This budget is out of control and the unions are to blame. Time for new teachers to be put into 401Ks – the pension system is broken beyond repair. Time to do away with tenure. Time for union employees to pay the same for insurance coverage as those of us that pay their salaries. The time for change is now as the status quo is not sustainable.
Why do they get platinum health insurance when most private sector plans are bronze level coverage? If you want it, pay much higher premiums. Why should Villagers be subsidizing better health care coverage for Village and BOE employees than our own family coverage? Makes no sense.
I get why we should not change things for existing teachers mid-stream – – but if new and competent teachers are willing to work for less money or different benefits, why are we not pursuing them as the need arises to hire new teachers?
I think it would be a good statistic to know how much the Village pays for retired versus active employees now and how those payments look over the next ten years.
Just keep paying…
Do it fer da Kidz!
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We;re rich and stupid… we’ll keep paying
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I don’t understand the problem.
Math is hard.
I’ll tell you how ridiculous the current medical benefits are.
Retired teachers have their monthly premiums for Medicare reimbursed by the State of NJ, and if they are paying a higher monthly Medicare premium because they are “high income” beneficiaries, the State reimburses that also.
Think about that next time you write a check for taxes.
Implementing full day kindergarten at all of the grade schools has clearly made Ridgewood even more of a cash cow for the NJEA.
Thousands of determined and boisterous Oklahoma teachers seized every floor of their state capitol building Tuesday vowing not to leave until lawmakers loosen the purse strings on education funding. In a show of force, educators stayed out of classrooms throughout the state for a second day and said in unison that they will continue their walkout until the Republican-dominated legislature substantially boosts money for school resources. “We’ll be back on Wednesday!” chanted the teachers. Many of them were holding signs reading, “Let’s Start Funding” and “Fund our Future.”
Have us by our necks lets be honest parole via realtor pardon only Vote with your moving van to south lower tax states
More saps incoming at least we rode the markets up LOL BOOMERS
I don’t blame the teachers or their union for the current system. I also don’t blame the fire, police or other public employee unions or workers. It is the unions job to get the best deal possible for their members. In the end blame lies on politicians of BOTH parties who over the years have found it easier to sign agreements/contracts and let the next guy figure out how to pay for it. For many years public employee pay was significantly lower than folks in the private sector. The flip side was that they generally had better benefits/pension as well as job security. The pay disparity was either diminished or eliminated in the 1980’s and 1990’s but the other perks have remained virtually unchanged. During that same period corporate america virtually eliminated pension plans for their employees. I would not advocate for changing the rules on current employees but the current system seems unsustainable and the solution going forward could be to have new employees have 401k’s. I do not envy the folks on Boards in NJ where they are limited to a 2% revenue increase when the rise in health benefit costs is probably more than that each year. OTOH although I am not familiar with the current salary structure for Ridgewood teachers, historically teachers are underpaid.
At this time, many of our teachers and other public workers are paid more than many of the residents who pay them. The long term teachers are in the high middle class and lower upper class, and are above the pay grade of many of the residents that pay them. When you add in the benefits and pension, the majority are well above the average Ridgewood residents. We all know that a certain percentage of our residents are “rolling in it” and receive some of the highest pay in the nation. We also know that the teachers, when striking, seem to be demanding to be in the pay range of these really highly paid individuals. We also know that the benefits and pensions that our teachers receive put them at such a high total income level that many of our residents only dream of obtaining. Many of our residents are also business owners or in business for themselves. These people have to pay even more for their employees insurance and the employees pay between 20-25% of that while having high co-pays and deductibles. A $10.00 co-pay is a joke in the real world. To top it off, Ridgewood’s quality is declining by a huge amount while the teachers who are apparently not teaching get higher annual raises. Many residents have not seen a raise or bonus in years. We really can’t cry for the “poor teachers”.
Eliminate tenure. Job for now should not become job for life.
Our rankings might improve if we fired a bunch of these entitled thugs and replaced them with educators interested in working with our kids. But we can’t because the teachers’ union protects incompetence with tenure. All they’re doing is trying to get more wages & benefits for their members. They have no interest in preparing our children for the workplace of tomorrow. Let’s try and get some younger teachers willing to raise their “give a crap” level than the current bunch of lazy thugs we’ve got.
So true @4:00