goldengoose wrote on Feb 28, 2008 6:14 AM:The state has squandered our tax money. Bush did away with the laws that would have prevented subprime lending making our homes worthless now. The elites love and protect their illegal aliens over American citizens. So guess what, it's time for we little folk to pay pay pay some more. Not mentioned in this article is that the school board used this very serious meeting to jawbone reducing health benefits for EUSD employees in the future. It was people who have little to worry about in their personal finances delivering a low blow to people who have a lot to worry about and if it was intended to frighten us even more, well, it did. The only value Americans have left to the people who run our country, the politicians/lobbyists/wealthy, is our designation as "consumers." So IMHO, all of us need to stop buying anything but absolute necessities immediately. While we still have any choices left at all.

Sickofit wrote on Feb 28, 2008 6:41 AM:To be honest, the schools get more than enough money to educate our kids. But when 85% of your budget goes to salaries, then that does not leave enough for the students. The problem is that the pay for teachers and their behefit packages are too much of a burden. This is not politically correct to say, but it is true. No industry can afford to spend 85% of its budget on salaries. It will never add up.

How about wrote on Feb 28, 2008 6:47 AM:the Superintendent and Administrators take a hugh cut in pay during this time of crisis to help the students out? In the private sector if business isn't doing to good top management DOES take a lowering of their salary in order to keep their jobs. If the Adminstrators don't take a voluntary decrease in salary, then it is easy to see some of the Adminstrators need to be fired. This has been a free class in economics 6th grade.

Joe wrote on Feb 28, 2008 7:05 AM:I'm all for saving the district money by eliminating excess baggage. May I make a suggestion? People should be feeding their own kids...I'm specifically referring to the free lunch/breakfast program that's offered all summer long at several Escondido elementary schools.

ToJoe wrote on Feb 28, 2008 7:56 AM:Just so you understand, the free lunch/breakfast program during the summer is federally funded.

Teacher2YOUR kids wrote on Feb 28, 2008 8:51 AM:Before you start talking about cutting salaries why don't you try to come to a classroom for ONE day and see what we do for your children. We teach, counsel, console, nurse and a variety of other things that aren't even in our job description. It isn't our fault that the State is cutting back money for your children. You should direct your anger at them. They should be giving ENOUGH money to cover salaries, supplies, programs, etc. In reality, I'm sick of people that think they know it all.

bryan wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:03 AM:The schools are failing our kids in so many ways. We need to out source our schools open them up to privatization. When you send your kids to public schools you have no say in what they do or teach to your child. The California Supreme Court ruled that parents loose all parental authority when their kids are in school
Its has been shown time after time that the government cannot run any program effectively or efficiently. There is inherent waste and fraud in government run operations.
The teacher unions collect millions from the salaries of the teachers to then turn around and run commercials on the radio on an hourly basis to promote their (the teachers) agenda, not the children’s.

priority#1 wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:15 AM:This is not about too high of salaries for teachers/administrators. We as a society owe a great deal of gratitude to those who educate our children. As Teach2yourkids says, teachers on the whole already go above and beyond. It is truly a sad state of affairs when we are one of the highest taxed states and we still find a way to kick our kids to the curb.

Juanita wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:22 AM:Maybe if we only had to teach one language in our American schools, this would'nt even be an issue.

We are not wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:45 AM:talking about slashing teachers salaries, we are saying the slashing should start at the top with the Superintdendent and all of the Administrators.

Joe wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:48 AM:Even so, it's still our tax money. Those same federal funds could be going towards learning resources. People shouldn't depend on others to feed their own children.

Chaos wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:59 AM:You want to see something that will blow your mind, come down to a Middle School next year with one Assistant Principal and you will see the San Diego Zoo. Good luck Teachers, I hope you have mental health days available.

Tax payer wrote on Feb 28, 2008 11:09 AM:All of the schools should have EVERYONE who wants to ride the bus they all should pay no discounts or free rides. I was a single parent for many years working 2 jobs, but I still had to pay FULL for my child to ride the bus to & from school. NO FREE RIDES

Bring in a private wrote on Feb 28, 2008 12:39 PM:business to run our schools such as the system employed by our prisions. You can get rid of the unions and high salaries.

Dave wrote on Feb 28, 2008 12:59 PM:its a sad sad thing. Teachers are so underpaid and they have to put up with budget cuts and poor salarys. ... . No wonder the quality of life is decreasing in Amercia and why the $ sucks and the mere fact that whatever ... comes into office will do a worse job than our current President.

SanMarcosMom wrote on Feb 28, 2008 2:44 PM:I'm from San Marcos where we are going thru the same kind of cuts. But hey, we rank 46th in the nation in per-pupil spending yet our cost of living is one of the highest in the nation. Our teachers deserve to be well paid and indeed have to be somewhat to even live here. But the things is we DO NOT get enough money to do it all. We're at the bottom of the pile, folks! But our governor thinks he can cut us 10% and we'll just all be hunky dory. They recalled Gray Davis after the last round of school cuts. Maybe we should recall Arnold, too. If we all have to be responsible about our family budgets, why shouldn't the State?

Coastal Eddy wrote on Feb 28, 2008 4:15 PM:If the parents are happy with the education that is going on in the district, I think they would be more than happy to pay a $500 per student “user fee”. I believe that that would just about make up the loss of funding from the state. It’s the only way to prevent the loss of teachers or an increase in class size.

Reardon wrote on Feb 28, 2008 4:34 PM:California ranks just a point or two above Louisana and Mississippi in education, so if you closed ALL of the California schools we could only drop below two more states! (Even without ANY schools we would probably still rank above the District of Columbia, so there is some solace there.) (Editor: The federal US Dept. of Education ranks states annually in "The National Report Card. In the most recent rankings California ranks 49th out of 52 States and Districts in 4th grade reading. We also rank 49th in 8th grade reading. There is something to say for consistency, so we also rank 49th in 4th grade math– and somehow our 8th graders managed to finish 46th in math. see http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/)

Reardon wrote on Feb 28, 2008 5:02 PM:Just for the record, California ranks SECOND in the nation in teacher salaries, according to the teacher's union, the National Education Association (NEA).

Ron wrote on Feb 28, 2008 5:57 PM:Maybe it is time to quit pussy footing around and cut all the ESL classes and remove the illegal aliens from the classrooms.

J wrote on Feb 28, 2008 8:25 PM:Until the immigration problem is addressed with some intelligence the test scores will stay low and the state deficit will be high, end of story, its not going away so our idiot ex bad actor of a governor needs to do something other then cut education....last time I checked "Reardon" the cost of living in CA is quite high so it goes to reason that salries in any job would rank high nationwide...im sure your overpayed as well...

Reardon wrote on Feb 28, 2008 9:19 PM:I don't challenge the pay of teachers, just the delta between their pay and their proven results. I'll take it either way -- lower the pay to our current academic standing, or raise the academic standards to meet the current pay! High pay for terrible results is criminal!

Lisa wrote on Feb 28, 2008 10:12 PM:Maybe it's time for classification tests. It's obvious age alone is not the only degree of grouping for the students. We need to get the ones who need more help in subjects and the ones who have already mastered the subject in different classes. You obviously wouldn't let a pre-med student go in and do brain surgery. Holding students back or going to far ahead of other students only holds up everybody, no one learns anything and everybody gets frusterated. You can't mix oil and water they always seperate unless you mix them together very slowly. This is the future of America and we need to make the right decisions for our youngsters. Budget cuts on education is not good for our youth.

Bob Onthis wrote on Feb 29, 2008 9:04 AM:Here's a novel idea - stop teaching illegal immigrants; stop hiring additional staff and funding additional resources to funding non-English speaking children. Take away the costly crutches put in place and do it the old-fashioned way. Make them Eeaaarrrn it! If trimming is needed - that is where to start. Yes, teachers don't make a ton of money, but they make decent money - especially when one considers the LONG breaks and shorter workdays. Let's make some pay-cuts/benefit cuts rather than lay-offs.

Get real people wrote on Feb 29, 2008 3:24 PM:Reardon: You can't raise our academic standards if you have students who can't speak English! I also don't think it's fair to lower someone's pay because they can't raise test scores due to language barriers.-

Toni wrote on Feb 29, 2008 3:37 PM:I pay more than enough in state taxes. The state needs to manage it better. We just can't afford to keep absorbing Mexico's poorest citizens.

Reardon wrote on Feb 29, 2008 4:17 PM:Yes, non-English speaking people in school is a problem, but it is a manageable problem if the schools would keep those children out of the mainstream classes until they can cope, and not bring down the mainstream scores. The law, as it is currently interpreted requires they be schooled, but the decision to mainstream them too soon is strictly a school decision! The other problem is the CBEST test for teachers -- California teachers pass at a 100% rate! THAT IS NO TEST AT ALL! Massachusetts, which stands number 1 in most test categories, has just released their decade-long study of their incoming teacher test – and their incoming Caucasian teachers FAIL the test at a 24% rate. (Their Hispanic teachers fail at a 52% rate, and their Black teachers fail at a 54% rate.) In California, our incoming teachers pass at a 100% rate! Any test with a 100% passing rate is, by definition, too easy!

Escondido teacher wrote on Feb 29, 2008 10:24 PM:I have not only grown-up going to Escondido schools, but I have been teaching in Escondido for years now. I have read all of the comments very carefully and am frustrated with the number of people who are not supportive of the teachers that spend every day working to educate their children.

First--teacher salaries...we do make decent money, but given the expensive housing costs it is just barely enough. Between paying for rent, car, food, and my college loans I have literally no money at the end of the month and many teachers are in the same position. We do not work shorter days and have long breaks. On average, teachers actually work until about 5 every night (getting to work before 7:30) if not longer, yet we are only paid for 7 1/2 hour day. Plus we take work home many days to prepare for the next day. Many teachers teach summer school in order to gain a little extra money to make up for the long summer time. Or come in to prepare for the upcoming year. Teachers also have to purchase supplies that are not provided by the school.

Test scores: not mainstreaming our ELL's so that they are not pulling down tests scores? I hate to say it but that is not the problem ALL students beginning in the 3rd grade are required to take the state tests and their scores ALL count. You should take a look at our test scores. They may be low, yet many schools are working very hard to increase scores and they are going up...just not as fast as the world would like them to go up.

All that the teachers want is support from the community. Complaining and trying to place blame on the school is not going to fix the problem. Write to your congressmen and tell them that the schools are there to educate the future of this nation and that they need money and teachers to do this. Before we know it, great teachers are going to have to move to a new state just to teach because there are no positions left or the pay is so low in the state that we can't afford to live.

Might Flight wrote on Mar 1, 2008 11:08 AM:I have also carefully read these comments. I am also a teacher waiting to see if I will be layed off. I agree with the PRO-teacher comments. We may be ranked 2nd in pay but "some people" seem to forget about the high cost of living in CA, along with what teachers spend on students, (money and time)etc. The main point that has been partially adressed is CA has high standards, one of the highest in the nation(darn close to Mass.)yet we spend the least per student. Also, what CA considers "passing" is a test score of "Proficient or Advanced=to a grade of a B or A". Yet many states like Texas for example accepts a passing score of "Advanced, Profficient and BASIC, Basic is = to a C). So of course other states look fantastic. Why not? For them a passing score is an A, B, and C. Calif. only accepts A's and B's. We are burning out our students, I can't wait to see how our students turn out in the future. I have believed in Public School System knowing how hard teachers work, and all the requirements you need to complete, but I'm starting to think I'd rather have my son go to a Private school so that he can actually be exposed to Art, Music, and not be taught to the test. By the way Mr. R. forgot to mention the other exams teachers need to take. The RICA exam, CSET and by the way Teaching for 2 semesters WITHOUT PAY(8-4) and then trying to support yrself and go to school during Student Teaching. LET'S BE TREATED LIKE THE PROFFESIONALS THAT WE ARE. Teachers can't solve the problems and mistakes of parents and society.It starts at home.