4 ms·

I don't have a problem with the salary. What I have a problem with: 1. Pension spiking. Happens for teachers, though not as much as other public employees.

by e40 8y ago

I don't have a problem with the salary. What I have a problem with: 1. Pension spiking. Happens for teachers, though not as much as other public employees. 2. The pension should be funded from investments, not some optimistic guess as to the return on those investments. 3. It should be easier to fire a bad teacher. I realize this is hard, but we've all heard the stories. In my excellent school district, you apparently have to be caught sexting teenagers to get fired, even though a lot of people had reported the offensive behavior, many times over many years. While most of my son's teachers are excellent, a few of them shouldn't be anywhere near students of any sort.

bilbo0s 8y ago
"...It should be easier to fire a bad teacher.." This is a problem with most public employees though. It's not necessarily unique to teachers. Try to fire a bad cop for instance. Just won't happen. Or a bad database analyst at your State's Department of Administration or whatever. You just can't do it.
- MrMember 8y ago
  A DMV employee slept several hours a day every day for years and wasn't fired. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/24/california-dmv-worker-slept-thousands-hours-job-report-says/830618002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/24/ca...
anoncoward111 8y ago
The salary is excellent and well above US GDP per capita. The benefits, of course, are even better. But the pensions are driving housing prices and property taxes through the roof around here. I luckily found 2 other roommates to live with me in a 1br apartment far outside the city, and we're all paying $650 each. Property tax accounts for 33% of our rent contribution.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > The salary is excellent and well above US GDP per capita. GDP per capita is a stupid measuring stick for salary (except that an annual one below it is bad), since you are averaging eco onic activity across everyone, including those not working and outside the labor force (children, prisoners etc.) > But the pensions are driving housing prices and property taxes through the roof around here. I'd like to see your argument for how pensions are driving those two things (especially given that California has limits on the latter.)
  - anoncoward111 8y ago
    While a number of retirees move to Florida permanently, a number of New York pension recipients remain on Long Island because their house is paid off and their pension is tax exempt from everything but Federal tax. So 80k in pension payments is equivalent to 120k in salary roughly (which is taxed heavily in payroll and state taxes). So, they stay in NY for the good doctors and paid-off house and soldier through the cold weather. All of this wouldnt be a big deal if NIMBYism wasn't a thing, but it is. Population on Long Island continues to explode as people commute by train to NYC to avoid exploding rents there. Building a house or remodeling a house on Long Island is extremely, mind-blowingly expensive and regulated due to the local town governments in Huntington, Oyster Bay, Manhasset, Babylon, Brookhaven, etc. I have tried really hard to get any town to permit me to build a 100k house on a 40k lot of land- nope, sorry, we only allow massive houses built out of expensive materials here because we want you to pay as much property tax as possible.

by e40 8y ago

bilbo0s 8y ago

"...It should be easier to fire a bad teacher.." This is a problem with most public employees though. It's not necessarily unique to teachers. Try to fire a bad cop for instance. Just won't happen. Or a bad database analyst at your State's Department of Administration or whatever. You just can't do it.

MrMember 8y ago
A DMV employee slept several hours a day every day for years and wasn't fired. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/24/california-dmv-worker-slept-thousands-hours-job-report-says/830618002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/24/ca...

anoncoward111 8y ago

The salary is excellent and well above US GDP per capita. The benefits, of course, are even better. But the pensions are driving housing prices and property taxes through the roof around here. I luckily found 2 other roommates to live with me in a 1br apartment far outside the city, and we're all paying $650 each. Property tax accounts for 33% of our rent contribution.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> The salary is excellent and well above US GDP per capita. GDP per capita is a stupid measuring stick for salary (except that an annual one below it is bad), since you are averaging eco onic activity across everyone, including those not working and outside the labor force (children, prisoners etc.) > But the pensions are driving housing prices and property taxes through the roof around here. I'd like to see your argument for how pensions are driving those two things (especially given that California has limits on the latter.)
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  While a number of retirees move to Florida permanently, a number of New York pension recipients remain on Long Island because their house is paid off and their pension is tax exempt from everything but Federal tax. So 80k in pension payments is equivalent to 120k in salary roughly (which is taxed heavily in payroll and state taxes). So, they stay in NY for the good doctors and paid-off house and soldier through the cold weather. All of this wouldnt be a big deal if NIMBYism wasn't a thing, but it is. Population on Long Island continues to explode as people commute by train to NYC to avoid exploding rents there. Building a house or remodeling a house on Long Island is extremely, mind-blowingly expensive and regulated due to the local town governments in Huntington, Oyster Bay, Manhasset, Babylon, Brookhaven, etc. I have tried really hard to get any town to permit me to build a 100k house on a 40k lot of land- nope, sorry, we only allow massive houses built out of expensive materials here because we want you to pay as much property tax as possible.