Town of Braintree

I Wish

someone with some stones would ask the teachers union president, Larry Kramer, to come to town meeting and plead his case about the tough times teachers are facing. If $52 grand is the average teacher salary, then that would seem to me to be a pretty good way to help teachers make ends meet. Instead of having executive sessions to discuss contracts, let's have them in open meetings so we all can hear what's being proposed and what's being rejected. I'd be for that but something tells me that the self promoting rebel with a cause, Mr.Kramer wouldn't. Once you've seen his act in being a hard ass union president, then you would understand where alot of the problems come from. Ask Ms.Clark about her feelings and opinion of Mr.Kramer and you might be in for a surprise. His arrogance is quite an eye opener. He belongs in front of town meeting so everyone can judge for themselves.

By TMM

Help out

I have helped out at all the schools, I have even substituted in Braintree and other towns. You sir or madam, must not have any children in the schools..nor have you spent any time at them.. If you did, it was years ago from the sounds of it. Don't base your facts on what you hear.. Go to the schools yourself and see how they operate.

By parent k-12

Have the teachers seen this?



Average NEA salary-benefit package worth $97,000

The salaries and benefits of U.S. teachers have risen substantially in recent years, with the average package now approaching $48,000 annually. But this compensation is paltry compared to the deal worked out by the staff of the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. The average NEA employee earned over $97,000 in cash and benefits last year -- $70,780 in salary and allowances, and another $26,230 in benefits. Nearly 86 percent of the union's national employees received more than the average teacher. In fact, 130 employees -- a full 22 percent of its work force -- received more than $100,000 in cash from the union last year. NEA's 597-member staff consumes a payroll of $42.3 million and an additional $15.7 million in benefits. The top earner was outgoing President Keith Geiger, who walked off with $309,400. His successor, Robert F. Chase, received $244,000 as vice president. The figures for Chase are particularly edifying because, at a conference in California in February, Chase claimed not to know how much he made. An insistent union member finally received a written response from Chase that pegged his salary in the $180,000 range. This half-truth conveniently leaves off several cash allowances -- some of which total as much as 20 percent of annual salary. The cash compensation figures cited here include basic salary, living allowances, ''fringe benefit'' allowances, travel allowances, companion travel payments and other taxable stipends. Benefit costs include medical, dental, retirement, life insurance and other payments not made directly to the employee. These annualized averages may even be understated because, for the purpose of computing averages, WorldNetDaily has assumed that all 597 employees worked full-time for the entire year. However, 25 employees received less than $10,000 from the union, suggesting they worked less than a full year or part-time. WorldNetDaily also omitted disbursements to NEA's board of directors, whose salaries are mostly paid by the state affiliates they represent. Even so, an additional $2.3 million was disbursed to the approximately 160-member board. Perks granted to NEA officials were unavailable, but it is likely they are comparable to those afforded to board members of the California Teachers Association, NEA's largest affiliate. Board members receive:

By THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSN

California can no longer afford

California can no longer afford a generous traditional pension plan for state employees and teachers and should force all new workers into a 401(k)-style plan of private accounts.
California's $300 billion pension system for its public employees is the largest state system in the nation and as early as this summer, Californians will be asked to vote on the proposed changes. The change that Mr. Schwarzenegger has endorsed is supported by a number of Republican state lawmakers and is driven by the same ideology behind the effort to transform Social Security.--

The outcome of the vote in California, pension experts and political analysts say, will not only have an impact on the state pension system, but will also provide an important marker of public opinion on proposed changes to Social Security.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, in his State of the State address earlier this month, described California's pension system as ''another government program out of control,'' careering toward fiscal ruin. He cited the state's obligation to inject-- [$2.6 billion]-- into the system this year to keep it actuarially sound, compared with-- [$160] million--- four years ago.

The impetus for Mr. Schwarzenegger's plan comes from some of the same antitax advocates, free-market enthusiasts and Wall Street interests pushing President Bush's Social Security initiative. Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington lobbying and research group, has endorsed the plan. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, in California, is sponsoring a similar measure. The Jarvis group plans to put its proposal on a statewide ballot if the State Legislature does not act on the governor's plan.

Although Social Security and the California pension plans have important differences and different long-term challenges, the proposed solution - private accounts managed by individual workers with a predetermined contribution by employers - is basically the same



By Afford aTraditional Pension Plan