Posted on 02/08/2011 3:23:16 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Megan Allen teaches special-needs students at Cleveland Elementary in Tampa, a tough job under any circumstances. She does it so well that last year she was Florida's Teacher of the Year.
Now Gov. Rick Scott wants to take some of her pay away a move that teachers, firefighters and other public employees say will hurt education, hamper law enforcement and chase good people away from public employment.
Scott, in the budget he unveiled Monday, called for an overhaul of the state's pension system for teachers, police officers, firefighters and other state and county workers. He wants them to contribute 5 percent of their pay to their retirement accounts, instead of the state covering the entire expense. Most states require at least some employees to contribute toward their retirement.
Allen said it would be fair for Scott to ask teachers to contribute only if they were being paid a salary comparable to what they could earn in the private sector.
The governor predicted that many public employees will complain, but told supporters, "What we have to remember is we're doing this for the sake of our children and grandchildren."
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
"We're getting blows from all angles," she said. Her decision to go into teaching "was never about the money. But we planned so that we could survive and not go on food stamps. Now someone is changing our plan midstream."
Welcome to the party!
Ralph Grant, a captain in Pasco Fire Rescue who is eight years from retirement, estimated the shift would cost him $3,500 a year.
"You've got to understand, when we took these positions for public service, it was not the high salaries they were paying," Grant said. "You take the public service jobs for the benefits, for the pension."
Ask your union to give back your dues -- that money of yours that goes toward political activism.
"Yes, it's not the greatest pay, but you get good time off and benefits, and that's becoming less true," said Goldrick. "Health insurance was the first to go, and now this is the next step. Why would you want to teach when those things are falling away?"
So, the unvarnished truth for many is revealed.
There is the door. Don’t let it hit you in the back to go get a better deal in the private sector. heh...heh...heh
it’s what happens when you run out of other peoples money...
Tell them, “All right, we’re firing 20% of you then.”
Maybe then they’ll start understanding economics.
Oh puleeeze! Bring up the violinss and cry me river. Of COURSE they should contribute to their pension plans just like everyone. Teachers are not saints.
As one in the edu system who has worked in the private sector; it is only right that we contribute something towards our retirement. As for DROP...that should end...and those who retire under it, should never be allowed to return to former or newly created positions.
“we took these jobs for public service”?
Horse crap
Morning Cincinatys Wife
Actually thats just what the vast majority of "Teachers" in Florida should do.
They are not required to pay dues to the union, Fl is a "right to work state", but most of these morons are too stupid to figure that out and pay anyway.
They dont like contributing to their pensions, fine, stop paying dues to the marxist crooks at the union, problem solved all the way around.
Good analysis.
Stories like this should mention that pension and retirement plans for the private sector change all the time. I know that many companies that had defined benefit pension plans dropped them over the last thirty years due to changes in Federal requirements making the funding and security of the plans to difficult to satisfy to federal standards.
How much are teachers in private schools paid?
Allen said it would be fair for Scott to ask teachers to contribute only if they were being paid a salary comparable to what they could earn in the private sector.
Then go get a job in the private sector.
Lots of us had to give up something to keep our jobs...but you may not have heard that.
In Georgia...teachers get full retirement after 20 years. TWENTY YEARS. T W E N T Y Y E A R S !!!!
I had to go vomit. “Public service”...sheesh! “Public trough, more likely. Cry me a river.
Only someone with a union mentality could see this move as "losing pay". You are still receiving that pay only it's being saved for you for your retirement. This is how social security works you morons....where are the complaints about that "lost pay" ???????
Hell, I'm losing pay every two weeks then.......
Great line.
Police, teachers, public workers, firefighter unions are killing America. They are bleeding us dry.
"For the first time this school year I actually taught a math lesson that went reasonably well. I actually feel like I've accomplished something today."
Keeping in mind that this person has been a teacher for over 10 years!
I can't imagine telling my boss "Wow! I actually succeeded at a task today, I sure feel great! Something tells me that would be one of my last conversations with the man . . .
Shock jock questions St. Petersburg administrator's loyalty after cop shootings
[Excerpt] .His [Davis] own administrative calendar says that on that day, at 11 a.m., Davis, a top city administrator and former police chief, attended the funeral at First Baptist Church on Gandy Boulevard.
But Tampa shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem on Monday spent much of his morning show on WHPT-FM (the Bone 102.5) lambasting Davis because he did not go to the officers' funeral yet he did attend Saturday's funeral for their killer, Hydra Lacy Jr.
....When asked why he wouldn't answer whether he attended the funeral, Davis replied: "I don't need to answer to Bubba the Love Sponge."
It is difficult to prove Davis who makes $152,735 as the city's senior administrator of community enrichment and another $68,317 a year from his police pension did not attend. [End Excerpt]
Far less. My wife makes about 1200 a month teaching at a Christian School that uses a classical education style. She was making that much bi weekly as a public school teacher. To be fair, we get a tuition break for our son, but that is also offset by a McKay Scholarship. No bennies, no pension. This is truly a service-based decision, as my wife believes she is doing more good in this environment, as well as our son. So the whiners can try again, they know how much private school (read Christian or Catholic schoool for the most part) salaries are, every teacher does.
“Why nationalize industry when you can nationalize the people?” — Adolph Hitler
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