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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Wisconsin Benefits - the aftermath
Posted by:
Registered Voter
()
Date: July 01, 2011 01:59PM
Union curbs rescue a Wisconsin school district
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/union-curbs-rescue-wisconsin-school-district
...The Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin near Appleton, has about 4,200 students and about 400 employees. It has struggled in recent times and this year faced a deficit of $400,000. But after the law went into effect, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, school officials put in place new policies they estimate will turn that $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. And it's all because of the very provisions that union leaders predicted would be disastrous...
Here are changes in how a Wisconsin district will go from $400K in the hole to a potential $1.5M surplus. The changes are not that significant, and yet the net result is enormous - in particular the cost of their health insurance.
1. ...In the past, Kaukauna's agreement with the teachers union required the school district to purchase health insurance coverage from something called WEA Trust -- a company created by the Wisconsin teachers union. "It was in the collective bargaining agreement that we could only negotiate with them," says Arnoldussen. "Well, you know what happens when you can only negotiate with one vendor." This year, WEA Trust told Kaukauna that it would face a significant increase in premiums.
Now, the collective bargaining agreement is gone, and the school district is free to shop around for coverage. And all of a sudden, WEA Trust has changed its position. "With these changes, the schools could go out for bids, and lo and behold, WEA Trust said, 'We can match the lowest bid,'" says Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke, who represents the area and supports the Walker changes....
2. ...Then there are work rules. "In the collective bargaining agreement, high school teachers only had to teach five periods a day, out of seven," says Arnoldussen. "Now, they're going to teach six." In addition, the collective bargaining agreement specified that teachers had to be in the school 37 1/2 hours a week. Now, it will be 40 hours.
The changes mean Kaukauna can reduce the size of its classes -- from 31 students to 26 students in high school and from 26 students to 23 students in elementary school. In addition, there will be more teacher time for one-on-one sessions with troubled students. Those changes would not have been possible without the much-maligned changes in collective bargaining....
If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/union-curbs-rescue-wisconsin-school-district
...The Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin near Appleton, has about 4,200 students and about 400 employees. It has struggled in recent times and this year faced a deficit of $400,000. But after the law went into effect, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, school officials put in place new policies they estimate will turn that $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. And it's all because of the very provisions that union leaders predicted would be disastrous...
Here are changes in how a Wisconsin district will go from $400K in the hole to a potential $1.5M surplus. The changes are not that significant, and yet the net result is enormous - in particular the cost of their health insurance.
1. ...In the past, Kaukauna's agreement with the teachers union required the school district to purchase health insurance coverage from something called WEA Trust -- a company created by the Wisconsin teachers union. "It was in the collective bargaining agreement that we could only negotiate with them," says Arnoldussen. "Well, you know what happens when you can only negotiate with one vendor." This year, WEA Trust told Kaukauna that it would face a significant increase in premiums.
Now, the collective bargaining agreement is gone, and the school district is free to shop around for coverage. And all of a sudden, WEA Trust has changed its position. "With these changes, the schools could go out for bids, and lo and behold, WEA Trust said, 'We can match the lowest bid,'" says Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke, who represents the area and supports the Walker changes....
2. ...Then there are work rules. "In the collective bargaining agreement, high school teachers only had to teach five periods a day, out of seven," says Arnoldussen. "Now, they're going to teach six." In addition, the collective bargaining agreement specified that teachers had to be in the school 37 1/2 hours a week. Now, it will be 40 hours.
The changes mean Kaukauna can reduce the size of its classes -- from 31 students to 26 students in high school and from 26 students to 23 students in elementary school. In addition, there will be more teacher time for one-on-one sessions with troubled students. Those changes would not have been possible without the much-maligned changes in collective bargaining....
If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University
Re: Wisconsin Benefits - the aftermath
Posted by:
not all rainbows and butterflies out there
()
Date: July 01, 2011 02:21PM
Great outcome on health insurance. Bad outcome on teaching. Having one more class will mean less prep time for the teachers. Less time for contacting parents. This will not be fun for new teachers---at all. It will also leave teachers more exhausted and principals will have less teachers available for other duties that need to be covered. Teachers will have less time to collaborate with each other. Mixed bag on the outcome I would say.
Re: Wisconsin Benefits - the aftermath
Posted by:
SoylentGreen
()
Date: July 02, 2011 06:59PM
not all rainbows and butterflies out there Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great outcome on health insurance. Bad outcome on
> teaching. Having one more class will mean less
> prep time for the teachers. Less time for
> contacting parents. This will not be fun for new
> teachers---at all. It will also leave teachers
> more exhausted and principals will have less
> teachers available for other duties that need to
> be covered. Teachers will have less time to
> collaborate with each other. Mixed bag on the
> outcome I would say.
Don't take this personally and I realize this tread is about Wisconsin and I'm in Fairfax County but...........FUCK YOU!
I've had kids in the Fairfax County public school system for over twenty years. Know how many times I've been contacted by a teacher or anyone at any of the schools in regards to my child? Three. And the third time was this past school year when the guidence counselor for my son called to tell me that she wasn't sure who she should talk to about his schedule........meaning which one of his TEACHERS she should talk to.
Teachers for the most part don't do shit in regards to "prep time". Everyone knows it yet everyone nods their heads pretends they don't. Schools don't supply shit. The parents do. Teachers don't prepare, they open their county approved manuals and follow them to the letter.
Know what are kids do when they get behind? They stay after school. Teachers don't. Know what the rest of the world does when it gets behind? They keep working.
Yeah, yeah......a lot of broad accusations and generalizations on my part and I don't take into account the 6% of teachers that do contact parents, do stay late, do work on their own time.........but that 6% isn't teaching ALL the kids.
Teachers (not unlike the military) are human just like the rest of us. They don't have any special powers to go with their "special calling".
Just how much did those same teachers care about the kids that weren't being taught while they were protesting and destroying the capital building?
How much did they care that the health insurance company THEY forced on the state was raping the budget?
Just about as much as I care about them losing an hour a day that they spent hanging out in the lounge talking about union membership every day.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great outcome on health insurance. Bad outcome on
> teaching. Having one more class will mean less
> prep time for the teachers. Less time for
> contacting parents. This will not be fun for new
> teachers---at all. It will also leave teachers
> more exhausted and principals will have less
> teachers available for other duties that need to
> be covered. Teachers will have less time to
> collaborate with each other. Mixed bag on the
> outcome I would say.
Don't take this personally and I realize this tread is about Wisconsin and I'm in Fairfax County but...........FUCK YOU!
I've had kids in the Fairfax County public school system for over twenty years. Know how many times I've been contacted by a teacher or anyone at any of the schools in regards to my child? Three. And the third time was this past school year when the guidence counselor for my son called to tell me that she wasn't sure who she should talk to about his schedule........meaning which one of his TEACHERS she should talk to.
Teachers for the most part don't do shit in regards to "prep time". Everyone knows it yet everyone nods their heads pretends they don't. Schools don't supply shit. The parents do. Teachers don't prepare, they open their county approved manuals and follow them to the letter.
Know what are kids do when they get behind? They stay after school. Teachers don't. Know what the rest of the world does when it gets behind? They keep working.
Yeah, yeah......a lot of broad accusations and generalizations on my part and I don't take into account the 6% of teachers that do contact parents, do stay late, do work on their own time.........but that 6% isn't teaching ALL the kids.
Teachers (not unlike the military) are human just like the rest of us. They don't have any special powers to go with their "special calling".
Just how much did those same teachers care about the kids that weren't being taught while they were protesting and destroying the capital building?
How much did they care that the health insurance company THEY forced on the state was raping the budget?
Just about as much as I care about them losing an hour a day that they spent hanging out in the lounge talking about union membership every day.
Re: Wisconsin Benefits - the aftermath
Posted by:
Soylent
()
Date: July 02, 2011 07:31PM
not all rainbows and butterflies out there Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great outcome on health insurance. Bad outcome on
> teaching. Having one more class will mean less
> prep time for the teachers. Less time for
> contacting parents. This will not be fun for new
> teachers---at all. It will also leave teachers
> more exhausted and principals will have less
> teachers available for other duties that need to
> be covered. Teachers will have less time to
> collaborate with each other. Mixed bag on the
> outcome I would say.
Your speech is sickening.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great outcome on health insurance. Bad outcome on
> teaching. Having one more class will mean less
> prep time for the teachers. Less time for
> contacting parents. This will not be fun for new
> teachers---at all. It will also leave teachers
> more exhausted and principals will have less
> teachers available for other duties that need to
> be covered. Teachers will have less time to
> collaborate with each other. Mixed bag on the
> outcome I would say.
Your speech is sickening.
Re: Wisconsin Benefits - the aftermath
Posted by:
Registered Voter
()
Date: July 05, 2011 12:33PM
The benefit is to the kids - the smaller class sizes make all the difference in the world. Also, ironic that the health insurance will now be significantly cheaper with competition against the Union's self-created health insurance provider - like that wasn't a big fat kick-back to union leaders. What a joke.
If you have kids you know that the parent now provides most of their daily supplies. The schools provide a building with facilities and power, and a teacher, that is about it.
If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University
If you have kids you know that the parent now provides most of their daily supplies. The schools provide a building with facilities and power, and a teacher, that is about it.
If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University