Posted on 09/01/2011 5:20:04 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
When students return today for the first day of school across Wisconsin, many familiar faces will be gone, as teachers chose retirement over coming back in the wake of a new law that forces them to pay more for benefits while taking away most of their collective bargaining rights.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press under the state's open records law show that about twice as many public school teachers decided to hang it up in the first half of this year as in each of the past two full years, part of a mass exit of public employees.
Their departures came before the new law took effect, changes pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature that led to weeks of protests at the Capitol.
The ensuing exodus of teachers and other state employees has led to fears that the jobs might not be filled and that classroom leadership by veteran teachers will be lost.
Ginny Fleck, a teacher of German from Green Bay with 30 years of experience, is among nearly 5,000 teachers who retired.
"It wouldn't make sense for me to teach one more year and basically lose $8,000," she said. Fleck, 69, decided to retire in February, even before the bill became law, in part because of the hit she would take to her $60,000 annual salary, and because of other changes the district was making.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Oh boo hoo!
Sweet. Weed out the freeloaders and bring in fresh blood happy to work under a rational compensation package.
And they say that Teachers SACRIFICE SO MUCH.....Bullhockey!
Finally a jobs package that works!!!
EXAMPLES OF GOOD STUFF HAPPENING IN WISCONSIN : Ashland School District - saved $378,000 on health insurance; Kimberly School District - saved $821,000 by dropping WEA Trust Insurance; Edgerton School District - dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save at least $500,000; Baraboo School District - dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save at least $660,000; Dodgeland School District - dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save $260,000 Elmbrook School District - changing health care provider, savings estimated at $878,000; Mequon-Thiensville School District - saving $49,000 on dental insurance coverage; Marshfield School District - saving $850,00 by dropping WEA Trust; City of Sheboygan - Mayor Bob Ryan says collective bargaining reforms will provide enough savings to make up for the reduction in state aid; Wauwatosa School District - tax levy decreasing, no programs will be cut, class sizes won't increase, thanks to the reforms in collective bargaining; Manitowoc - Laid-off city workers may get their jobs back due to the wage/benefit reforms contained in Walker 's budget. Changes to overtime rules saving the county $100,000; Pittsville - will see a 9% decrease in the school portion of their property tax levy. "This is the first year we have not needed to short-term borrow," stated Board President Strenn; Appleton School District - will save $3.1 million just in health insurance costs due to being able to bid out the coverage and being able to drop WEA Trust; Racine County - inmates can now be used to perform tasks such as landscaping, painting and shoveling sidewalks. Executive Ladwig states this is a win/win for the inmates and the county. It frees up county employees for other tasks, gives the inmates a sense of value, and helps the county maintain property that has been neglected." Kaukauna School District - hiring additional teachers, reducing class sizes, enacting a merit pay system, and due to Walker's Budget Bill, Kaukauna's operating budget has moved from a negative $400,000 to a positive $1,500,000. Much of this savings was due to being able to drop WEA Trust. Hartland School District - switched from WEA Trust and saved $690,000; Hudson School District - saved $832,000 on health insurance due to ability to bid the insurance.
Buh, but, the Teachers were taking their stand for the kids... Surely this wasn’t about money??? [s/o]
One thing is certain - public employees excel at sticking it to the taxpayers. If only they would devote half that energy to their actual jobs.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is SUPPOSED TO WORK! Those idiots didn’t even NEED jobs, they were just there for the bennies!
Good. That means people looking for work will have a better shot of finding it now.
That’s all that was needed to separate the good teachers from the filthy parasites?
Amazing...do it again.
Not a bad thing, really.
Most of the “early retirees” were agenda-driven, and were preaching their particular brand of bias in the classroom. Good news, though, for the thousands of newly-hired teachers who had previously been unable to land a job teaching after their college graduation.
They tried to make me pay part of my health care, I said “NO, NO, NO”
(double dipping)
Lies, lies, lies. We all know that their number one priority is children and their education. That’s all they care about. Settled science.
I’m really puzzled by this. How can they be rehired at their old jobs and salaries if they are retired and drawing a salary? I know that in Illinois teachers lose their pensions if they go over a strict limit of hours per year where they are allowed to teach. In other words, if I were a retired teacher, I could teach a very limited time, but certainly not as my old job and old salary. Are you speaking from experience in Wisconsin?
Good. Now the districts will have more slots to fill with younger, not-as-union-controlled teachers. This uptick in retirements is just another coffin nail for teachers’ unions and a promising sign for the rest of the tax payers.
Here is the OTHER reason so many of these loyal, “I’m in it for the Children” types are retiring. Mark Belling (WISN Milwaukee Radio Host)was saying yesterday that in many school districts, the teacher can retire at a high percentage pension, full health care for either 5 or 10 years, then get RE-HIRED back at the same salary, in the same position for double dipping on the salary & bennies.
Imagine that! School board leaders in cahoots with the teacher’s unions. The sweet outrageous deals these unions have put in place over the many years of this strangle hold are totally sickening. Now the teachers also are whining as they are being asked - gasp - to work a full 8 hour day, not 7.5 hours. AAAAAAAAACH. the nerve, huh? And if I hear one more time how all of the school supplies are purchased out of their own pocket I’ll scream. Skip one of your stupid pizza party “meetings” and buy school supplies.
Some kids going back to school are asked to bring the likes of garbage bags, TOILET PAPER, Kleenex, Dry Erase supplies, hand sanitizers and all types of things. STOP this madness. I hope that the “volunteer” donation of union dues dries up like a Texas raindrop. Keep those good teachers who clearly ARE there for the passion of teaching and dump these violent, nasty, fould mouth radical union protestors causing this ruckus. I’m not bitter.
It will be fine. Now some of the people that really care about teaching will have a chance at a job.
I guess they weren’t in it for the loving of teaching and for the children after all.
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