| Author | Message | ||
     Stacey R Abend (Srafj40) Member Username: Srafj40 Post Number: 63 Registered: 03-2003 |
What is going on with education up there? I thought Arizona was bad. http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/04/15/teacher.poaching.ap/index.html Stacey | ||
| Daniel Covaciu (Danielcovaciu) Member Username: Danielcovaciu Post Number: 105 Registered: 10-2002 |
The problem here in Oregon is funding. Every measure to fund schools has been voted down for several years now. No one wants to pay the higher taxes so the schools have to make cuts. At this point there really is no solution in sight. Dan Portland OR | ||
| Mark & Bev Preston (Markp) Member Username: Markp Post Number: 198 Registered: 02-2002 |
Another CNN article from outer space that says California is offering signing bonuses of up to $7000. Mmmm ... Mass Layoffs Threatened for Teachers in California The New York Times ^ | April 1, 2003 | DEAN E. MURPHY http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/881953/posts | ||
| R. B. Bailey (Rover50987) Senior Member Username: Rover50987 Post Number: 498 Registered: 07-2002 |
Dan, Technically you are right. The real problem is basically two things, both dealing with taxes and the state not prioritizing it's spending. First, The state sees to it that the police and fire and teachers are the first to get cut because they are the most visible, so the cuts get the most attention. Second, they end up spending the money they do have on things like the socialist health care we have here - a system where even my sister, who just had a baby out of wedlock, gets full coverage for 15 months for her and the baby, even though she has upwards of $100k in an emergency/education fund that she certainly could have used. This system does not have it's own budget, no limit, and it is pulled from the state's general fund, which drains everything else that does have a budget. It is also responsible for such medical miracles as a convicted murderer, illegal alien, to get a sex change while in jail - paid in full. While a teen age girl waiting for a heart and lung transplant is denied coverage, and the life saving surgery for 5 years - then dies. About taxes. First, you are right when you say people don't want to pay more taxes. But I would say that if they could pay more for schools but be given a break in income tax, they would vote for it. Second, the state screwed up on the tax money it had for schools with measure 5 a few years back. Before measure 5, each district would pull business tax from it's local community. Of course, a rural school would not have a great bennifit from this, but the state was able to support them by saving money on the rich suburban schools and funnel what would have been spent to the rural schools. i.e. the Parkrose school district was a small semi-inner city school that thrived on the taxes from the businesses near the airport. They were able to build a new state-of-the-art high school and had plans to build a new middle school too just 3 years ago. Now they are virtually bankrupt because measure 5 took all that money from the state wide business tax and made it "fair" by putting it into the general fund and splitting the money EVENLY between all schools in the state. Therefore, a school like Parkrose is now getting about $1200 per student per year from these taxes, while a school with 30 kids from K-12 get about $30,000.00 per kid per year!! Parkrose has 40 kids in just about every class alone!! Now, our last Governer tried with all his might to make a quagemire for the legislature (not that they needed any help) because his stated goal, or legacy, was to raise more income tax in the state. He is also the one who designed the health care system. Well, it just about worked. At the very least he made it so that we are struggling to get by without the new tax - we would have it if the legilature was not Republican - although they are really a bunch of bumbling idiots Republican or not! Finally, when it comes to taxes, take a look at income tax and how many states and federal programs are depending on it. It makes now sense, when the economy goes down, so does income, and therefore, so does the tax revenue. Income tax should be done away with, another type of tax put into it's place, and you would have a more stable tax income for the government. Oregon has an unemployment rate of around 7.5%, and the state funds rely on income - no wonder they are having budget problems! This is why a state should not run like a business. This is why a government should not be so big that it cannot control it's own spending. It is why I don't have a job right now. And a perfect example of what socialism does to a country. http://landrover.mrbaileyshistory.net | ||
| Michael Noe (Noee) Senior Member Username: Noee Post Number: 574 Registered: 03-2002 |
I know I'm butchering this, but wasn't it Marx that said something like "...it is inevitable that a pure socialist system will evolve from a mature capitalist society..." | ||
| R. B. Bailey (Rover50987) Senior Member Username: Rover50987 Post Number: 501 Registered: 07-2002 |
I don't know if that is his exact quote, but that was the general idea. But, it's already been tried... The Communist ideal of what will happen is based on what they believe has been attempted in every pesant uprising since the dawn of time. Problem is, that's not true. And you cannot make the future by recreating history. The truth is that socialism is actually a form of pure selfishness disguised as being a way to make things fair. | ||
| Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) Senior Member Username: Leslie Post Number: 2064 Registered: 02-2002 |
RB, if only that were true.... Tennessee doesn't have an income tax. It relies on property taxes, and a high sales tax. The problem with that is, Tennessee is a long skinny state, most people can easily pop across the state line. For example, when I had tires put on my wife's Disco, instead of going to the shop in TN and paying 9% tax, I go to a shop across the line in VA and pay half that amount. Instead of shopping at a store on the TN side, I stop at the grocery store in VA on my way home. I gas up my car in VA instead of TN. And it's not like I'm the only one who does it, almost everyone in my office does, most people that have to cross the line between home and work will take advantage of the tax difference. I wish TN would cut the sales tax in half and go to an income tax, it would be FAR more stable in this economy. People just aren't buying as much right now, and so every town around here, along with the state itself, is going into budget crunch. To throw education into the mix: Tennessee was doing something similar as far as distribution of funds for education. They have a "no child left behind" rule, but cities were getting more money locally, and rural places didn't have jack... For example, Oak Ridge, teacher salary average is about $50k/yr, starting is about $35k. In Hawkins County, where my wife teaches, they start at $18k. If you had a PhD, and maxed out your years-in-service, you top out at $36k in Hawkins County... you can't earn any more than that as a teacher in this county, whereas the statewide average is $37k. Recently, however, the state supreme court ruled that it was unconstitutional the way education funding was working, and had to be fixed. Luckily, they included a "hold harmless" clause in there, so they're not taking money away from school systems that already have money; but the state is basically going to take state funds and pump it into the poorer counties. Hawkins County is now going to receive and extra $1.5 million that is explicitly to go to teacher salaries, it can't go to anything else. (My wife is actually gonna get a pay raise! Maybe she'll earn more than $20k now).... Every other state department is being cut, though, every program is taking a hit, education is the only place where money is going to be spent.... I hope that that's a sign that the legislators realize that it's an investment..... I hope.... -L |
