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No. the 10 million folks living in NYC don't have a particularly high cost in utilizng mass transit to get to their jobs in NYC. Please don't slap your parents.
If your point was that employers set salaries according to the commuting costs of employees I am not sure I agree.
If your other point is that people who work in NYC and live on Long Island frequently commute by mass transit and thus pay for mass transit while people who live and work on Long Island may frequently drive to work and thus pay incresed auto expenses I would certainly agree. Both groups commute to work. Great point.
If your earlier point was that some NYC jobs offer much higher pay than some LI teaching jobs I agree with that too. Another great point. I further agree that some city jobs pay the same and that some city jobs pay less than 80K (gross). And the same goes for Long Island jobs. All also great points .
If you are looking to substantially CUT teacher pay (not freeze but cut) you will have to work with the employer (the school district) to help them succesfuly negotiate. Not sure your inventive commuting argument willl work but you seem to really really believe in it. Some of the wiser districts (I am assuming you don't live in one) have achieved real freezes and increases iin employee medical contribution over the last four years. My district has had a two year real freeze on teacher pay (and step) and all of our teachers pay 30% of their medical insurance costs. Informed board and smart superintendent were the key to achieving this - admittedly a rare combo here on LI. Finally, blaming teachers (employees) for what you see as some high salaries (grosss 80K+) in their ranks ignores the reality that employees do not set the pay scale.
I applaud your SD for making progress. What has your district done to save money on superintendant and administrator costs? Would you mind posting the name of your SD so people can use it as an example when complaining to their own SDs on costs? As you said yourself, your district is rare and most of the other hundred and twenty plus SDs on LI need a push in the direction of fiscal responsibility towards the kids.
That's a shockingly unsophisticated question for a self-professed "two hundred thousandaire" but I will answer it.
Not really. California schools get more of their funding through the state than property taxes. I never knew how schools were funded on LI when I grew up there, so I wouldn't call the question "unsophisticated."
I still think $100K+ for a 10 year experienced teacher with a master's is a fine salary considering the high COL on LI..but I also agree that there should be some caps on school taxes, admin salaries, pay more into healthcare, etc. What I can't understand is why people complain about school taxes and LI civil unions on CD, it's not fixing the problem. If you want reduced school taxes and eliminate union power you should come together and call the NYS government. You think these "big bad strong LI civil unions" have power over the state, no freakin way! Maybe you're problem will be solved then. But then again it seems that NYers just like to complain rather than actually take action to fix the issue.
You LIers are drinking way too much of the Newsday kool-aid. Civil worker unions and salaries are not the biggest issue on LI. I would be more worried about the economy and how so many jobs don't pay relative in relation to the COL. Don't you ever look around and see that there is no virtually no economy on LI other than civil service jobs, healthcare, and DWI lawyers? Without NYC, LI would have a worse economy than Buffalo. Yea it used to be where people commuted from LI to the city for the professional jobs, but for some reason not as many people on LI are bringing in their higher salaries from the city jobs. For a region of ~2 million people and having some of the best public schools, LI is so behind in the times. With it's large population, LI needs up-and-coming wealthy industry like nanotechnology research, pharma/biotechnology, big IT companies, and federal government contracted research companies in order to have more high paying jobs and healthier economy. Then again, everytime I visit I realize that LI puts itself in a position not be poised for wealthy industry because there is a lack of qualified individuals on LI for those jobs. LI is so divided among the super rich, the struggling average Jones, and the poor..it's such a pity. Yet, you continue to complain about the public sector and don't care about promoting any wealthy industry to come to LI. Not to mention that presence of wealthy industry will give you tax breaks.
I applaud your SD for making progress. What has your district done to save money on superintendant and administrator costs? Would you mind posting the name of your SD so people can use it as an example when complaining to their own SDs on costs? As you said yourself, your district is rare and most of the other hundred and twenty plus SDs on LI need a push in the direction of fiscal responsibility towards the kids.
I'd rather not share my district's name (my kids are in the schools) but as another commenter has already noted, freezes are now quite common (just google your local district and the term 'pay freeze') and employer medical insurance contributions (25%+) are now the norm. I did not mean to imply my district is rare in these two directions (freezes and employer health insurance contributions) but rare in that we have a talented superintendent.
As far as administrator costs are concerned I am happy to share that the district gradually cut an entire cadre of highly paid administrators including district wide directors of math, science, social studies and language. As far as I can see the district has not missed a beat. Building principals have picked up whatever duties those folks were fulfilling. I believe (but cannot swear) the remainng administrators (building principals, assistant principals, athletic director, director of special education, assistant superintendents, et al) also took a freeze and were already contributing 25% of their health insurance costs. I think much of the data on raises and medical insurance contributions presented on this thread by other posters are out of date. A two minute search yielded the following:
Bellmore-Merrick Central High School district has taken a pay freeze x 3 years and the teachers pay into their health insurance.
It's admirable that they took some action but to my knowledge it was 2011-2012 and then again 2012-2013 for 2 years. Also, I think they still got union step raises (teachers, not the administrators). Only job where "pay freeze" means they only get half their raise.
You LIers are drinking way too much of the Newsday kool-aid. Civil worker unions and salaries are not the biggest issue on LI. I would be more worried about the economy and how so many jobs don't pay relative in relation to the COL. Don't you ever look around and see that there is no virtually no economy on LI other than civil service jobs, healthcare, and DWI lawyers? Without NYC, LI would have a worse economy than Buffalo. Yea it used to be where people commuted from LI to the city for the professional jobs, but for some reason not as many people on LI are bringing in their higher salaries from the city jobs. For a region of ~2 million people and having some of the best public schools, LI is so behind in the times. With it's large population, LI needs up-and-coming wealthy industry like nanotechnology research, pharma/biotechnology, big IT companies, and federal government contracted research companies in order to have more high paying jobs and healthier economy. Then again, everytime I visit I realize that LI puts itself in a position not be poised for wealthy industry because there is a lack of qualified individuals on LI for those jobs. LI is so divided among the super rich, the struggling average Jones, and the poor..it's such a pity. Yet, you continue to complain about the public sector and don't care about promoting any wealthy industry to come to LI. Not to mention that presence of wealthy industry will give you tax breaks.
Excellent points but spare us the sweeping generalizations about "you LIers." It has nothing to do with "qualified individuals." LI is a highly educated workforce and LI's manufacturing base is still mostly high end defense and nutraceutical, not widgets or sneakers. There are 100's of threads on here deriding the NIMBY morons who fear any change to our "unique suburban character" and feel we "are only a bedroom community of NYC." They don't realize Boeing and Grumman aren't coming back and many cities with less attractive demographics are incentivizing business development and attracting growth while our arrogant quadruple layered hack govt pushes business away at every turn or at least has a very adversarial relationship with business. It's a bi-partisan mess here. Do nothing, keep the patronage mills running, scare the elderly at every election that Al Queada is coming and wham, slam...the middle class taxpayer takes a bigger hit, the greed mill keeps growing and some voices in the wilderness either shout "this is unsustainable, we're all gonna go down" or..................................they leave. That's about where we stand. There is the LI Alliance (sort of a think tank thingee) that is moving in the right direction, but change happens super slowly here if at all. If the exodus continues (and it only slowed because people couldn't get out from under their homes after 2007-8), then the crisis will come to a head soon, particularly the public pension fiasco. Even heard Tom Brokaw today in an interview say that no candidates will talk about it but unfunded public pensions are the fuse that will blow up local economies sooner than later. LI is the poster child for that!
I'd rather not share my district's name (my kids are in the schools) but as another commenter has already noted, freezes are now quite common (just google your local district and the term 'pay freeze') and employer medical insurance contributions (25%+) are now the norm. I did not mean to imply my district is rare in these two directions (freezes and employer health insurance contributions) but rare in that we have a talented superintendent.
As far as administrator costs are concerned I am happy to share that the district gradually cut an entire cadre of highly paid administrators including district wide directors of math, science, social studies and language. As far as I can see the district has not missed a beat. Building principals have picked up whatever duties those folks were fulfilling. I believe (but cannot swear) the remainng administrators (building principals, assistant principals, athletic director, director of special education, assistant superintendents, et al) also took a freeze and were already contributing 25% of their health insurance costs. I think much of the data on raises and medical insurance contributions presented on this thread by other posters are out of date. A two minute search yielded the following:
It's not clear in all cases that it is a complete freeze, some districts gave up only the cost of living increases. Many districts are calling it a freeze even though they are still getting steps that can amount to 3-4% a year. Look at Half Hollow Hills, the article indicates step increases will not be impacted and they only gave up the COL for 2011-2012, they are getting a 3% increase for 2012-2013 and the step increase.
If it is a real freeze the budget line item presented in May 2012 for teachers salaries should be less than 2011. The COL is just half the story.
Not really. California schools get more of their funding through the state than property taxes. I never knew how schools were funded on LI when I grew up there, so I wouldn't call the question "unsophisticated."
I still think $100K+ for a 10 year experienced teacher with a master's is a fine salary considering the high COL on LI..but I also agree that there should be some caps on school taxes, admin salaries, pay more into healthcare, etc. What I can't understand is why people complain about school taxes and LI civil unions on CD, it's not fixing the problem. If you want reduced school taxes and eliminate union power you should come together and call the NYS government. You think these "big bad strong LI civil unions" have power over the state, no freakin way! Maybe you're problem will be solved then. But then again it seems that NYers just like to complain rather than actually take action to fix the issue.
You LIers are drinking way too much of the Newsday kool-aid. Civil worker unions and salaries are not the biggest issue on LI. I would be more worried about the economy and how so many jobs don't pay relative in relation to the COL. Don't you ever look around and see that there is no virtually no economy on LI other than civil service jobs, healthcare, and DWI lawyers? Without NYC, LI would have a worse economy than Buffalo. Yea it used to be where people commuted from LI to the city for the professional jobs, but for some reason not as many people on LI are bringing in their higher salaries from the city jobs. For a region of ~2 million people and having some of the best public schools, LI is so behind in the times. With it's large population, LI needs up-and-coming wealthy industry like nanotechnology research, pharma/biotechnology, big IT companies, and federal government contracted research companies in order to have more high paying jobs and healthier economy. Then again, everytime I visit I realize that LI puts itself in a position not be poised for wealthy industry because there is a lack of qualified individuals on LI for those jobs. LI is so divided among the super rich, the struggling average Jones, and the poor..it's such a pity. Yet, you continue to complain about the public sector and don't care about promoting any wealthy industry to come to LI. Not to mention that presence of wealthy industry will give you tax breaks.
Unsophisticated in that you apparently didn't know where to look .... the school budget obviously!
How can we get industry to come here with these property taxes they will have to pay which are caused by the public sector? We have to fix the public sector first.
It's not clear in all cases that it is a complete freeze, some districts gave up only the cost of living increases. Many districts are calling it a freeze even though they are still getting steps that can amount to 3-4% a year. Look at Half Hollow Hills, the article indicates step increases will not be impacted and they only gave up the COL for 2011-2012, they are getting a 3% increase for 2012-2013 and the step increase.
If it is a real freeze the budget line item presented in May 2012 for teachers salaries should be less than 2011. The COL is just half the story.
Pretty much SOP. Lie about there being a freeze when there really isn't one.
I'd rather not share my district's name (my kids are in the schools) but as another commenter has already noted, freezes are now quite common (just google your local district and the term 'pay freeze') and employer medical insurance contributions (25%+) are now the norm. I did not mean to imply my district is rare in these two directions (freezes and employer health insurance contributions) but rare in that we have a talented superintendent.
As far as administrator costs are concerned I am happy to share that the district gradually cut an entire cadre of highly paid administrators including district wide directors of math, science, social studies and language. As far as I can see the district has not missed a beat. Building principals have picked up whatever duties those folks were fulfilling. I believe (but cannot swear) the remainng administrators (building principals, assistant principals, athletic director, director of special education, assistant superintendents, et al) also took a freeze and were already contributing 25% of their health insurance costs. I think much of the data on raises and medical insurance contributions presented on this thread by other posters are out of date. A two minute search yielded the following:
Don't worry. Nobody's gonna hunt down your kids on here (even if anybody knew how to find them from your online posts).
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