Who Needs a Real Job?

Update: Word on the street today is that our county needs to find $17 million in this year's budget. Seventeen million dollars. For the rest of this year. Next year? A whopping $72 million dollars. And yet today, we spent our time twiddling our thumbs in a meaningless, mindnumbing series of professional development activities that cost who knows how much money. Wasted time, wasted effort, wasted dollars.

Our school system recently announced it was examining ways to save money for next year's budget. The rallying cry was that the state wasn't going to be able to give the county as much money as they had in the past and to "get ready." They are talking about no raises. You know, that 2% we are all counting on. The area news stations were reporting that the county was examining all programs and services that could be cut.

A small, neighboring school district already laid off nearly 50 part-time and full-time employees. One day they were there and the next day they were not.

LawyerBoy has a friend who is in charge of Special Education in our county. He has said that the county is actually considering not having summer school this year.

If I were a parent in this county, I would start a riot. There isn't a service or program I would consider cutting. (Well, maybe. Let me think about that for a minute.) There isn't a teacher's position I would consider cutting. This county is top heavy. We have one superintendent and six district superintendents. There are 78 Area Lead Teachers who do heaven knows what. The superintendent makes over $280,000 per year and on top of that, he is paid for his retirement from another county position. He has steadfastly refused to release just how much tht is. I don't think this takes into effect his former teacher pay.

I've got a suggestion. Start from the top and let's go down. I'd be more willing to take a hit if I saw the big boys and girls in the county office start the suffering. I don't think Barack's gazillion dollars are going to do one damned thing for me or my school district. My school district thinks that recycling paper is going to save us. I don't. I think that cutting out all the administrators at the top will help. They are the ones who sit and think up the crap that keep us from teaching the children. And you teachers know what crap I'm talking about. If you think for one minute that this budget mess can be balanced on the backs of the teachers, you are totally wrong. I make a piddling $57,ooo per year. I am on step 13 and I have a Master's degree. That is insanity. I work every year without a guarantee that I will be rehired. And yet, there is so much fat at the top, I can't even fathom it. If those guys want to join me in the trenches, I say BRING IT. Then maybe they can see just what goes on day by day.