<p>thumber- there is significant misinformation regarding pensions. I am not saying there are not abuses but what many people think is common place either is urban legend or truly a rarity in the overall universe of pensions.</p>
<p>I am frustrated by the system. In what job can you leave for years while having children then return to work at the same salary you left. I know somebody who left their job for 10 yrs on sabbatical and was able to return at the same salary s/he left. Yes, this allowed in NYS. How about leaving the teaching industry completely for many years returning to teaching and in two years become tenured with the same accrued pension years where you left off. </p>
<p>There are far too many administrators. Combining school districts would allow for a decrease in administrators which would save money. Centralizing purchasing, would also save money. There are many steps that can be taken to reduce costs.</p>
<p>In our school district, teachers do not have to pay into their healthcare, while many of us do. During the economic downturn the teaches agreed to delayed raises but did not have to give up their raises.</p>
<p>I feel everybody should be allowed a 401k or 403b plan to save for retirement. To provide both a pension and a 401k/403b plan is not necessary. I feel this way for all industries. As a taxpayers we should have a say since we are bound by law to pay property taxes. I do not have a problem paying property taxes but there has to be accountability. House values have to come down if taxes go up because affordability is an issue for home buyers. Everybody should be concerned with home values.</p>
<p>Great teachers should be rewarded with higher salaries. In private industry, workers are judged on their performance and paid accordingly. Those who do not perform lose their jobs. There is no tenure. I expect the same standards to be applied to our school system.</p>
<p>Again, do not mistake my frustration with the system as teacher bashing.</p>
<p>Aw, heck. I left my job for only 8 years, came back to the exact same position but for more money. Like about $20k/year more money. Now, 5 years later, I’m making $25k/year * more than that*! (I did have to reapply/interview for my current position. It isn’t like they held it open for me.)</p>
<p>And I still am only half way through my pay scale! Yippee! It turns out that pay doesn’t stagnate over the decades, especially not compared to similar private sector jobs. Go figure.</p>
<p>Hey, good luck with the idea of paying “great” (as opposed to poor???) teachers more money. I’d love to know if you plan on basing that on test results or what? Teachers around here go on a three year trial period followed by two year contracts, forever for their career. Districts don’t actually have to keep teachers that aren’t performing. Tenure doesn’t exist in our state. </p>
<p>We pay teachers crap wages for what they do. They should get paid more.</p>
<p>I get a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution program with my 6% paid by my employer. I also participate in a 457(b) deferred comp plan. And I get SS. Our pension program is (last I checked) one of the best funded in the nation. It isn’t all doom and gloom and imminent collapse. Reforms have taken place, and will continue.</p>
<p>I did not claim the sky is falling. Pointing out the inversely proportional relationship between house value and property tax is valid and important. Home buyers have a finite amount of money for the purchase of a home and as property taxes rise, home values must drop. This is a simple concept and affects all homeowners.</p>
<p>If I could shop elsewhere to show my dissatisfaction, I would not be as frustrated. </p>
<p>Reapplying for a position after working elsewhere and gaining experience is a far cry from the example I provided. </p>
<p>Teachers can be evaluated just like all jobs in the private sector.</p>
<p>You could shop elsewhere. Just rent. Then declining property values would be to your benefit.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice.</p>
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<p>This is exactly the problem with one nearby county which has had a long history of having its finances under state control until a few years ago and as of a few years ago is again having its finances under state oversight because they can’t seem to balance their budgets due to local residents’ pressures to keep taxes low and yet insist on high levels of county public services. </p>
<p>In short, despite having residents with a high per-capita income, the financial math mismatch of residents’ expectations and county politicians playing to them has created this embarrassing situation with that county’s finances.</p>
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<p>Great: so other employers abuse parents who take time to care for young children, so let’s have EVERYONE do it! Yippee!</p>
<p>A 10-year sabbatical? Don’t believe it. Perhaps you are using the term loosely. (Very loosely…)</p>
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<p>Why not? Did those years of experience just vanish in your mind?</p>
<p>“Pointing out the inversely proportional relationship between house value and property tax is valid and important. Home buyers have a finite amount of money for the purchase of a home and as property taxes rise, home values must drop. This is a simple concept and affects all homeowners.”</p>
<p>I live in the highest property tax town in my area. Home prices have done nothing but increase - even during the recession. People want to be in my school district. Even with the recent prop. tax cap, my district voted more than 2 to 1 to override the cap when the school budget was put to a vote.</p>
<p>“they can’t seem to balance their budgets due to local residents’ pressures to keep taxes low and yet insist on high levels of county public services.”</p>
<p>I’m sick of people like this. If they don’t want to pay taxes they should move to Mississippi.</p>
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<p>Right. Those of us who choose to own homes in the “best” school districts willingly pay high taxes for the perceived benefits of better education for our kids and potential appreciation on our houses when we sell them.</p>
<p>Well in the area I raised my kids and where I grew up, we paid teachers very well. The Chicago suburbs pay teachers very well. This is not an issue. </p>
<p>Where I live now, education is under attack and teachers are not paid well. I was absolutely stunned to hear what they are paid. Half as much, even less in some cases. </p>
<p>I now think on this site we are frequently having completely different conversations with each other than we think we are having. You say teachers are paid horribly, but where I live they are making six figures. You say teachers make plenty of money, but where I live they can barely afford to live. </p>
<p>There’s huge variations in this.</p>
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It’s common place in NY. Every year our paper reports on it. It’s usually firemen and policemen who do it. The year before you plan to retire you do tons of overtime and jack up your pension. It’s perfectly legal. I think they should prorate those over time hours over their entire 20 year service. I don’t begrudge a pension being based on regular overtime, just not intentionally jacked up overtime.</p>
<p>I don’t begrudge public servants including teachers their pensions at all. I live in an area where plenty of teachers and administrators (ca. 40%) make six figures, but they are not living high on the hog at all.</p>
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<p>If they move to the part where a branch of my family is, they’ll have plenty of crappy local public and private schools* to choose from. </p>
<ul>
<li>Former segregation academies.</li>
</ul>
<p>Tom1944, you must get tired of all the pension bashing.</p>
<p>Cobrat, I actually know someone who moved to one of the low tax states. They had dreams of buying a huge house for much less money and the end to paying high taxes. She went first, with the kids, moving into her father’s house, while he stayed here to sell the house and look for a job in new state. </p>
<p>She worked here, part time as a nurse. To earn what she was making here, she had to get two part time nursing jobs and he was never able to find a job that paid enough to make the move or could come close to the benefits he got with his job. 8 months later she was back. He never made the move even after the house was sold. They bought a house a few blocks from their old house. Between the travel, the cost of selling and buying a new house here - it’s likely they lost quite a bit of money on their little adventure.</p>
<p>When you leave the industry to stay home and then work some years in an industry as a clerk adds no value to your teaching ability. You should not and would not be rewarded for that in private industry.</p>
<p>Sabbatical was for stay home time having several children. If you get pregnant within a certain time after the previous one, you can continue your sabbatical. The term was not used loosely.</p>
<p>To expect the school system to be run efficiently, like a private business, is not asking too much. Those in the school education business are not more special than the rest of us and thus should not be treated as such.</p>
<p>Emilybee,</p>
<p>You must live in an area well above a middle class salary. In that case there is a lot of extra income. For the majority of us who live in a middle class area property taxes do effect home value.</p>
<p>As you would expect, high salaried families (top 10%) have more disposable income. I am sure those families still spent quite a bit of money on discretionary items during the economic downturn as well.</p>
<p>I don’t know about well above. </p>
<p>For my town:</p>
<p>The median income for a household in the CDP is $64,438, and the median income for a family is $83,219.</p>
<p>Do you live in NY? In NY property taxes are VERY high.</p>