Put me in the category of opposing and voting NO to any tax referendum next year. The typical solution that every governmental agency in Illinois offers to cover a budget shortage is to raise taxes. This is true from the State to the County to the Village to the School Districts. Continually throwing money at a problem is not the solution. Government needs to run their affairs like we in the private sector run our businesses. Until the government, including the schools, manage their costs effectively, I will never vote for a tax increase. Between the various taxes I pay, I keep just about 40 cents of every dollar I earn. I can't afford any more tax increases.
Riverside Info » About Riverside
RBHS looking for a referendum, possibly 2011
(55 posts)-
Posted Tuesday Mar 30, 2010 11:42 #
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How about this proposal: Tie teacher pay increases and benefits to tax revenue. This way, at least this way districts would have the funds to pay for salary increases. With tax caps, revenue is limited to the CPI or some other factor that is tied to the general economy of the state or area.
I know this proposal would need a lot more thought before it could be implemented. As is stands now, however teacher pay does not reflect the overall economy in any way.
Posted Tuesday Mar 30, 2010 13:13 # -
I don't know what "category" it would be defined as, but I align with Corbi296's "we are all in this together" minded comments:
Like I said before, the financial problems at RB won't be resolved if either side expects the other to resolve the whole problem. I am willing to vote yes to a referendum that increases the operating budget and partially plugs the budget hole, but only if the teachers union is willing to reopen its contract and agrees to a pay freeze for at least 2-3 years. This compromise solution would ensure that no teachers would be laid off and no programs would be cut. Everybody sacrifices a little bit and the kids turn out to be the big winners. That's how it should be.
Posted Tuesday Mar 30, 2010 13:25 # -
aperry said--
Tie teacher pay increases and benefits to tax revenue.
What are teacher pay increases and benefits tied to now?
.
also,
corbi said that teacher comp seems to be going to the other side of the spectrum now. This perception MIGHT be the case here in Riverside but is it the case in Berwyn and Ford Heights? I wonder if one would see those garish 'century plus' salaries there? But what is the same: spending exceeds revenues.
Taking a step back from this, I vaguely recall that there is some sort of debate in how Illinois funds public education. Is the debate on whether it is 'equitable' to base public education on the local property values? Is the issue a potential denial of the equal access part of the US constitution?
How do other states (ideally, ones without the funding problem that we have in Illlinois) fund public schools?
Here are a couple google links on the subject.
http://www.progressillinois.com/posts/content/2010/02/18/education-debate-heating
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=229384&src=109
here is a proposal that would ,among other things, "Convert every Public School in Illinois into an independent "Charter School" ".
Finally,
a quick note to on a previous post I made referring to Morton's district being in the 'same bathtub' as riverside. I did not mean to suggest that they were fiscally in the same boat, with our monies tied up with Morton's district. Rather , my points were two:
1) While Morton's fiscal problems are theirs, what happens there can affect our community since we are geographically so close to Morton. If a goodly portion of those 4,000 students -- many of whom, as JohnM rightly points out, might be under the poverty line -- are not constructively engaged, there could be an impact in our town (not monies , but in other possible impacts, say, crime, for example)
and 2) the problem with school funding seems to be systemic within Illinois vs only for Riverside.
Posted Tuesday Mar 30, 2010 14:39 # -
Teacher pay is now tied to nothing but how well the teachers' union negotiates and how much of a pushover the school board is. Others will simply say that districts try to pay "market rates" for the best teachers. Either way, the system is not designed to work at all.
Posted Tuesday Mar 30, 2010 20:20 #
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