Lisa wrote on Feb 12, 2008 10:55 PM:I think this statement reveals alot: "Salaries and health benefits swallow about 85 percent of districts' budgets". I agree! Paying to staff the schools costs more than the educational materials, maintenance and such! Further, the statement: "Administrators have said on several occasions that the cuts will be "extensive," and that as much as they would like to avoid layoffs, layoffs are a definite possibility" - reveals the real focus of our school districts. It seems to me that athe staff (& all retaining their employment) are more important than what schools are really intended for - and that would be for the best education for our students. As far as I am concerned, this problem is for the school districts to figure out - and just hope that they remember what is really important. Educate our students and quit giving yourselves pay-raises EVERY YEAR!!!

Staff Development Days wrote on Feb 13, 2008 6:20 AM:aka paid leave. If the adminstrators want to impress the tax payer with the seriousness of this problem, they would take a pay cut. But since that would be the last thing cut, we don't want to hear your whinning! You have more than enough time to teach them English, Math, History and Science. So my advise is to quit renting movies to babysit our children and start TEACHING!

No to New Bonds! wrote on Feb 13, 2008 8:38 AM:Maybe it is a good thing for the school districts to grapple with budget cuts. They will come to the realization that property tax payers in the district are making the same tough budget decisions and now is NOT the time to float a bond measure that no one can afford.

AResident wrote on Feb 13, 2008 12:36 PM:It's time to cut the Administrators by 50% across the board. There are far to many Administrators and they know it. They will save them selfs before doing what really should be done. So, next time someone is up for re-election give it some real thought about what really needs to be done.

More Prisons wrote on Feb 13, 2008 1:16 PM:School systems are expensive to run. Teachers deserve to get paid competitive salaries. Prison guards get paid significantly more than a public school teacher and ironically the career path requires far less of an educational background. You can pay now or pay more later.

To More Prisons wrote on Feb 13, 2008 4:05 PM:I don't see anyone holding teachers hostage, if they want to become prison guards and make more money, more power to them.

to Lisa wrote on Feb 13, 2008 4:23 PM:DUH! Of course it costs more to have 60 or so teachers at a site and 1 or 2 custodians. Not all supplies need to be replaced annually (computers, etc.) although some are consumables. Why on earth wouldn't salaries and benefits comprise most of a district's budget? Teachers have advanced degrees and could earn 6 figures in other professions. They deserve fair compensation and are not getting rich bringing home, on average, maybe around $3000 to $4000 monthly (far less than anyone else with an MA degree and 20 years' experience would make). The annual pay "raises" you refer to 1) do not happen every year and 2) are not significant - they account for Cost of Living increases at a few percentage points. You imply that teachers hired at one wage should stay at that wage and that will, in effect, increase student learning. Your reasoning is as flawed as your grammar.

Maybe "Staff Development Days" wrote on Feb 13, 2008 7:27 PM:should have paid better attention in school- (whinning for whining & advise for advice).
Plus, the assumptions he makes are false: The only "staff development days" that Escondido Elementary teachers have are at the beginning of the year and we're all in our classes getting ready for the new year to teach your kids, not on "paid leave."
Also, the only "movies" shown at my school are educational and directly related to the curriculum, e.g., Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Instead of complaining and attacking teachers, why don't you applaud all the educational work that we do, plus the "parenting" work that we're forced to do nowadays, maybe because of parents like you, who just rent movies at home to do the "babysitting!"

OMG wrote on Feb 13, 2008 9:49 PM:What hypocrisy! All you hear in the media from the teacher's union is that the children's education comes first. When budget cuts are necessary, teachers salaries are not reduced and the children suffer.

It's readily apparent that in the State of California, the current educational bureaucracy and teacher's salaries come first and our children's education a distant second.

In the private sector, we occasionally take pay cuts in order to keep staffing levels constant when the easily trimmed fat has been removed. I'm not a teacher and when layoffs occur, our children's education don't suffer.

To OMG wrote on Feb 14, 2008 11:09 AM:I don't see anyone holding you hostage to the private industry, if you want to become a teacher and make less money, more power to you- put our children first.

OMG wrote on Feb 15, 2008 12:06 AM:I hope you aren't a teacher. What a great attitude -- if there's a problem, have someone else solve it. Might as well say, "If you care so much about the kids, why don't you pay for the budget shortfall?"

Because State employees get such great benefits, my wife left her $70K job for a $37K job for the benefits, such as a pension at 55, 401K, 457, 401A (look it up), purchasing service years, and free medical premiums after 20 years.

So, when workers with such benefits whine about their salary and how much they could be making in private industry, it totally disingenuous.

I now advocate the State of California changing the benefits for new employees (not as radical as what Arnold suggested a couple of years ago) such as dropping the pension plan and increasing the salary ranges to match the overall compensation in private industry. In the long term, the cost of retirement benefits for state employees will become a huge burden.

To "To Lisa" wrote on Feb 15, 2008 8:01 AM:There is a simple reason people like Lisa (and many others including myself) are against across the board pay raises for teachers, and that is simply performance. Most of us couldn't care less if you have a P.H.D. in Astrophysics, if you're not performing in your current job you don't deserve to have your wages increased. The kids in our school district are "graduating" without basic skills. Don't ask us as parents to support these wage increases and at the same time ask us to support bonds to feed into this failing system. It's funny how charter schools which are run as a business seem to have much better performance than their public counterparts. Can we learn something from that? And lastly, before attacking someone's point of view based on their grammar skills perhaps you should edit your own. DUH!