California county spends money electrifying a few school buses instead of providing school buses to most/all kids (San Diego: buy, school districts)

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

Yep. Classic.

Median house value is almost 1.5 million. Even with prop 13 they're getting way over the average property tax amount of the US. And the state with their "surpluses" (ignores liabilities and pensions) could be doing something useful to help instead they spend billions buying votes in an election year.

Attend town hall meetings and you'll find far too much money is frankly going to fat pensions at a rate well beyond the US average in nominal terms and as a % of total budgets. No amount of tax revenue will ever be enough here.

If you want to do some hand wringing over pensions take a look at Police & Fire Fighter & Prison guard pensions. Most public safety pensions were 3% @ 50 with no cap (they could receive 100% of their salary if they worked long enough) that was reduced in 2013 to new hires who now get 2% @ 50 with a cap of 2.7% @ 57. All teachers in California receive 2%@62 which is considerably less. But here's the deal, making a choice to get a public sector job is available to almost everyone, you chose not to but that doesn't mean you have a right to crap all over the benefits that come with public sector jobs, and when you do so you just come across as being jealous

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

Do you work for the state?

The this budget doesn't come from that budget bs is what Gavin et al love to parrot.

The reality is the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and we waste billions and our governance is a disaster.

No, I don't work for the state, but there is a solution to your extreme angst - move to another state!

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by joosoon

You mean like a new fleet of new school buses? Yeah. That would be a waste of money. Especially when the better solution is to just build more neighborhood schools (as has been the trend for several decades) instead of carting kids all over the place on a bus.


Busing is almost exclusively limited to sped kids in my district.

Here too, and part of the reason is the large number of open enrollment schools it would be impossible for a bus to make all the stops necessary to pick up kids and deliver them to an out of area school

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by sav858

Do many school districts even have buses normally?

Very uncommon in the Bay Area for districtwide school bus service for the entire student body.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

If you want to do some hand wringing over pensions take a look at Police & Fire Fighter & Prison guard pensions. Most public safety pensions were 3% @ 50 with no cap (they could receive 100% of their salary if they worked long enough) that was reduced in 2013 to new hires who now get 2% @ 50 with a cap of 2.7% @ 57. All teachers in California receive 2%@62 which is considerably less. But here's the deal, making a choice to get a public sector job is available to almost everyone, you chose not to but that doesn't mean you have a right to crap all over the benefits that come with public sector jobs, and when you do so you just come across as being jealous

Don't mean to interject while you're on a roll but when it comes to pensions for police, fire fighters, and prison guards, I take no issue with their higher than ordinary pensions. These men and women put their lives on the line every day doing their job. I don't see school administrators, public works department heads or even senior county counsel attorneys doing that and yet they often receive higher pensions than the emergency and safety personnel you mention.

I'm not blowing smoke here. I know this because I worked with them, still friends with some and even though I'm happy to see them enjoying retirement, I still scratch my head as to how they manage to receive higher pensions than those risking their lives, daily.

'Course, these days and the way kids are, teachers should be inducted into the safety retirement sector since their job has become pretty dangerous too.

I'll defend safety and emergency personnel forever and I bet very few members here ever worked in that field so their words mean nothing. If they want to walk in those shoes for 30 years then they earn the right.

Carry on now.

[AnythingOutdoors]

This isn't an either/or issue. School districts should provide busing for kids not within walking distance AND those buses should be electric.

The parent pickup/drop off lines at schools are clearly inefficient and bad for the environment. This simply should not be a thing. Run bus routes and stop the madness.

Yes, electric buses are expensive, but so are gas/diesel buses. School bus routes are an ideal application for EVs. Static, predictable routes with plenty of time to recharge before school lets out in the afternoon.

This is one of those areas where CA with it's budget surplus could write some big grants and immediately improve the life of students and parents while also greatly reducing GHG emissions. It's a no brainer.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Don't mean to interject while you're on a roll but when it comes to pensions for police, fire fighters, and prison guards, I take no issue with their higher than ordinary pensions. These men and women put their lives on the line every day doing their job. I don't see school administrators, public works department heads or even senior county counsel attorneys doing that and yet they often receive higher pensions than the emergency and safety personnel you mention.

I'm not blowing smoke here. I know this because I worked with them, still friends with some and even though I'm happy to see them enjoying retirement, I still scratch my head as to how they manage to receive higher pensions than those risking their lives, daily.

'Course, these days and the way kids are, teachers should be inducted into the safety retirement sector since their job has become pretty dangerous too.

I'll defend safety and emergency personnel forever and I bet very few members here ever worked in that field so their words mean nothing. If they want to walk in those shoes for 30 years then they earn the right.

Carry on now.

I'm the beneficiary of a very generous pension from a public safety agency after 27 years of service and I've always thought it was too high. No, I'm not going to refuse it or send it back, I'm just saying that it is too expensive and for public safety jobs that aren't state jobs, i.e. prison guards or CHP, the cost of funding those pensions leaves some cities and counties with very little money for other expenditures. I don't think I'm "on a roll", I was merely trying to put the pensions of teachers in perspective.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I'm the beneficiary of a very generous pension from a public safety agency after 27 years of service and I've always thought it was too high. No, I'm not going to refuse it or send it back, I'm just saying that it is too expensive and for public safety jobs that aren't state jobs, i.e. prison guards or CHP, the cost of funding those pensions leaves some cities and counties with very little money for other expenditures. I don't think I'm "on a roll", I was merely trying to put the pensions of teachers in perspective.

Duly noted. If you weren't out on the street, enforcing the law, protecting citizens or risking your life to extinguish fires or even keeping the peace inside a prison, then no, you probably are paid too much. The 90's contract negotiations gave many a gift that keeps on giving even if it puts a burden on communities. My comment related to those positions. There a lot of bloated pensions in state, county and city government. I guess you can count your blessings that you're in such a good place financially speaking.

And my "on a roll" comment was for the multiple replies you were posting, not the content of each post.

[2sleepy]

I guess I should clarify who gets public safety pensions. It's not dispatchers or secretaries it's only sworn personnel. Grey Davis is responsible for it https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/...ayers-billions

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I guess I should clarify who gets public safety pensions. It's not dispatchers or secretaries it's only sworn personnel. Grey Davis is responsible for it https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/...ayers-billions

Don't leave out property clerks in the sheriff's department. They actually get safety retirement. I know this for a fact. I think it's ludicrous but whatever

Good article. It did indeed go wrong <sigh>