Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
So how is Northern VA using it's Stimulus Funds?; How does that saying go, George?
Topic Started: Nov 30 2010, 08:08 AM (191 Views)
Luke's Dad
Member Avatar
Emperor Pengin
When you've lost WaPo...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/25/AR2010112502738.html


Quote:
 
IT HAS BEEN three months since President Obama signed a bill including $10 billion to stave off what he and Democrats in Congress described as an impending nationwide teacher layoff crisis. The sluggish economy was forcing state and local governments to cut back on education. "We can't stand by and do nothing while pink slips are given to the men and women who educate our children or keep our communities safe," Mr. Obama said at a Rose Garden signing ceremony. Not only would the bill maintain educational quality, claimed the president and other supporters of the measure - including teachers unions - it would deliver much-needed stimulus to the flagging economy.

These claims always struck us as the political equivalent of false advertising. There is no evidence that keeping teachers at work is better fiscal stimulus than alternative uses of the $10 billion - say, increasing food stamps. Indeed, Congress decided to pay for the teacher aid by cutting future food stamps. The layoff threat was exaggerated and could have been mitigated by modest union concessions; in any case, the bill did not target states with the biggest budget problems. The fine print in fact allowed states to spend the money on practically any education employment-related purpose, up to and including salary increases.

Now comes proof that such suspicions were well-founded: Loudoun County, as The Post's Kevin Sieff reported, is going to use almost half of its $9.4 million share of the federal cash not to employ teachers it otherwise would have fired - but to pay teachers for working less.


This bizarre turn of events began in April, when the cash-strapped Loudoun County School Board approved a two-day Thanksgiving-week furlough for teachers. The measure saved $4.5 million. For students, it was not a major sacrifice, since Loudoun's school year is already longer than the state requires. But teachers were incensed and threatened to picket. Then, as one school board member put it, "along came this money from the federal Department of Education." Seizing the opportunity to mollify its teachers without cutting the budget, the school board decided to spend $4.5 million of the federal aid to restore two days' teacher pay. But since it was too late to redo the school schedule, teachers - and students - will still spend two fewer days in the classroom.

In short, the only thing the federal money has accomplished is to turn a two-day teacher furlough into a two-day teacher paid vacation. For good measure, the county also used federal dollars to pay non-instructional staff, such as cleaning personnel, for the time off. Loudoun's teachers are happy. Taxpayers all over America, maybe less so.



The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jon-nyc
Member Avatar
Cheers
Many of you know Rontuner from WTF or PW.


He had a full time job at a school system keeping their musical instruments in good order. He got laid off earlier this year. Then came this bill, after which he was called back.

In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Luke's Dad
Member Avatar
Emperor Pengin
I remember ron. Very knowledgeable and very good technician. A good guy to boot. Still, in all fairness, I don't believe there's a call for any school system to have a full time 36-40 hour a week technician on staff unless they have over 180 acoustic pianos actively being used in the school system, and that's being generous. There aren't many school distriscts out there actively using over 180 pianos, and if there are, then most of those likely should be digital.

I'm glad for Ron that he got his job back, and I'm sure that that school district has some of the best sounding pianos of any schools in the nation, but without knowing more of the details, I do question the need.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kincaid
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
I'm not sure how this money was used in our area. There are a lot of teacher layoffs going on. The school where my wife works voluntarily cut back their pay in order to avoid as many layoffs as possible. They still had to cut 11 days of the school year (without pay) and some teachers were still let go. Other districts were less nice, refusing to cut back their hours voluntarily (I guess enforcing their contracts) and those districts lost a lot more personnel. A district in one of the more well-off areas ended up cutting 20+ days of the school year.

My wife has convinced me that merit pay is a poor idea, but she has not yet convinced me that teacher's unions are a net benefit to society.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Copper
Member Avatar
Shortstop
Luke's Dad
Nov 30 2010, 08:08 AM
When you've lost WaPo...

I actually have a Loudon County high school student as a flight student.

Due to the paid holiday we had a flight lesson last Monday.

So there was a little bit of stimulus.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
OperaTenor
Member Avatar
Pisa-Carp
Luke's Dad
Nov 30 2010, 08:58 AM
I remember ron. Very knowledgeable and very good technician. A good guy to boot. Still, in all fairness, I don't believe there's a call for any school system to have a full time 36-40 hour a week technician on staff unless they have over 180 acoustic pianos actively being used in the school system, and that's being generous. There aren't many school distriscts out there actively using over 180 pianos, and if there are, then most of those likely should be digital.

I'm glad for Ron that he got his job back, and I'm sure that that school district has some of the best sounding pianos of any schools in the nation, but without knowing more of the details, I do question the need.
For the record, Ron doesn't just work on the school's pianos. He performs instrument repair on *all* of their musical instruments. He's more of a big-picture musical facilities guy. From what I understand, it's a full-time job for him.


Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Luke's Dad
Member Avatar
Emperor Pengin
That is quite a bit different. Is it a contractual affair, or is he on payroll?
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply