Charlie Self said:

On Jan 10, 3:54 pm, Greg wrote:
Swingman said:

"LRod" wrote

Ahh, now we're getting down to why some want our kids in private
schools.

And of course those same "some" think government should pay for it by
issuing vouchers, releiving the parents of the cost of getting their
child out of the "undesireables' " schools.

IIRC, it is taxpayer money that pays for everything government spends.

Well it sure isn't the interest from savings. The government at this
point is akin to a crack head nephew with your charge card and PIN.

Our schools are not "underfunded" around here by a long shot, they're
"misfunded".

Correct again. One major factor - bloated, bureaucracies stuffed with
favor passing cronies - at least around here. Many weak contenders
who can not make it through elections consider it an alternate
stepping stone to public service. Even when failing to reach that
goal, you should see some of the ridiculous salaries - many of which
the pubic is unaware of. School superintendent - $238,000 a year.
Not a major city, just an outlying country. School board attorney -
$420,000 + "bond referral fees" which add up to hundreds of thousands
more in some high growth areas. And yep, it's all your money. Wasted.


And you have to wonder at the layers of administration: naturally
enough, some teachers head for the admin area because of the pay.
Around here, a school principal gets about double what the best paid
teacher gets, while his assistants (of whom there are anywhere from
three to six) get about 75% of his pay.

Well, that's a no brainer. A classroom partially comprised of
ill-behaved kids vs. a nice quiet office and more pay. No taking tests
home for grading, fewer whining parents. What's not to like? Not
having kids, I don't know the current breakdown for salaries, but I
have little doubt it is bloated and rewards are based on politics
rather than genuine performance.

Is that a sad disparity? Probably not as bad as the CEO who gets 5,000
times the 10 bucks an hour his lowest paid employee gets, but that CEO
is not paid from tax dollars. I wouldn't have either job these days,
teaching or admin, but it does seem to me that at least SOME teachers
in the system should equal or surpass the principal's salary. I recall
a few years ago having a guy who owned a furniture factory at that
time telling me he was delighted when all of his sales people made
more than he did. Seems a sane attitude to me, and one that with
adjustment might be applicable in many areas.

The disparity you mention has exponentially increased in the past 15
years or so. It seems to me that attitudes have changed considerably
since I first entered the work force. Avarice appears to have become
the philosophy of modern business. Why? Who knows - probably a
variety of reasons, including television, unpredictable, vacillating
costs of doing business and living, and political trends. Healthy for
society? Not.

As an aside, what I find appalling and befuddling is the 42 million in
salary plus bonuses that are routinely awarded to CEO's who run the
company into the ground or bankruptcy. Then they move to another
company and continue the trend. What the hell is with that? Why are
we rewarding corporate raiders and incompetence so handsomely?


Greg G.