Does New Jersey really have too many school districts? (Newark: buy, taxes)

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by emanon

My son is an administrator/PR guy for one of the largest health car systems in NJ with totally free medical insurance. My daughter inlaw is a school teacher in one of Somerset counties larger school districts with totally free medical insurance.
Anybody care to guess which is the better medical insurance provider?
Both my son and daughter inlaw are on the free ride provided by the school system.

So now that I am retired I am still paying for my kids health insurance.

And don't tell me about chosen profession, when I tell you it's $100 per hour to fix your mistakes around your house nobody is feeling sorry for me and telling me I have chosen the wrong profession.

I suggest we give all the school teachers a $10,000 a year raise and let them pay their own insurance and retirement benifets.

E

1) and I'm paying your Social Security as I'll never see it when I retire - your point?

2) I'm actually ok with this! LOL

[ottomobeale]

I dont have a problem with direct (cash) teacher pay. Its the insane benefits and basing pay on tenure/education.

I pay 200 a month for *VERY* high deductible (5000/10000) health insurance. At my past job I paid 800 a month for high deductible health insurance (3000/6000).
Defined benefit pensions are a thing of the past. Bennies after retirement are a thing of the past. These benefits are crazy by todays standards. They are killing NJ.

Dont forget the unpaid benefits. No layoffs is worth something. 12 weeks vacation is worth something. I get 12 days and that is 2 better than the last place I worked..
Basing pay purely on tenure and education has bad effects. Once as a child in 2nd grade I got sick. I did not want to go home! How amazing is a teacher when a 7 year old DOES NOT WANT TO GO HOME!?! Mrs. Dueve I salute you! She is underpaid at $120K. OTOH My 7th grade teacher should have paid me to be there. They probably made similar money. There is something broken there.

BTW I work 2 jobs and I am over 40 so it can be done. I work 7 days a week. 2 Week days I leave the house at 5:10AM and get home from the 2nd job around 10:15PM. My last true day off was ?Presidents day!? I know, Welcome to NJ.

NJ in general needs alot of combining and not just of school districts. Too many small boros each with high paid staff. I am not saying mass layoffs and dump people in the street. I say combine and let attrition take the numbers down.

NJ did not get here in a week. It can take longer than a week to fix it but IT NEEDS TO GET ON THE CORRECT PATH NOW.

[emanon]

Originally Posted by tahiti

1) and I'm paying your Social Security as I'll never see it when I retire - your point?

2) I'm actually ok with this! LOL

And when the corporate worker gets laid off or retires they get to collect unemployment for 26 weeks. Something I have never collected and was not allowed to collect but was required to pay unemployment insurance for myself and my workers who did get to collect.(sorry you can't collect but here is your bill for your laid off workers) People actually think insurance pays unemployment benifits.

Please don't be telling me about benifits about which you know nothing .

After 40+ years of paying SSI taxes I finally get to live in luxury on your nickel.

E

[emanon]

Originally Posted by ottomobeale

NJ in general needs alot of combining and not just of school districts. Too many small boros each with high paid staff. I am not saying mass layoffs and dump people in the street. I say combine and let attrition take the numbers down.

NJ did not get here in a week. It can take longer than a week to fix it but IT NEEDS TO GET ON THE CORRECT PATH NOW.

"Home rule" is the downfall of NJ and this is the root cause of our high taxes but nobody wants to give up control of their schools or municipal workers.

Many just move away and are thankfull they are out of NJ

E

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by emanon

"Home rule" is the downfall of NJ and this is the root cause of our high taxes but nobody wants to give up control of their schools or municipal workers.

Many just move away and are thankfull they are out of NJ

E

Really? Because the state throwing money at failing school districts and ridiculous socialist programs, which have nothing to do with my home rule, seem to be the downfall of NJ. *Looks at budgets* yup, looks that way to me.

[apvbguy]

Originally Posted by tahiti

1) and I'm paying your Social Security as I'll never see it when I retire - your point?

2) I'm actually ok with this! LOL

are you just babbling left wing talking points? what facts have you used to come to the conclusion that you'll never see any ss benefits?

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by apvbguy

are you just babbling left wing talking points? what facts have you used to come to the conclusion that you'll never see any ss benefits?

A report done late last year shows that SS will spend more than it takes in as of 2017, and will completely run out of its special bond funding in 2041.

I don't expect to have SS benefits, as I'll be retiring 5 years later than that.

[lolamom]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

So how do states like NC, GA, etc., make it work then? They have county-wide districts, and it works just fine.
.

Uh, then why is Georgia ranked like 48th nationwide for school performance??

I live in Atlanta and most people have to think long and hard before putting their kids in public school. NJ, on the other hand, has a fabulous and well deserved public school reputation.

And as for the person who bashed teachers, they probably don't value the type of patience and inner resources it takes to mother, nurse etc. I bet they have just as little respect for those professions. I have been a highly paid executive and a stay at home mother and I can honestly say being a stay at home mom kicked my butt and then some. IT takes tremendous amount of mental and physical stamina to keep up with small children let alone try to teach them. I couldn't do it. I love being home but I remember when I worked 12 hours--I could still take a relatively peaceful bathroom or telephone break and recharge my batteries. That is unheard of as a teacher.

Lola

[lolamom]

PS. Be careful what you wish for because in my humble opinion the reputation of NJ schools is one of the few pluses the area has to support real estate prices.... And don't go telling me how close to NYC it is.... If you live in NJ, NYC is very inaccessible relative to many other metro areas nationwide. Going to NY becomes a major production unless you have major $$$$$ and can move across the water. So keep those public schools strong because when those go, I am not sure what the main selling point will be for us transplant types. Just my honest opinion--sorry if it offends.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by lolamom

Uh, then why is Georgia ranked like 48th nationwide for school performance??

I live in Atlanta and most people have to think long and hard before putting their kids in public school. NJ, on the other hand, has a fabulous and well deserved public school reputation.

Oh, please- take all of the extremely rural areas of GA out of the equation (something that NJ doesn't have) and you find that the schools in the two states are far more similar than your statistics lead one to believe. Sure, the inner-city schools in Atlanta are bad (just like the schools in Newark, Jersey City, and Camden), but the suburban schools are comparable to most of the NJ suburban schools.

The only folks who "think long and hard before putting their kids in public school" are the ones who buy in-town in areas where the housing has gentrified but the school system hasn't (sound familiar???). Those of us who bought in the right suburbs have no qualms about the public schools- just like those in the right suburbs in NJ.