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Spot on..... Seems like the op wants Alabama style schools where teachers need food stamps.
How about Massachusetts which is also known for having great schools but spends 25% per pupil?
NY teacher benefits are far, far higher than in any other state (except Alaska, which makes sense as it’s a tough environment.) In fact, just salaries and benefits alone exceed all-in expenses of 40 states.
I was not comparing to NE or Florida(Fl taxes are pretty high, too). (I think taxes in MA or CT are even higher than on LI) I was referring to low tax States like AL, ARK, SC,MS, LA, etc. There are a few good school districts in FL - not very many. Compared to LI, where there a few bad districts, but the majority are good.
Then again, how are we defining "good?" That all depends on where the school is located and what the residents are looking for in a school. In some places, it is college admissions. In others it may be wins at football. And everything in between.
I was not comparing to NE or Florida(Fl taxes are pretty high, too). (I think taxes in MA or CT are even higher than on LI) I was referring to low tax States like AL, ARK, SC,MS, LA, etc. There are a few good school districts in FL - not very many. Compared to LI, where there a few bad districts, but the majority are good.
Then again, how are we defining "good?" That all depends on where the school is located and what the residents are looking for in a school. In some places, it is college admissions. In others it may be wins at football. And everything in between.
I joined this Forum over 10 years ago.
This topic seems to have been going on continuously for all of those 10 years. People complaining about teachers making too much money, having cushy jobs, spending summers on their yachts, buying million dollar houses, etc. For example, even at 150G a year, no one can afford a million dollar house. 500G house would be tough.
Is there anything NEW to say about this?
If the situation is so bad, pick up & move to a lower tax State. That's if you don't care about the quality of education your kids get. In most lower tax states, many people are forced to send their kids to private schools because the public education is so bad.
If this is such a bad situation, why does it continue to exist? School board members are elected. Get out and vote for members who will do things the way you want them done. Maybe this situation continues because the Majority prefers it this way. Or maybe the majority really does want what is being discussed here, but they are too lazy to vote?
Whatever it is, just how many more years will this same thread continue?
Sure, piece o cake. I know all about it and this "topic" has gone in in America for 150+ years. It's argued daily in local govts across the country. The battles over funding, taxes, charters, common core, unions, teacher accountability. Why wouldn't it be discussed here endlessly? It's the #1 driver of our taxes.
The bottom line are the contracts and as you and I state, direct and to the point, elect a school board who cares about the taxpayer (almost) as much as the teachers. The big obstacle is not only do not enough people vote, the ones who DO vote are predominately on the union side. They organize, scare, cajole and incentivize their people and families to vote. That is why the same incumbent schnooks win time after time or until they are finally indicted and led out in handcuffs. The system isn't officially rigged, but apathy allows it to be manipulated.
Kate Murray was just at my son's middle school graduation. Why?!?! Cause that hack is running for something again. I wanted to start a "Lighthouse Project" chant but that probably would have been rude of me. She'll win too. Tweaked system, short memories and apathy. We get what we get but still get upset. So we come on here and rant.
I was not comparing to NE or Florida(Fl taxes are pretty high, too). (I think taxes in MA or CT are even higher than on LI) I was referring to low tax States like AL, ARK, SC,MS, LA, etc. There are a few good school districts in FL - not very many. Compared to LI, where there a few bad districts, but the majority are good.
Then again, how are we defining "good?" That all depends on where the school is located and what the residents are looking for in a school. In some places, it is college admissions. In others it may be wins at football. And everything in between.
"Good" to me means a good high school experience, a solid education, being prepared for college and having engaged teachers.
And as Florida doesn't have any income tax, the overall burden is considerably less than NY. My experience with education in Florida has been very positive, but I lived in a wealthier county (districts are county-based in FL).
But your statement was a pretty blanket one, and fairly typical of what people say - "if you don't like it, well, go down south to some bumpkin place with low taxes and pay for private school." Except it's not that simple.
We agree on our def of "good" but not everyone does.
And you hit the nail on the head when you talked about a good school in FL in a wealthier district. And very important with respect to the LI experience, districts are County based. Imagine how much money would be saved by cutting the huge number of school districts on LI! I know there has been talk about changing that for decades, but nit gonna happen.
Envy is human emotion that is tough to stifle. I envy the saavy investor that put 10k on apple stock and made millions. I get it. But shameless jealousy is really tough to watch. Every job has pros and cons. I'm not going to hate on a fellow working stiff.
It's not jealousy. It's the corrupt NYS Teachers Union sucking us for our money we have to save in order for them to have a cushy/millionaires retirement. None of them are worth the sums of money they're receiving. Cut their paychecks in half and their retirement handouts, and that's approximately what they're worth - if that. That would be a more realistic picture for the amount of time/work they actually do.
It's all we can do to save enough money every year to pay our RE bill. It feels as though we're paying the national debt. 3/4 of that bill goes to the teachers. They are not worth going broke for.
Most of those teachers are mediocre at best, and lousy at worst. They aren't working stiffs. They don't work enough to be called "working stiffs." They have part-time jobs compared to full-time employees working their tails off for a job that doesn't guarantee pay raises and has, if they're lucky, health care insurance with $4,000 deductibles like us. My friend who is a high school principal would be the first one to tell you and everyone else that most of his teachers are in it for the money, the perks (time off especially), and an over-compensated retirement.
My other friend, a retired superintendent from North Babylon would tell you the same as above. And she informed me that a tenured teacher can be a total deadbeat at teaching, and there's nothing that can be done about it. In fact if that lousy teacher is being pressured out, the school district has lawyers that will defend the lousy teacher. At the taxpayers expense. Go look it up. It's perfectly true.
Personally, all we'll be getting is social security. Period. No one is going to hand us in excess of $100K+ a year.
Teachers and administrators have been turned into millionaires. We would need anywhere from $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 in the bank to draw upon for the next 30 years give or take in order to sustain their retirement income. The teachers and administrators have nothing in the bank since they knew about 25 years ago they wouldn't have to save a dime toward their retirement while the rest of us would being taxed to the point of losing our houses. I have 3 friends who had to sell their houses and move off over-taxed LI - the tax bills were exhorbant - in the $20K range. And maybe that's not much for you, but it was for them. Not everyone is in a high tax bracket.
Some of my retired teacher friends think it's hilarious we're being taxed to pieces. There's a very strong sense of entitlement among the personnel of public schools.
We need money to live on too, besides the teachers. Being robbed is an atrocity.
They may as well come to my front door with gun in hand, loaded and ready to shoot, and demand a check for $11,000 instead of wrapping it up in the RE tax bill. That's what our portion of the public school tax bill was this year. Sickening. We're just scraping by as it is. We have no kids in the school system. Haven't for many, many years.
So go stuff your baloney about jealousy. This is about legalized thievery. Pure corruption. Period. The NYS corrupt/greedy teachers union members ought to be ashamed of themselves. But I'm guessing none of them have a conscience.
It's not jealousy. It's the corrupt NYS Teachers Union sucking us for our money we have to save in order for them to have a cushy/millionaires retirement. None of them are worth the sums of money they're receiving. Cut their paychecks in half and their retirement handouts, and that's approximately what they're worth - if that. That would be a more realistic picture for the amount of time/work they actually do.
It's all we can do to save enough money every year to pay our RE bill. It feels as though we're paying the national debt. 3/4 of that bill goes to the teachers. They are not worth going broke for.
Most of those teachers are mediocre at best, and lousy at worst. They aren't working stiffs. They don't work enough to be called "working stiffs." They have part-time jobs compared to full-time employees working their tails off for a job that doesn't guarantee pay raises and has, if they're lucky, health care insurance with $4,000 deductibles like us. My friend who is a high school principal would be the first one to tell you and everyone else that most of his teachers are in it for the money, the perks (time off especially), and an over-compensated retirement.
My other friend, a retired superintendent from North Babylon would tell you the same as above. And she informed me that a tenured teacher can be a total deadbeat at teaching, and there's nothing that can be done about it. In fact if that lousy teacher is being pressured out, the school district has lawyers that will defend the lousy teacher. At the taxpayers expense. Go look it up. It's perfectly true.
Personally, all we'll be getting is social security. Period. No one is going to hand us in excess of $100K+ a year.
Teachers and administrators have been turned into millionaires. We would need anywhere from $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 in the bank to draw upon for the next 30 years give or take in order to sustain their retirement income. The teachers and administrators have nothing in the bank since they knew about 25 years ago they wouldn't have to save a dime toward their retirement while the rest of us would being taxed to the point of losing our houses. I have 3 friends who had to sell their houses and move off over-taxed LI - the tax bills were exhorbant - in the $20K range. And maybe that's not much for you, but it was for them. Not everyone is in a high tax bracket.
Some of my retired teacher friends think it's hilarious we're being taxed to pieces. There's a very strong sense of entitlement among the personnel of public schools.
We need money to live on too, besides the teachers. Being robbed is an atrocity.
They may as well come to my front door with gun in hand, loaded and ready to shoot, and demand a check for $11,000 instead of wrapping it up in the RE tax bill. That's what our portion of the public school tax bill was this year. Sickening. We're just scraping by as it is. We have no kids in the school system. Haven't for many, many years.
So go stuff your baloney about jealousy. This is about legalized thievery. Pure corruption. Period. The NYS corrupt/greedy teachers union members ought to be ashamed of themselves. But I'm guessing none of them have a conscience.
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