Here is where our taxes go for Education

[nyantler]

It is true that as budgets get in line teachers will lose their jobs... jobs that probably shouldn't have been there in the first place and will most likely have no effect on the students... it is not about the teachers anyway, it's about the students... more teachers, more money doesn't equal better education for the students.. it only equals more taxes for the taxpayers... doing more with less tends to bring out the best in people anyway.

[adirondackbushwhack]

In regards to the school taxes the unions are the problem. It is the unions that force these contracts upon the public and they are passed without any real honest participation by the taxpayer. True, the whole system of how contracts are negotiated and approved must change, but at least limiting annual caps is a start. Unions have their purpose, but protecting teachers and their 6 figure incomes is not one of them.

The Unions DO NOT have the ability to FORCE the contracts. Somebudy has been blowing smoke up your arse.

[wooffer]

You are right, the contracts are readily accepted. In all the years of living on LI I never heard of my school district not re-newing a generous contract on time. Of course we all know from Wisconsin what happens when the unions are told to stop robbing the public.

[sits in trees]

teachers will just go on telling us just how important they are, and that any change in the system they feed from will just have disastrous consequences on our children and the sky will fall if they don't continue to receive their yearly salary increases and ever increasing benefits packages. but the day will come when the system will either become privatized and or the bottom falls out and teachers get paid a salary that fits into what the taxpayer can afford. yes it will be far less than they reap from todays system, and the taxpayer wont be forced to support them for a lifetime as is the case now. and in the end people will see the sky has not fallin and kids will still be able to get a good education.

[sits in trees]

i was recently in the guidance dept of my sons high school and have to say the furnishings including desks cabinetry, moldings and flooring was something you would see in a high priced attorneys office?????????

what happened to vinyl flooring, good ole metal desks and file cabinets???????

[sits in trees]

Pav,

These guys live in the stone age. Bitch about there taxes on Long Island, then get the F out. It's one of the most expensive places to live and you get the best for it. Plan for your future, you know the taxes aren't coming down. If you don't like it plan your exit and stop bitchen. Part time work, what a joke of a comment. I know so many teachers that go the extra mile. administrators have 12 month positions and are at school functions until 10 pm. Joe you still swinging a hammer at 10 pm......... Some of these comments are so outrageous and coming from a guy like woofer who thinks homosexuality is a mental disease says it all.

See ya.............

wow listen to this guy....a teacher no doubt. if you dont like it plan your exit and get the F out???stop bitching when we are paying the highest school taxes in the nation. man you are a huge ASS!

[wooffer]

Of course there is a difference between private sector work and municipal. For generations municipal workers preached, "you pretend to pay us, so we pretend to work"

Of course now they get paid better than the private sector and they still pretend to work.

I will be willing to mail a bolt cutter to any teacher over worked and under-paid so you can cut loose of that chain holding you there and then you can get a private sector job if you like.

[nyantler]

If taxpayers started a campaign to eliminate unnecessary jobs in the public sector... lots of fat could be cut right away...

[wooffer]

Here is the poster child for the teachers union

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/08/union-chief-with-over-300g-salary-on-voucher-debate-lifes-not-always-fair/

[sits in trees]

you know it's scary to see what teachers and public service unions have grown into up here in the northeast. i really wonder if at the end of the day will Chris Christie be able to break these unions and make any differance for the NJ taxpayer?

alot of Republican politicos are out on a stump making big promises about taking on the public service unions head on and i have been hearing these types of promises for decades now. but in the end teachers salaries and benifits keep going up, up, up, and my taxes keep going up, up, up??? and the teachers unions just become bigger and more powerfull??

will anyone ever be able to coral these wild and out of control teachers unions??? i see whats going on in Wisconsin with Scott Walker and say man this reform thing could take forever when following the channels of the political PROCESS?

thats why i can thelp but thinking the only thing that will end this whole thing is a complete disaster. and im talking about teachers being told one day, your health insurance is no longer any good and you pension checks are now toilet paper. thats what i think its gotta come to, and with the attitudes im hearing from the teachers on this board man i cant wait!!!

i never really had the opportunity to talk to many teachers on this subject, i guess they run in a differant social class, but after hearing what ive heard here man i just wanna see them get stomped and am looking foward to the day when private tax payers can remove this ever tightening noose from their necks!! and get these greedy slobs knocked back into reality!

Edited March 21, 2012 by sits in trees

[erussell]

Here you go, got something to make your blood boil.

4. New York

> Increase in personal income tax: more than 5%

> Expenditure per capita (2008): $5,353 (12th highest)

> 2009 budget shortfall: 13.2% (16th highest)

> Home price decline from peak: 8.3% (16th smallest)

According to the Tax Foundation, New York has been spending approximately 144% more per person each year than it did in 1977, the first year with recorded data. In 2009, New York spent $18,126 per pupil, more than any other state. It also spent $9,056 per Medicare recipient, also more than any other state.

When creating the fiscal year 2012 budget, legislators confronted a $10 billion deficit, or 17.6% of the total available funds. For that budget, the state was forced to cut funding for the SUNY colleges by 7.6%. Yet, these cuts, and others like it, have not been enough to balance the budget. The state has raised tax revenues by at least 9% between 2009 and 2011, partially by increasing personal income and cigarettes taxes by 5% or more.

SOOOO. NY spends more per student than any other state and the best they can do is a 70% graduation rate? Come on! I bet the unions will be out in the Morning saying how they need more money for education to reach the other 30%. Like I said before I went to a private school where teachers made 25 grand a yr or less and my entire class of 35 students graduated.

Edited March 22, 2012 by erussell

[wooffer]

The average cost to educate a student is $35K a year in my school district here on LI.

The average teachers salary in my district is $107K a year.

By contract the teachers only have to work 183 days a year, teach only 3.5 hours per day, then spend a lunch and homeroom session, and they are out the door by 2:30PM.

Just to make sure they don't stay too long their contract says they can't be kept longer than 7.25 hours a day on school property. These are facts, NOT opinions. Attached is a spreadsheet with the teachers salaries in my school district. Look yours up at www.seethroughny.net

If people (including teachers) don't see a problem with this then we are in more trouble than anyone understands.

School Salaries.pdf

Edited March 26, 2012 by wooffer

[adirondackbushwhack]

Here you go, got something to make your blood boil.

4. New York

> Increase in personal income tax: more than 5%

> Expenditure per capita (2008): $5,353 (12th highest)

> 2009 budget shortfall: 13.2% (16th highest)

> Home price decline from peak: 8.3% (16th smallest)

According to the Tax Foundation, New York has been spending approximately 144% more per person each year than it did in 1977, the first year with recorded data. In 2009, New York spent $18,126 per pupil, more than any other state. It also spent $9,056 per Medicare recipient, also more than any other state.

When creating the fiscal year 2012 budget, legislators confronted a $10 billion deficit, or 17.6% of the total available funds. For that budget, the state was forced to cut funding for the SUNY colleges by 7.6%. Yet, these cuts, and others like it, have not been enough to balance the budget. The state has raised tax revenues by at least 9% between 2009 and 2011, partially by increasing personal income and cigarettes taxes by 5% or more.

SOOOO. NY spends more per student than any other state and the best they can do is a 70% graduation rate? Come on! I bet the unions will be out in the Morning saying how they need more money for education to reach the other 30%. Like I said before I went to a private school where teachers made 25 grand a yr or less and my entire class of 35 students graduated.

Actually it is the politicians who routinely call for more spending in education. They do so EVERY year. However even though they are the ones who call for increased spending in education every year they seem to have deflected any anger towards the unions.

[adirondackbushwhack]

The average cost to educate a student is $35K a year in my school district here on LI.

The average teachers salary in my district is $107K a year.

By contract the teachers only have to work 183 days a year, teach only 3.5 hours per day, then spend a lunch and homeroom session, and they are out the door by 2:30PM.

Just to make sure they don't stay too long their contract says they can't be kept longer than 7.25 hours a day on school property. These are facts, NOT opinions. Attached is a spreadsheet with the teachers salaries in my school district. Look yours up at www.seethroughny.net

If people (including teachers) don't see a problem with this then we are in more trouble than anyone understands.

So you think employees who ASK for more pay are to blame and not the politicians who grant the raises requested? Hell if my boss gave me a raise every time I asked for it I'd ask him for one every chance I got. On the other hand if I was the boss and had a budget to consider I wouldn't grant raises without good reason AND I'd curb other expenditures as well. But that's just me.

[Pav2704]

Here you go, got something to make your blood boil.

4. New York

> Increase in personal income tax: more than 5%

> Expenditure per capita (2008): $5,353 (12th highest)

> 2009 budget shortfall: 13.2% (16th highest)

> Home price decline from peak: 8.3% (16th smallest)

According to the Tax Foundation, New York has been spending approximately 144% more per person each year than it did in 1977, the first year with recorded data. In 2009, New York spent $18,126 per pupil, more than any other state. It also spent $9,056 per Medicare recipient, also more than any other state.

When creating the fiscal year 2012 budget, legislators confronted a $10 billion deficit, or 17.6% of the total available funds. For that budget, the state was forced to cut funding for the SUNY colleges by 7.6%. Yet, these cuts, and others like it, have not been enough to balance the budget. The state has raised tax revenues by at least 9% between 2009 and 2011, partially by increasing personal income and cigarettes taxes by 5% or more.

SOOOO. NY spends more per student than any other state and the best they can do is a 70% graduation rate? Come on! I bet the unions will be out in the Morning saying how they need more money for education to reach the other 30%. Like I said before I went to a private school where teachers made 25 grand a yr or less and my entire class of 35 students graduated.

Not really sure where that fact is coming from??? Most Long Island school have graduation rates / students receiving regents diplomas at percentages well above 90%. Where did you get that info from or was it a number that just sounded good?

Check out accurate Long Island Graduation Rates here: http://longisland.newsday.com/templates/simpleDB/?pid=388

[wooffer]

What sounds good is a 90% + graduation rate with Regents diploma. Most would say WOW! that is great, but sadly the stat means little. You must remember that when we went to school the Regents were not graded on a curve. Meaning if you didn't get the passing grade you didn't pass. Toady the students are graded on a curve for Regents and the SAT's. So if the class gets a 50% it will be curved up to a passing grade and everyone eventually receives a Regents diploma.

My school district collects $35K a student and touts that they are in the top 5 of LI schools based on junk stats like the one above. Sadly if you compare how our students do on the Regents compared to other schools we are NOT in the top 5. Long Islanders are being ripped off big time but are starting to wake up.

Check out the cartoon in this link, http://truthaboutib.com/images/Locust_Valley_School_District_Excess_Cartoon_1_.pdf

it basically sums it up and also look into the IB (International Bacuralte) program that some schools are now pushing. It is a UN backed education program that you pay extra taxes for. The teachers union has destroyed our teachers and our schools.

[Pav2704]

Woofer

As usual, you are presenting data that is incorrect. Regents are NOT graded on a curve. Never were!

However, it is true that when we graduated from school, you did not have pass all Regent exams. Those that did not pass all Regents exams received a Local Diploma. Those that did pass all Regents exams received a Regents Diploma and also had the regents endorsing on their diploma as well.

Most students today (with the exeception of some special education students) cannot graduate withoutout Regents diploma.

Here's a link to show how grading of a Regents Exam is actually created and scored. http://www.p12.nysed.gov/apda/concht/scoring-regents.html

[wooffer]

Hey PAV, not sure why you say my post is incorrect? Are you trying to pull a Bill Clinton? " I did not have sexual relations with that girl"..........uh just a bl*wjob. Fine, call the "curve" a "scale" like your website. The end result is the same thing. We had to get 65% of the answers correct when I went to school, NO curve/scale existed.

The school teachers union is taking the same poetic license when it comes to raises. They call them "step increases". Our teachers will get a 3% raise, uh I mean step increase irregardless every year on top of their $107K a year average salary.

According to the website you posted,

Does A Regents Examination Score of 65 Indicate That 65 Percent of Questions Were Answered Correctly?

• No. The passing score of 65 is not intended to indicate answering 65 percent of questions correctly."
  

[Pav2704]

Hey Woofer,

When you provide so called facts, at least explain fully. When you and I took regents years ago, we did receive a percentage grade. However, the grading was much easier. For example, the algebra regents only had two parts - multiple choice and a part 2. There were 6 part 2 questions. We got to choose four of those to answer and they were worth a total of 10 points a piece. You could make small mistakes and still get close to full credit. Today's regents include four sections. The most points students could earn for any particular section is four points. They could make the same minor mistakes and lose much more credit. For that reason, it gets graded on a scale.

You also stated, "if the class gets a 50% it will be curved up to a passing grade and everyone eventually receives a Regents diploma." That's a JOKE and couldn't be further from the truth. Does all of NYS school districts use this same curve that you talk about and does it change from year to year??? Sounds like your really stretching on that one to fit your agenda!!!

Your so quick to talk about our salaries, you still havn't mentioned what you do for a living???

[wooffer]

Hey Pav, we can go back and forth on how hard the regents are now compared to years ago, but I don't want to digress from the main issue...school taxes.

Maybe you work for an honest school district but mine is anything but. It is a money grab from top to bottom. Our 73 million budget equates to $35K per student and they still want to raise taxes because they can't make ends meet. Our 3rd highest paid teacher is a GYM teacher at $145K a year. Our teachers contract possibly like yours only requires 3.3 hours of actual teaching a day. We give away free drivers ed so a teacher can get a free ride all day on the taxpayers dime.

Our superintendent makes more than the Governor and gets 70 sick days a year. Of course they all become cash if she doesn't use them. We give all our retiring Superintendents FREE health insurance for life as well as our teachers of course.

The school budget is balanced teachers (& Admin) pay and benefits first, then what is left over go to the kids. No business in the world would survive if they set payroll first and then told their customers what they had to pay for the product.

I work for a (large) private company, my salary doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime. And I don't have the option of threatening someones child to get a raise.

Have you seen the cartoon in this website? I think it sums it all up

http://truthaboutib.com/images/Locust_Valley_School_District_Excess_Cartoon_1_.pdf

I don't hold it against you that you are a teacher. I had great teachers growing up, but that is not what our kids have (with the exception of you possibly) today. As we saw in Wisconson, todays teachers are "teamsters with chalk".

[nyantler]

The real truth is that we are paying for a Rolls Royce with life long warrantee and tires and getting a Yugo...lol ... I just want to pay for a minivan and get a minivan... and when the minivan gets old, trade it in for a new minivan... not keep the old minivan in the back yard and keep paying for repairs and new tires... while it is retired and not being used...that would be nice.

[wooffer]

Very well said. Take a look at the attached spreadsheet of the teachers salaries in my school district here in Nassau County. Average pay $107K a year for a contract that requires less than 3.5 hours of teaching daily.

. You can check your teachers pay on www. seethroughny.net

Make sure you are sitting down, I think the numbers will shock you.

It is truly disgusting and my district wants more. They are truly pigs like the attached cartoon shows.

Locust Valley Teachers Payroll 2011.pdf

Locust Valley School District Excess Cartoon.pdf

[nyantler]

How about this one?.. The superintendant of our school district went from making $160,000 in 2010 to $169,000 in 2011... raise your hand if you got a $9000 pay increase last year!

[ants]

I heard that , starting next month, everyone who's family has been on welfare for generations, is getting $10 a month less in their check!!!.... Naaaawwww just kidding!! That would'nt save any money any ways !!!

[wooffer]

How about this one?.. The superintendant of our school district went from making $160,000 in 2010 to $169,000 in 2011... raise your hand if you got a $9000 pay increase last year!

Ah that's chump change, at least they make less than the Governor of NY.

• The Governor of NY makes $179,000.00 a year. Our schools Superintendent made $294,000.00 last year, and has had her paycheck increased by $43,000.00 since 2008. That’s around a 17% increase. Has your pay gone up 17% since 2008? The Superintendent also gets 24 days’ vacation, and 70 days sick days. Of course the sick days gets turned into a cash payment if unused.
  

Then she has the nerve to publicly say that she did not take a raise last year. Talk about taking a que from Clinton. "I did not have sexual relations with woman"but I did get a bj from the Ho.

I attached the contracts should anyone quetion it. The new contracts are even more lucrative.

Teachers Contract.pdf

Superintendant Contract.pdf