Engineers are in more demand and there exists a lack of supply, then they should be paid more. There exists an oversupply of teachers on Long Island, so they should be paid accordingly or else you have an abundance of people who want to become teachers because the spot an arbitrage opportunity. That is what currently exists on Long Island.
Everyone wants to become a teacher because they realize that the job pays way more then it should naturally. Want proof? Look at what the private schools pay. Those teachers need to have the exact same education/certification and they make 1/2 what union teachers are paid.
NYEconomist; It is sad that you actually have no idea what you are talking about. Try researching and reading FIRST. A private school teacher is not required to have the same education/certification as public school teachers. Stop trying to spout off information as fact when you really don't know what you are talking about.
Second, it is not as simple as supply and demand. Teachers used to be in low demand because no one wanted the difficulty of the job as well as the low pay. As teacher pay increased, the job has become more desirable. Is the government supposed to then violate contracts that were negotiated because the economy as been on a downturn? When the economy increases again, is everyone going to be giving tons more money to the public sector?
Horsehockey! There was a teacher shortage because of increased enrollments in the 70's due to horny babyboomers cranking out kids! Pay and bennies were decent then, as opposed to criminally inflated by strongarm union voting blocs like they are now. The current demographics are the opposite. Enrollments declining. The difference is the overinflated salaries and benefits and the special ed and ESL mandates due to the state's knee jerk reactions to autism and illegal alien's children. Those are facts, not hyperbole about the "difficulty" of the job.
Go break rocks or work in a coal mine, that's hard. Teaching is a little challenging and highly compensated in return. That's why it's a golden ticket and almost no one leaves unless they hit the lottery. Try a little reality.
Because what public employees are getting paid wouldn't matter if our government had the balls to actually raise taxes.
The school districts have the balls to raise taxes every single year ... to pay for TEACHERS' SALARIES, benefits and pensions. There is no problem when it comes to raising property taxes on LI, which is where the teachers' salaries come from, I assure you of that.
Because that is NOT THE WAY they gather LOCAL taxes to pay for teachers, police, etc.
They gather the tax through PROPERTY TAXES NOT INCOME TAXES.
I get that. Here's my post from earilier where I talk about the relation (note the last paragraph):
"This is what happened over the last 10 years or so - the wealth gap has grown to where it was in the 1920's. The top 1% owns most of the wealth in this country. That creates a shrinking middle class.
America boomed in the 50's - that's when unions were getting a decent pay for the average worker. That's when our economy soared. Now we're back to where it used to be and the (private sector) middle class is now looking at their neighbors (public employees) and getting miffed. They're scratching and clawing to make ends meet with no raise in a number of years and cuts in benefits while watching their taxes increase $300 to $800 per year for the schools.
How to fix this?
If the damn Bush tax cuts were not approved for the top 1% (these are people making millions) then more money would close the deficit that we're now experieincing. THIS won't help our schools (because that's local), but this will help our economy (which will help the middle class - which will help the schools)."
This is what happened over the last 10 years or so - the wealth gap has grown to where it was in the 1920's. The top 1% owns most of the wealth in this country. That creates a shrinking middle class.
America boomed in the 50's - that's when unions were getting a decent pay for the average worker. That's when our economy soared. Now we're back to where it used to be and the (private sector) middle class is now looking at their neighbors (public employees) and getting miffed. They're scratching and clawing to make ends meet with no raise in a number of years and cuts in benefits while watching their taxes increase $300 to $800 per year for the schools.
How to fix this?
If the damn Bush tax cuts were not approved for the top 1% (these are people making millions) then more money would close the deficit that we're now experieincing. THIS won't help our schools (because that's local), but this will help our economy (which will help the middle class - which will help the schools).
It would also be nice if laws were written to promote keeping jobs in the country.
Yes the capital gains tax is too low in my opinion and the wealth and separation of the top 10% is greater than it has been in decades, that has little to do with the argument regarding public service salaries.
No one took issue with public unions getting above average benefits back in the 70's but salaries have also now increased wll above the median. There needs to be some common sense solutions to controlling school expenses and they all point to salary reductions and freezes.
Yes the capital gains tax is too low in my opinion and the wealth and separation of the top 10% is greater than it has been in decades, that has little to do with the argument regarding public service salaries.
A rising tide lifts all boats. Improve the economy via government stimulus, and you increase tax revenue overall as people go back to work, earn higher salaries, etc. This is pretty basic Keynesian economics. It also has the pleasant side effect of improving the lot of everyone rather than the crab mentality of dragging down the public sector employees.
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