Originally Posted By Labuda <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/25/rhode.island.teachers.fired/index.html?iref=obnetwork" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/...bnetwork</a> Good grief. The mayor of Providence has handed out notices of termination to EVERY teacher in the Providence public school system. Oh, but it's not all bad - they'll decide later who will and will not actually get to keep their jobs. This is being done in the name of budget flexibility. Sounds to me more like yet another attack on unions. WTH?!?! I cannot put into words how angry I am that unions are coming under attack the way they are, especially a group like teachers. Teachers are the backbone of this country. As one sign I saw from WI protests said "If you can read this, thank a teacher."
Originally Posted By mawnck Legally, something they have to do. It's an annual event here in California. Under the Union contracts they can't fire anyone without notice, so they give notices to everybody and figure out who and how many get laid off when the time comes.
Originally Posted By queenbee Not exactly, Mawnck. While it's true they have to hand out pink slips by a certain date in California. It's rare that a school district pink slips every teacher.
Originally Posted By Tony C Well the kids can teach themselves then. Does the GOP realize just how far from reality they are?
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder They've done here in Long Beach. At least the last two to three years running. If it isn't an annual event it's becoming one. It's not an attack on the unions so much as it is just business, since funding is continually cut each year.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder They've done here in Long Beach. At least the last two to three years running. If it isn't an annual event it's becoming one. It's not an attack on the unions so much as it is just business, since funding is continually cut each year.
Originally Posted By Labuda Good Lord. Teachers are abused enough (IMO)... so it's actually COMMON for some teachers to get a layoff notice every year? That just feels so very wrong to me. Education should be one of the LAST things we cut, not the first.
Originally Posted By Tony C But that doesn't mean that every teacher is bad. They do the best they can with the resources or lack thereof.
Originally Posted By Labuda IF the schools there are already bad, they need to work on improving them, not getting rid of more teachers and increasing class size while decreasing the teachers' ability to do their job well and give each student the proper amount of attention.
Originally Posted By Tony C I have no doubt there are bad teachers. Just like there are bad employees at every job. But the solution isn't you punish them by laying them off or taking away their rights.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<Education should be one of the LAST things we cut, not the first.>> Totally agree. I just can't understand why cutting education has always been the first thing that state and local governments go for. It always amazes me how unwilling Americans are to spend on their future!!
Originally Posted By Tony C When you're as out of touch as those in the GOP are that's what's going to happen.
Originally Posted By hopemax > I just can't understand why cutting education has always been the first thing that state and local governments go for. < Actually, it's not that difficult to understand. Education is usually the largest piece of the budget pie. So when you have to make up significant amounts of money, that's where you have to look. Because it's the place where the math will work. This is different than the federal budget, where the biggest pieces are automatically off limits (Defense, Medicare, SS).
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^The GOP is licking its chops at the prospect of dismantling those two programs.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Frankly, Medicare and SS should NOT be off limits. There is a massive transfer of wealth occurring in the country right now, and it is from the young and struggling to the old and comfortable. Because of increasing medical costs and increased longevity today's retirees have paid in NOWHERE NEAR what they will receive in benefits. Who has to pay the difference? The young working people of today. I'm not saying you scrap the programs or radically alter them. But for God's sake... NEEDS TEST who receives benefits! I have a real problem with someone in their twenties trying to start a family having to pay higher SS & Medicaid contributions so that some retired guy with 10 million dollars in the bank can collect his lousy 2K per month and have his medical expenses covered by the government. Something is VERY WRONG there.
Originally Posted By andyll <<Frankly, Medicare and SS should NOT be off limits. >> There is no point in fixing SS now. Currently the surpluses are going into the general budget. If you increase the surpluses now it will not be saved for future SS liabilities .. it will just go into the general bugdet like the rest.
