‘No’ to tax increase

‘No’ to tax increase

By Bonnie Payette
May 15, 2011 12:00 am

Why is it that negotiations for collective bargaining are done confidentially, but classroom teachers can use their forum to send the children home to encourage parents to be an open checkbook or the children will go without at school.

That is what I heard from a couple people recently at the RSU 16 budget meeting.

I say the classroom is no place for that and if teachers want to have a tantrum, have it on their own time.

I have heard about salary inequities, but what about the benefits inequities that are all over the place (sick time paid when not used, teaching minutes per day) and, oh, yeah, what about the inequities to the taxpayers themselves?

There was the comment from a School Committee member regarding the economy and individuals on fixed incomes, that "people on fixed incomes don't own property." Well, I am on a fixed salary, and I work between 12- to 15-hour days. Yes, I could get a second job, but I do need some sleep to do it all over again each day, 50 weeks of the year, not 39. So, my salary is fixed and I do own property.

Prior to the meeting, RSU officials voted to cut their stipend in half to send a message. Yet, when I proposed the $164,ooo for high school stipends be cut in half to send a message and not increase taxes, that did not fly.

I will be voting no on the RSU16 budget.

Bonnie Payette, Mechanic Falls

SJ Link

The above letter is typical of a bitter, uninformed, disgruntled, “If I don’t have it, they can’t have it” person who refuses to realize the facts. I’m posting this LTE here because towns all across the state, including Rumford, have their share of these ignorant, disgruntled people who have the ability to make peoples’ lives miserable.

Let’s examine Ms. Payette’s issues one at a time.

1. “Why is it that negotiations for collective bargaining are done confidentially, but classroom teachers can”

Negotiations are done confidentially because they take place between two parties (school board and teacher association). Ground rules are established by both parties before negotiations begin. These rules must be and are strictly adhered to. Typically (if ground rules allow), once an item/issue is TA’d (Tentatively Agreed to), that tentative agreement may be released to the general public. Once all items/issues are tentatively agreed too, all parties involved in the negations process vote to accept or reject the general tentative agreement. For obvious reasons, making negotiations public would undermine this process.

Until an item/issue is TA’d, classroom teachers CANNOT “use their forum to send the children home to encourage parents to be an open checkbook” any more than a school board member can use one of his/her constituents to do the opposite.

Ms. Payette, you are ignorant of the process.


2. “That is what I heard from a couple people recently at the RSU 16 budget meeting.”

Ms. Payette, you are relying on rumor and hearsay for your information. Children are taught at school everyday not to rely on gossip, as it leads to ignorance and social unrest.


3. “I say the classroom is no place for that and if teachers want to have a tantrum, have it on their own time.”

Those who wish to deny educational opportunities would very much like to keep that information from the people who would be affected most. They are afraid of the peoples‘ reaction and power. It’s dirty politics, plain and simple. Much of education is imparting information and facts to students. Denying information is the antithesis of education.

Ms. Payette, is that the type of community you want? One that operates with a lack of information and relies on gossip?


4. “I have heard about salary inequities”

What have you “heard” Ms. Payette? More gossip?


5. “sick time paid when not used”

This pay is not automatic. There are requirements that must be met. Overall, this saves the taxpayer money. The money paid for unused sick time is less than the cost for substitute teachers.


6. “what about the inequities to the taxpayers themselves?”

It’s time to unite Ms. Payette, and demand that ALL workers in this country be treated fairly. Don’t blame the educators of our youth who earn, at best, an average income. The rich keep getting richer don’t ya know.


7. “I work between 12- to 15-hour days.”

Setting aside the daily act of managing and teaching up to 150 adolescents a day and all that it entails (the list is nearly endless)…

Have you ANY idea how long it takes to correct and grade one set of 125 English compositions for commas, apostrophes, subject verb agreement, capitalization, quotation marks, confusing words and homonyms, semicolons, etc.? Have you ever corrected and graded a science lab report? Have you ever prepared a chemistry lab? Do you know what it takes to teach calculus? How about teaching a five year old to read?

Do you REALLY know how many hours it takes to prepare to teach, let alone teach?

Ms. Payette, are you ignorant? No?

Thank a teacher.


8. “50 weeks of the year, not 39.”

Most teachers put in fifty-two, forty hour work weeks a school year (yeah, read that again) and then have to work a summer job to make ends meet.

I have facts to back this up Ms. Payette, but you’re not interested in facts.

You’re interested in bliss

The above letter is not “typical of a bitter, uninformed, disgruntled, ‘If I don’t have it, they can’t have it’ person who refuses to realize the facts.” It is a down to earth, transparent, common sense, realistic representation of reality.

Let’s examine Ms. Payette’s issues one at a time.

1. “why is it that negotiations for collective bargaining are done confidentially, but classroom teachers can . . .”
Negotiations are done confidentially because they are taking place between two parties, school board and teachers’ union. Law calls for these negotiations to be done in a private confidential setting and there are supposed to be legal ramifications for both sides if that confidentiality is broken. Unfortunately, the school board is considered to be “professional” despite the fact these are nothing but every day citizens willing to serve their communities in the hopes of advancing the education and held to one standard while the teachers are not considered professional and don’t act like professionals in negotiations or as teachers when they take their “problems and issues” to the students manipulating them and using them to influence parents, administrators, and the school board. They have become teachers’ unions have seen to it their members are well trained in these propaganda and manipulation skills. Thus far the National Labor Relations Board has allowed them to get away with this. The school board has to take the harassment because they can’t set the record straight without risking unfair labor charges.

2. “That is what I heard from a couple people recently at the RSU 16 budget meeting. . .”

Children are taught at school every day to rely on what their teachers tell them. Their teachers lie. They lie to advance their own agendas. They lie to advance the thickness of their own wallets.

3. “I say the classroom is no place for that and if teachers want to have a tantrum have it on their own time.”

Teachers constantly complain about “lost instructional time” when in fact teachers are the biggest wasters of educational time. They are also the biggest exploiters of educational time for spreading propaganda to their own benefit which is to no benefit to the students.

4. “I have heard about salary inequities.”
“What have you ‘heard’ Ms. Pyette? More gossip” How about that the RSUs are more concerned about bringing the lower former SAD members up to the highest SAD members of the new RSU they ignore the fact teachers are being paid $60,000 and up while the average Maine income is $24,000. And we all hear it at school board meetings from the superintendent and school board members!

5. “sick time paid when not used”
States are going under over this. In California, a prison physician just retired with a $600,000 payday when he collected years of unused sick and vacation pay at retirement. It is written into the contracts negotiated by the teachers unions that these teachers get a payout of any unused days, the requirement to collect, don’t use them.

6. “what about inequities to the taxpayers themselves?”
Agreed, it is time to unite Ms. Payette, and demand that government employees, those working for taxpayers be treated in a similar fashion to those who are backing their paycheck and benefits. Educators of our youth are not earning anywhere near the average income, they are earning 3 times the average income plus they have benefits and retirement packages dreams are made of, certainly not what the tax payers have.

7. “I work between 12 to 15 hour days.”

Imagine if you weren’t getting taxed to death to support these ridiculous salaries and benefits, you could probably work 8 to 10 hours a day 50 weeks a year and spend some time with your family.

8.”50 weeks of the year, not 39”

No you won’t get to work only 39 weeks a year like teachers who do only work 39 weeks a year with several weeks guaranteed off for Christmas, February Vacation, April Vacation, Summers Off but you might get to work 8 to 10 hours 5 days a week with weekends off by saying no.

Rivervalleysun.com did a story on RSU #10s budget last week. The superintendent there is insisting on a $34 million dollar budget. Over the weekend we received an email from a reader in our articles@rivervalleysun.com email which included a copy of an email from the Maine Department of Education which said the RSU #10 budget should be $28 million. That means the superintendent of schools at RSU 10 has inflated the RSU #10 budget $6 million, nearly 20%! We hope the people in RSU 10 will vote NO on this outrageous budget.

Our publisher attempted to discuss this with the superintendent. All he wanted to talk about was building new schools, in other words spending even more taxpayer money.