tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post4426175668571547281..comments2024-03-22T02:15:56.280-07:00Comments on Jersey Jazzman: The True History of New Jersey Teachers' (and Other Public Workers') Sacrifices on Pensions And BenefitsDukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-86016882393304345262019-08-30T12:12:59.321-07:002019-08-30T12:12:59.321-07:00While your history is informative it is incomplete...While your history is informative it is incomplete and understandably so. I was an elected BOE member for 3 terms, many years handling the budget in a town where annual budget votes was less than 50% successful. Your timeline starts in 1996 but doesn't include the withdrawal of $2.75B from the pension funds in 1997. Those zero deposits also are made with the assumption they should be from the State budget, they are not. Teacher are BOE employees, the pension is employer/employee funded. Each year every BOE receives a bill from PERS with the employer contribution level required. This number is put directly into the budget of a school district, it can not be challenged in an budget vote. For a period of at least 10 years these bills were put into budgets, had budget votes called on them and after the deadline when all BOE budgets had to be finalized, PERS would send out a notice that zero was expected. The State moved a local liability of each town, and took it on themselves as a State obligation. Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06538157496501872602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-31430607900987599392019-02-24T11:47:37.186-08:002019-02-24T11:47:37.186-08:00Can you please add the history of sick day payouts...Can you please add the history of sick day payouts/ private disability to this? <br />People have NO IDEAGirlBookwormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07628959618167802304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-91038528321627355192019-02-20T12:59:38.962-08:002019-02-20T12:59:38.962-08:00Has anyone researched the number of teachers who w...Has anyone researched the number of teachers who went into either bankruptcy or foreclosure as a direct result of the steep increases in contributions to pensions and health insurance? I work in a high school of about 800 students, and in my building alone I know of 5 teachers who did just that. Betty Monhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02583840633847777929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-60565072522412075202019-02-19T05:01:11.514-08:002019-02-19T05:01:11.514-08:00I am going to share this. Thank you for your dili...I am going to share this. Thank you for your diligent and detailed work on this piece.Janet Romanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15969740447798358444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-64849388229482866462019-02-18T12:12:02.118-08:002019-02-18T12:12:02.118-08:00Thank you for the reminder that teachers are tax p...Thank you for the reminder that teachers are tax payers too!V. Mortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12287520274016566912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-39075912698412167622019-02-18T10:57:31.228-08:002019-02-18T10:57:31.228-08:00I'll be sharing this with my Republican reps! ...I'll be sharing this with my Republican reps! Thanks for the great overview.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812148680161263310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-35377611436929940572019-02-18T09:00:44.913-08:002019-02-18T09:00:44.913-08:00Thank you, Mark. No one could have said this bette...Thank you, Mark. No one could have said this better. Educators & other public employees must not back down from this fight.Marie Corfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15462049509943707599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-31982287943987987952019-02-18T07:54:59.011-08:002019-02-18T07:54:59.011-08:00Thanks for this, I wish it could be posted on NJ S...Thanks for this, I wish it could be posted on NJ Spotlight or one of NJ's big papers. I am so sick and tired of teachers and other public workers being portrayed as villains and greedy pigs by political hacks like Christie and Sweeney. It's called divide and conquer and sadly it is working; so many ordinary people fall for the anti-teacher propaganda and think that teachers are stealing their money. Very discouraging for this retired teacher (bye, bye COLA). As for health care, if we lived in a sane country, we would already have Medicare for all, single payer or some form or version of universal health care like all the other wealthy industrialized democracies (Sweden, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Canada, the UK, France, Israel, etc.).Giuseppehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03418801372998968620noreply@blogger.com