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I think preventitive action needs to occur prior to this, unfortunately. That is to say, take all birth control pills off of prescription, and make them free. This is one instance where I would advocate an increase in my taxes. We'd be a lot better off if people who are merely siring babies have no ability to do so.
As long as they are not to cracked up and remember to take them
I live in a small school district that is facing the possibility of consolidation. I have not met one parent who is for it. I have heard people saying "I'll pay another 5k a year in taxes so we don't have to consolidate". People are scared about housing values getting slammed (which they will) and losing that small town feel. I think Corslime is going to have to do more than remove state aid to force consolidation as wealthy communities can easily make up the short fall. Our school state aid is only 1 mil a year. I wish they would focus on all the state wasteful spending (Abbot etc) rather than punish schools that are doing an excellent job educating and are (almost) self sufficient.
I think preventitive action needs to occur prior to this, unfortunately. That is to say, take all birth control pills off of prescription, and make them free. This is one instance where I would advocate an increase in my taxes. We'd be a lot better off if people who are merely siring babies have no ability to do so.
when you take the profit motive out of having more babies, then maybe those that can't afford to have those babies would do something to not create them
when you take the profit motive out of having more babies, then maybe those that can't afford to have those babies would do something to not create them
Oh you horrible person you, not givin money to all them babies!
"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
emanon - Home rule does account for a great deal of NJ inflated education costs by simply pitting one town against another in an upward bidding war for teacher salaries. "Look at what they got in the town next to us - we want the same increase if not more" shout the teachers' associations. The state itself is also guilty in the increasing creep of benefits costs.
After living in NC for 2.5 years, I'm beginning to feel sorry for NC teachers in stark contrast to the way I felt about NJ teachers. In NC, there is no collective bargaining for teachers and police. If you don't like the increase in salary that the state offers you, their (the state's) attitude is "don't let the door hit you in the @ss on the way out"! Fully one third of all new teachers quit the first year, so they are always hiring teachers down here.
The reason I have "some" sympathy with NC teachers are in the area of health benefits. NC will cover an individual teacher for their own health insurance But if you need insurance for your spouse that's an extra $350 a month for a 10 month year or $3500. If you need health insurance for your kids as well as a spouse that $650 a month or $6500 a year. This coverage does not include dental or vision benefits - that's extra. Couple that with a starting salary of about $30,000, no one who is a beginning teacher in NC feels terribly wealthy. A teacher with a master's plus 32 credits and 10 years experience makes about $47,000. That's part of the reason why taxes are so low down here.
There are a hundred counties in NC therefore, there are 100 school boards and a 100 school superintendants who make a lot less than their NJ counterparts, with much less assistants and other collateral staff. The exceptions are the two big cities of Raleigh and Charlotte whose supers make about $300,000 - about $2 per student in their respective counties. How much would some of those highly-paid superintendants in little NJ towns make if they got $2 a head for all the kids in their school systems?
There is nothing down here that would resemble an "Abbott District" Since NC has a county-run BOE each school in the county is funded the same as any other, about $6700 per pupil, whether the individual school has a poor population or rich one.
If you have an autistic child in NC, you may find a good school in a particular county, or a terrible school, which if you don't like it, you may be told to do "home schooling" which means you get to stay home and play teacher. NC is not going to spend $60,000 to $100,000 like NJ will do for "special needs" education on a student.
There must be some state in the country that satifies most parents and doesn't have the "Teachers Union Gone Wild" of NJ or the "Peon/Indentured Servant salary and benefit package" of NC. I still don't know which one it is!
The reason I have "some" sympathy with NC teachers are in the area of health benefits. NC will cover an individual teacher for their own health insurance But if you need insurance for your spouse that's an extra $350 a month for a 10 month year or $3500. If you need health insurance for your kids as well as a spouse that $650 a month or $6500 a year. This coverage does not include dental or vision benefits - that's extra. Couple that with a starting salary of about $30,000, no one who is a beginning teacher in NC feels terribly wealthy. A teacher with a master's plus 32 credits and 10 years experience makes about $47,000. That's part of the reason why taxes are so low down here.
Ok, I'm confused. Whats wrong with that?
At work, I have no kids, and my gf has her own insurance. We get insurance for free, wife/kids included. Recently, due to rising insurance costs, there was discussion about adjusting coverage levels. I told them I would consider it a pay cut, and quit - some others did too. The better solution would be to have those with families pay something, rather than make me, an employee, get less because some idiot has 10 kids and gets free coverage.
There are some school districts that are obvious to merge, such as;
Clinton borough and township + Union and Franklin townships
Menham borough and township
Boonton borough and township + Mountain Lakes
Rockaway borough and township
Hanover and East Hanover
Netcong and Mount Olive
Butler and Kinnelon
Montvale and Park Ridge
Hillsdale and Woodcliff Lake
Riverton and Cinnaminson
Medford Lakes borough and Medford township
Burlington city and Burlington township
Berlin borough and township
Gloucester city and Gloucester township
Caldwell + West Caldwell + North Caldwell + Essex Fells
Frenchtown borough + Kingwood township + Alexandria township
Milford borough and Holland township
Stockton borough and Delaware township
Lambertville borough and West Amwell township
Flemington and Raritan township
Hampton borough and Bethlehem township
Jamesburg and Monroe township
Long Branch + West Long Branch + Oceanport
Keyport + Hazlet + Union Beach
Shrewsbury borough and Little Silver borough
Farmingdale borough and Howell township
Asbury Park borough + Neptune townshp and borough
Freehold borough and township
Atlantic Highlands + Highlands
Farmingdale borough and Howell township
Wharton + Mine Hill
Lakehurst borough and Manchester township
Point Pleasant Borough and Point Pleasant Beach borough
Ringwood and Wanaque
Andover Regionald and Green township
Newton town + Fredon township + Hampton township
Stanhope borough and Byram township
Clark township and Winfield township
Alpha boro and Pohatcong township
Phillipsburg borough and Lopatcong township
Belvidere borough and White township
Hackettstown and Mansfield township
Washington borough and township
Lincoln Park borough and Montville township
These are so obvious and imagine the amount of money saved my merging the above. The other good thing is that you really aren't doing anything dramatic in changing income and demographics either.
Last edited by UrbanQuest; 04-29-2008 at 12:18 PM..
At work, I have no kids, and my gf has her own insurance. We get insurance for free, wife/kids included. Recently, due to rising insurance costs, there was discussion about adjusting coverage levels. I told them I would consider it a pay cut, and quit - some others did too. The better solution would be to have those with families pay something, rather than make me, an employee, get less because some idiot has 10 kids and gets free coverage.
Cu - All I'm saying is that NJ teachers should pay more for their health insurance than they currently do. The NC teachers seem to get "soaked" a little on the high side considering what they make, compared to NJ teachers. I agree with you in that insurance costs be proportional to the amount of family members being insured. I'm a single, retired Fed (55) with a $20,000 pension and pay $84 a month for health insurance (Blue Cross - Blue Shield) but it doesn't cover anything like what retired NJ teachers get under their insurance which they contribute nothing to! That's part of the reason for the big $70,000,000,000 pension liability costs NJ owes. At least pay "something"!
There are some school districts that are obvious to merge, such as;
Clinton borough and township + Union and Franklin townships
Menham borough and township
Boonton borough and township + Mountain Lakes
Rockaway borough and township
Hanover and East Hanover
Netcong and Mount Olive
Butler and Kinnelon
Montvale and Park Ridge
Hillsdale and Woodcliff Lake
Riverton and Cinnaminson
Medford Lakes borough and Medford township
Burlington city and Burlington township
Berlin borough and township
Gloucester city and Gloucester township
Caldwell + West Caldwell + North Caldwell + Essex Fells
Frenchtown borough + Kingwood township + Alexandria township
Milford borough and Holland township
Stockton borough and Delaware township
Lambertville borough and West Amwell township
Flemington and Raritan township
Hampton borough and Bethlehem township
Jamesburg and Monroe township
Long Branch + West Long Branch + Oceanport
Keyport + Hazlet + Union Beach
Shrewsbury borough and Little Silver borough
Farmingdale borough and Howell township
Asbury Park borough + Neptune townshp and borough
Freehold borough and township
Atlantic Highlands + Highlands
Farmingdale borough and Howell township
Wharton + Mine Hill
Lakehurst borough and Manchester township
Point Pleasant Borough and Point Pleasant Beach borough
Ringwood and Wanaque
Andover Regionald and Green township
Newton town + Fredon township + Hampton township
Stanhope borough and Byram township
Clark township and Winfield township
Alpha boro and Pohatcong township
Phillipsburg borough adn Lopatcong township
Belvidere borough and White township
Hackettstown and Mansfield township
Washington borough and township
Lincoln Park borough and Montville township
These are so obvious and imagine the amount of money saved my merging the above. The other good thing is that you really aren't doing anything dramatic in changing income and demographics either.
Wharton & Mine Hill?? They each have 1 elementary school..after that Wharton goes to Morris Hills so maybe merge there
and Mine hill goes to dover ditto here as well
Mt Arlington has 2 elementary schools after that the kids go to Roxbury
Cu - All I'm saying is that NJ teachers should pay more for their health insurance than they currently do. The NC teachers seem to get "soaked" a little on the high side considering what they make, compared to NJ teachers. I agree with you in that insurance costs be proportional to the amount of family members being insured. I'm a single, retired Fed with a $20,000 pension and pay $84 a month for health insurance (Blue Cross - Blue Shield) but it doesn't cover anything like what retired NJ teachers get under their insurance which they contribute nothing to! That's part of the reason for the big $70,000,000,000 pension liability costs NJ owes. At least pay "something"!
Ah, ok gotcha I want them to contribute for family members, I have no problem with covering the teachers themselves for free. I also want to abolish pension, and move to a percentage matched simple IRA program, among other things.
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I want them to contribute for family members, I have no problem with covering the teachers themselves for free. I also want to abolish pension, and move to a percentage matched simple IRA program, among other things.
