Posted on 02/24/2011 2:40:11 PM PST by Nachum
As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.foxnews.com ...
SHOCKING!
I don’t know about TX, but where I live in VA, teachers are paid by the County which receives very little federal funding (2.8% of the annual budget). Most of the school budget is from property taxes.
Nonetheless, the salaries are theirs, the teachers, and most of the time it’s been earned. That is part of our social compact; that we are taxed for certain purposes, including schools. I don’t have a problem with that so long as the teachers are doing their jobs.
As only one example of the kinds of teachers my kids had, one of their class advisors was eligible for retirement the year before my kid was to graduate, receiving something like 94% of her average salary for the previous 3 years (nice benefit package!) However, that teacher chose to stay and finish her time and commitment to that class. So, she worked that last year for 6% of her salary, forfeiting the other 94%. I don’t think you’d find her picketing anywhere.
Because public school teachers are government employees, they do not participate in the free enterprise system, and as a result, they do not generate their own revenue. They consume what others generate, in the form of tax dollars. Whatever they do with this revenue has no impact upon the fact that its source is the taxpayer. What's sad is that I doubt that there is a teacher walking who would consider this partying a valid use of their union dues.
I don’t begrudge their salaries at all. I don’t like that they are basically forced to be in the union and pay the dues. Since the teacher never sees that money, it goes straight from the tax coffers to the union.
” ..the teacher never sees that money, it goes straight from the tax coffers to the union”
Just like taxes! I often wonder what would happen if employees were given their entire paycheck and had to write Uncle Sam a check on 4/15 (or quarterly like the self-employed). They might take a better look at the whole tax issue.
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