And they still don't get it

As I've mentioned before, I stupidly keep checking the comments that are posted with every article that bashes teachers and blames us for all of New Jersey's woes.

Came across this one this morning and, rather than paraphrasing, i thought I'd swipe it and post it here. Here's what this genius wrote:

"I love how all these teachers are claiming they teach bc they love it, they love the kids, its all about the kids....Really? Then how come they wouldnt agree to the 1 yr raise freeze??? When times are tough everyone has to tighten their belts including teachers. I get the whole "shaping young minds" thing but we all work hard, no ones job is more important then the next persons. The teachers should stop being so greedy!!!!"

Nearly fell off of my chair from laughter. Yes, teachers do love teaching and they do love kids. Believe me, if you don't this isn't a job, it's a sentence. But just because you love something doesn't mean you shouldn't get paid for doing it. Since when does being paid for a job make one "greedy?"

As best I can tell, Alex Rodriguez loves playing baseball. But I really don't think that he lets his love of the game cloud his judgment when it comes to making a living. Yes, he loves the game, but he still expects (and deserves) to be paid well to do it. And, coincidentally, he enjoys having a contract - a sort of security blanket, if you will. So do teachers.

I could go on and on about the various posts I see every day but to what end? Most of the public had no interest in ever becoming teachers - they knew that the pay generally sucked. So they went into private industry and did as well as they could. Several of us chose a different path - for me, it came AFTER my time in private industry.

For now, the tables are reversed - public service is more stable and secure than the private sector. But that will change again and when it does, I hope I'm the first to post on the various newspaper website bashing all the greedy private sector workers with their cushy 40 hour work weeks, their BMWs in the parking lot and their yearly bonuses.

And while I'm at it, maybe I'll tell Alex Rodriguez where to get off too.

Be careful what you wish for. . . .

And so the voters have spoken. In towns all across the state of New Jersey, including here in my town of Edison, voters have rejected school budgets just as the "jolly" fat man in Trenton asked.

So let the cutting begin. By my take, about 10,000 teachers will be unemployed come June 30. School programs from sports to kindergarten will be reduced or removed altogether. The arts in school will become mostly a memory for most.

The people will get what they asked for. Leaner schools, tighter budgets. They will also get more crime, lower property values and decreased academic achievement.

But, that will be the will of the people. And when things don't turn out as well as they thought, they will want to change it. Of course, by then, spending caps will have been enacted, the bright young teachers who are being let go will have moved on to other careers and their schools will be lightyears behind in technology and achievement.

I just can't wait for Mr. Prosecutor to start crying the blues over how the state unemployment fund is drying up too, now that 10,000 more people will be drawing on it. Who will catch the blame for that one, Mr. Governor? And how will you close that gap?

Stay tuned - the best is yet to come, I'm sure.

Shared sacrifice my a$$

So Governor Christie has been preaching about shared sacrifice. About how all New Jerseyans must suffer because the economy is so tough. About how, in his twisted mind, nobody should gain from anybody's loss (tell that to Goldman Sachs by the way!!). How those bastard teachers should burn in hell due to receiving pay raises and pensions as promised in legitimate collective bargaining agreements.

Shared sacrifice for all. . . except Governor Christie and his friends. Seems while he has been toiling feverishly, cutting budgets and turning school districts upside down, he has managed to increase his own payroll by $2 million. That's right - his executive staff is getting $2 million more than the governor he replaced.

What a complete load of crap this is. On the one hand we all must suffer - unless you are a friend of Christies, in which case you either get a tax cut (see Mrs. Christie and all others who make more than $400,000 per year) or a pay raise (see Mr. Christie's cabinet members, etc).

Seems like a double standard here, Mr. Christie. As painful as it is, I think it's time you looked in the mirror - there you will find the biggest impediment to a successful governorship - yourself.

What's Good for the Goose. . . .

Governor Christie of New Jersey delayed his budget announcement until March 16 of this year. On that day, he dropped the hammer (or should I say ax) on New Jersey's public schools, cutting nearly $1 billion in aid to those districts while sparing the richest New Jerseyans (including his wife) nearly $1 Billion in additional taxes.

This ridiculously large cut caused local school boards to scramble to prepare new budgets, primarily because while Mr. Christie's minions in Trenton were telegraphing to the local boards to expect 15% decreases, his cuts amounted to, in some cases, 4 times that much.

The scramble was because in New Jersey, we vote for our school budget this year on April 20. And with filing deadlines nearly 3 weeks before that, this late notice led to hasty cuts to the largest areas school superintendents and boards could find most immediately. In almost all cases, these cuts involved people. Large amounts of people.

The problem is that education is a service "business" - and anyone who knows a thing or two about business knows that service businesses rely on people. But unlike other businesses where things are "produced" (and thusly, when there are fewer people, fewer things are produced), education works backwards - it is the very "production" of things, namely kids, that keep the education "factories" - read as schools - humming.

And there is the disconnect - most businesses control their production. Education does not - the kids are produced whether there are service providers there to educate them or not. And state law does nothing to help, since it promises all of the products - the kids - a free public education. So just how is this going to get done with fewer educators??

Anyway, I digress. After the budget announcement, the local school boards banded together to ask our illustrious governor for a delay in the filing of budgets and the election. In fact, they asked that elections be forgotten for this year. While I don't think THAT request had a snowballs chance in hell of working, I DO think the request for an "extension" was reasonable - after all, hadn't the governor asked for and received an extension in the timing of his budget announcement?

So what is his response to this request? Of course, it's "NO". And so the scramble was on.

And now we are only 4 days away from the budget elections that promise to alter the face of the NJ Educational System more drastically than the invention of the hot lunch.

In the meantime, April 15 has come and gone and millions of Americans scrambled to turn in their tax returns on time. And, as has become the custom, most elected officials in the country set a good example and released their tax returns for all the public - their employers, after all - to see.

Except Mr. Christie - he filed. . . for an extension!!

You can't make this crap up. Only in America (or New Jersey) can a governor ask for an extension on his budget address (and get it), be asked for an extension on school budgets (and deny it) and then ask for an extension on his personal income tax (and get it). Only in America.

Mr. Christie - what's good for the goose, should be good for the gander. I guess you're the only one that doesn't see it that way.