On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 23:46:00 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 22:12:00 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 21:51:57 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 20:23:32 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 19:59:27 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 19:26:26 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:54:51 -0500, wrote:

On 16 Jan 2017 19:26:29 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

wrote in newso2q7c1u4ri4rrbmis7caf38tde1afv5pg@
4ax.com:

Not pointing atg you, Ed - but if YOU were a city worker, a cop, a
fireman, or whatever, would YOU want to work for less, just to lower
the tax rate for every other resident of your city by fifty cents?
Do you want to have to wait an hour for a fire truck to arrive,
instead of 7 minutes? Or to wait 20 minutes for a cop to respond to an
emergency instead of 3?

That's what you are asking for when you ask for reduced taxes (of
course a small prtion could be reduced by reducing real waste and
corruption at higher levels in some jurisdictions)

OTOH, are we really talking about 50 cents? Tax rates don't just go up
by the cost of postage stamps, they tend to jump.

I'm happy to give the road dept, fire fighters, sheriff what they want
(within reason). Those guys make my life better. Education, OTOH, is a
huge money sink and I really don't know that we're getting anywhere close
to the thousands of dollars they charge in value from them. They waste
time with mandatory fun days, shift classes to computers where a textbook
and notebook is all they really need, eliminate shop classes because of
insurance, and so on.

Puckdropper
Having been part of the education system "in a previous life" I'll
agree a lot of money is wasted - but watching this last election cycle
in the USA I'd say not NEARLY enough emphasis is put on "education"

"Education" needs to be a priority, and money spent on "education" is
never wasted. Money spent on the "education system" is almost by
default wasted.\

What needs to be figured out is how to provide an adequate "education"
without wasting money on the "education system"

Teachers and schools are an investment. School Districts, School
Boards, etc, are a large money waster.

Oh, good Lord. Education is a *LOCAL* issue. The federal government
should have *nothing* to do with it. The Department of Education
should be abolished.
It should be downsized - both at federal and state/province level -
as should the local school boards. Put the money into schools,
teachers, books and resources, not Tajma Hall board headquarters.

There is already plenty of money in the schools. More than the
results justify, certainly.
Mabee in some.. Not in the local school where I taught - and it was
a pretty good school. In a good area.

The US average is $12K. NYC schools cost well over $20K per student
and it looks like West Texas isn't any less.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-how-per-pupil-spending-compares-across-us.html

You're not going to convince me that the results (by any measure you
want to use, besides "participation trophies") justify the costs.

Perhaps it is different in the USa - where the results DO appear to be
a bit poorer - but the teachers are paid less, etc etc etc.

Less?????

$100K salary isn't rare, absolute job security, and 100% retirement
after 30 years, isn't pocket change. There is _no_corelation between
teacher pay and student performance. Of course, administration costs
don't help anyone, except administrators.
I was talking to a teacher, a policeman, and a firefighter in
Flkorida about 15 or so years ago, and they were all paid so poorly
they had to work second jobs to make ends meet - less than $40,000 for
each of the three. That's what I based my comment on.

A good teacher with a lot of experience who really does their job in
an inner city school might be worth on the high side of $100,000, but
an idler in a decent school? I agree with you - no way.

But there is no difference. They all get paid the same.

There ARE a lot of teachers who should be retired (or fired) but
there are also quite a few MORE who are there for the love of teaching
- passing on knowlege to the kids - who would teach for half their
salary if they didn't have to put up with the politics and bull****
from the ministry and board level.

So get rid of the slackers, and everyone in the way. Drain the swamp,
as it were.