In a bankrupt Pa. school district, teachers plan to work for free

[Two Thumbs]

makes ya wonder where the money went.

pfft

into union pockets.


chester is a living shithole that no one wants to be in. The people from there have such a bad rep that they will lie about where they are from and will never tell anyone that doesn't know, where they live.

the teachers in that area get paid around 50K to start and since they are union, they know they will be paid no matter what.

 

[Jarlaxle]

They SHOULD be working for free since the kids they're "teaching" are smarter than most of them.

What is wrong with you? Why do you feel the need to vilify teachers that you literally know nothing about?

I haven't met many public school teachers who weren't morons. Lousy grammar, can't spell worth a shit, ignorant fucks and predators in a lot of cases.

I had a couple of HS teachers that I would have bet couldn't have passed their own classes.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Woah, woah.. You're actually blaming the teachers? Jesus christ, what is wrong with you people?

From your link:

"The district, which has been struggling with financial and academic problems for decades, is on the edge of insolvency and cannot make payroll, state and local officials have said."

Who else do you blame when a school system has had "academic problems for decades"?

Keep blaming the teachers. Blame the state for not allocating proper funding?

Sorry bubba, dollars don't teach kids, teachers do, or at least their supposed to, which evidently these weren't. Maybe they are getting paid what they're actually worth now.

Of course dollars don't teach kids, but it's hard to provide kids a good environment when you lack funding. Idiot.

Ok fucktard, PA spends ($13,600+) double per pupil of UT ($6,300) and gets much worse results. Management is the answer, not money.

Doesn't the school system that spends the MOST per student have some of the worst results?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I will never get tired of people bitching that teachers are overpaid when teacher shortages are popping up more and more.. I applaud these teachers and school staff for helping the kids.
In a bankrupt Pa. school district, teachers plan to work for free

Employees of the Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania will show up for work on the first day of school next Wednesday, but they don’t expect to get paid.

The district, which has been struggling with financial and academic problems for decades, is on the edge of insolvency and cannot make payroll, state and local officials have said.

So on Thursday, about 200 members of the local teachers union voted unanimously to work without pay as the new school year opens. They were joined by secretaries, school bus drivers, janitors and administrators.

“The thought of it is very scary,” said John Shelton, 60, dean of students at the district’s only middle school and a 23-year employee. “It’s mind-boggling because there’s truly uncertainty. But we are all in agreement that we will come to work, so that the children can get an education.”

Shelton, who will be able to count on some income from his moonlighting job as a janitor, said he and his colleagues are willing to sacrifice because the students rely on the schools. “Some of our children, this is all they have as far as safety, their next nourishing meal, people who are concerned for them,” he said. “We are dedicated to these children.”


The district is about 20 miles west of Philadelphia and serves roughly 3,300 students, most them low-income.

A similar financial collapse occurred in the district in 2012, and the teachers also agreed to work without pay then. In the end, a federal judge ordered the state to pay the district, and lawmakers arranged a bailout, so that employees’ paychecks were just a couple of days late.

[Pennsylvania school district on verge of collapse (and using free labor to stay open)]

Chester Upland’s current fiscal crisis, however, is more serious, said Jeff Sheridan, a spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D).

“They are in such dire financial shape right now,” he said, “unless something drastic happens . . . the school district is in danger of not existing.”

The governor is grateful to the teachers and other employees who are willing to work without pay, Sheridan said, adding, “It’s helpful and we commend them.”

But it’s not a solution, he said.


Chester Upland is facing a $22 million deficit that could grow to more than $46 million without major intervention, Sheridan said. He blamed several factors: local mismanagement, state cuts in education spending under the previous governor and a state law that requires traditional school districts to pay charter schools significant amounts for students who live within their boundaries but attend charters.

Public charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, have been growing to the point that they educate nearly half the students who live in the Chester Upland district. Chester Upland pays local charter schools about $64 million in tuition payments — more than it receives in state school aid.

State law includes a funding formula that is especially generous toward special education students who attend charters; Chester Upland has to spend $40,000 per student per year for every special education student from its district who enrolls in a charter school. That’s twice the amount the district spend on its own students with special education needs and more than any other district in the state, Sheridan said.

Chester Community Charter School, a nonprofit institution managed by a for-profit company, is the largest charter in the district. It began in 1998 with 100 students and now enrolls 2,900 students, nearly as many as attend the traditional public school system.

This week, a Pennsylvania judge denied a request by Wolf and Chester Upland officials to reduce the district’s payments for special education to charters by about half, or nearly $21 million, in the 2015-16 school year.

Wolf based his request on a recommendation by a 2013 bipartisan legislative commission that the law should be changed to bring payments to charter schools more in line with what it costs traditional public schools to educate special needs students. The committee also recommended lower payments to online charter schools, which currently get the same per-pupil payments that brick and mortar schools receive. That change would save the Chester Upland district an additional $4 million a year, state officials said.

Going to take a wild guess and say the District has been run by Democrats for a while now

 

[WorldWatcher]

And I'm now a substitute teacher. So when I get my paycheck and $4.65 goes into the TRS (Teacher Retirement System), that disallows me from making a tax deductible contribution to my IRA (I have other sources of income).

Just another example of a broken corrupt system known as "education".

Just curious could you expand on this and show us the section of the tax code that prevents you from contributing to an IRA?

I myself work for a school system. I participate in a State retirement system. I make direct contributions (required) and my employer makes contributions, both based on a percentage of my compensation. Now, I can't take a "tax deduction" for either contribution because such contributions are made with pre-tax dollars. Now I can't take a tax deduction for that program because the deductions from my pay are pre-tax, since I didn't pay taxes on it that makes since.

I have an IRA and make contributions to it every year which I can deduct from my taxes.

I participate in a 403B retirement program (for those that don't know a 403B is the government employee equivalent of a 401K) which I can deduct from my taxes.



Since you say it's attributable to a corrupt system known as "education", what part of the tax code applicable to education employees prevents this?



>>>>

 

[LeftofLeft]

I will never get tired of people bitching that teachers are overpaid when teacher shortages are popping up more and more.. I applaud these teachers and school staff for helping the kids.
In a bankrupt Pa. school district, teachers plan to work for free

Employees of the Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania will show up for work on the first day of school next Wednesday, but they don’t expect to get paid.

The district, which has been struggling with financial and academic problems for decades, is on the edge of insolvency and cannot make payroll, state and local officials have said.

So on Thursday, about 200 members of the local teachers union voted unanimously to work without pay as the new school year opens. They were joined by secretaries, school bus drivers, janitors and administrators.

“The thought of it is very scary,” said John Shelton, 60, dean of students at the district’s only middle school and a 23-year employee. “It’s mind-boggling because there’s truly uncertainty. But we are all in agreement that we will come to work, so that the children can get an education.”

Shelton, who will be able to count on some income from his moonlighting job as a janitor, said he and his colleagues are willing to sacrifice because the students rely on the schools. “Some of our children, this is all they have as far as safety, their next nourishing meal, people who are concerned for them,” he said. “We are dedicated to these children.”


The district is about 20 miles west of Philadelphia and serves roughly 3,300 students, most them low-income.

A similar financial collapse occurred in the district in 2012, and the teachers also agreed to work without pay then. In the end, a federal judge ordered the state to pay the district, and lawmakers arranged a bailout, so that employees’ paychecks were just a couple of days late.

[Pennsylvania school district on verge of collapse (and using free labor to stay open)]

Chester Upland’s current fiscal crisis, however, is more serious, said Jeff Sheridan, a spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D).

“They are in such dire financial shape right now,” he said, “unless something drastic happens . . . the school district is in danger of not existing.”

The governor is grateful to the teachers and other employees who are willing to work without pay, Sheridan said, adding, “It’s helpful and we commend them.”

But it’s not a solution, he said.


Chester Upland is facing a $22 million deficit that could grow to more than $46 million without major intervention, Sheridan said. He blamed several factors: local mismanagement, state cuts in education spending under the previous governor and a state law that requires traditional school districts to pay charter schools significant amounts for students who live within their boundaries but attend charters.

Public charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, have been growing to the point that they educate nearly half the students who live in the Chester Upland district. Chester Upland pays local charter schools about $64 million in tuition payments — more than it receives in state school aid.

State law includes a funding formula that is especially generous toward special education students who attend charters; Chester Upland has to spend $40,000 per student per year for every special education student from its district who enrolls in a charter school. That’s twice the amount the district spend on its own students with special education needs and more than any other district in the state, Sheridan said.

Chester Community Charter School, a nonprofit institution managed by a for-profit company, is the largest charter in the district. It began in 1998 with 100 students and now enrolls 2,900 students, nearly as many as attend the traditional public school system.

This week, a Pennsylvania judge denied a request by Wolf and Chester Upland officials to reduce the district’s payments for special education to charters by about half, or nearly $21 million, in the 2015-16 school year.

Wolf based his request on a recommendation by a 2013 bipartisan legislative commission that the law should be changed to bring payments to charter schools more in line with what it costs traditional public schools to educate special needs students. The committee also recommended lower payments to online charter schools, which currently get the same per-pupil payments that brick and mortar schools receive. That change would save the Chester Upland district an additional $4 million a year, state officials said.

Clearly a money management problem. School budgets are not nor should they be looked at as cash cows ready for a money grab.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

And I'm now a substitute teacher. So when I get my paycheck and $4.65 goes into the TRS (Teacher Retirement System), that disallows me from making a tax deductible contribution to my IRA (I have other sources of income).

Just another example of a broken corrupt system known as "education".

Hey, H, have you given up on oil? Im thinking of going back to hydrology.

 

[OKTexas]

From your link:

"The district, which has been struggling with financial and academic problems for decades, is on the edge of insolvency and cannot make payroll, state and local officials have said."

Who else do you blame when a school system has had "academic problems for decades"?

Keep blaming the teachers. Blame the state for not allocating proper funding?

Sorry bubba, dollars don't teach kids, teachers do, or at least their supposed to, which evidently these weren't. Maybe they are getting paid what they're actually worth now.

Of course dollars don't teach kids, but it's hard to provide kids a good environment when you lack funding. Idiot.

Ok fucktard, PA spends ($13,600+) double per pupil of UT ($6,300) and gets much worse results. Management is the answer, not money.

Doesn't the school system that spends the MOST per student have some of the worst results?

Yep

 

[JakeStarkey]

Keep blaming the teachers. Blame the state for not allocating proper funding?

Sorry bubba, dollars don't teach kids, teachers do, or at least their supposed to, which evidently these weren't. Maybe they are getting paid what they're actually worth now.

Of course dollars don't teach kids, but it's hard to provide kids a good environment when you lack funding. Idiot.

Ok fucktard, PA spends ($13,600+) double per pupil of UT ($6,300) and gets much worse results. Management is the answer, not money.

Doesn't the school system that spends the MOST per student have some of the worst results?

Yep

Some do, as do some who spend the least. What is the point?

 

[Mr. H.]

And I'm now a substitute teacher. So when I get my paycheck and $4.65 goes into the TRS (Teacher Retirement System), that disallows me from making a tax deductible contribution to my IRA (I have other sources of income).

Just another example of a broken corrupt system known as "education".

Hey, H, have you given up on oil? Im thinking of going back to hydrology.

We've weathered much worse. Still sitting atop 2 million bbl recoverable.
It's just a slow expensive process getting it to the surface.