From The Sidelines: OK, So Now We All Know What Teachers Make

A column, recently published, gave us information that any self respecting concerned taxpayer should already know. It had lots of comments, most of them negative. There was a lot of union bashing ala the Christie plan and little else. So what exactly did we learn?

Aside from the usual concerns about all these "bad teachers" that can't be fired, we learned that far from being over paid in proportion to the rest of us, we learn that they actually earn less or at maybe equal to the per-capita income of all of Morris County’s public and PRIVATE work force.  These teachers are educated people on whom we base our hopes for the future of our children and indirectly the future of America. The cries about a failed system in a state that ranks in the top 5 in the nation seems a little hollow, and since the whole education of the children of the State of New Jersey rests on the backs of property tax payers, ultimately each town other than Abbott districts are responsible for the state of their own educational system. A broad based tax would relieve property tax payers without the need to attack those who instruct these children. Right now it is just a political game played out by a governor who needs an enemy and a legislature that doesn't want the tough issues on their plate.

Many of the attacks posted were either on the unions or tenure and let me try to explain why they are both needed for public employees including teachers. Winning public office is a prize. If that prize also allows for the wholesale firing of one group of people and the hiring of another it is called patronage. They become at will employees subject to the political pressures of the controlling body. You see your politicians and school boards are political, do you really believe that we will get a better employee under that system? Do you really want a system where to the winner goes the spoils and public employment becomes a part of that system?