Did David Williams Lose the Election?

[acemona]

You realize that the cuts that Williams is calling for is just a fraction of a percentage of the total education budget, correct?

 

I'm in no way shape or form a supporter of Williams but I refuse to believe that there is any place where the state spends money that couldn't be streamlined and made more efficient. I also don't see education as some sacred cow that shouldn't face the same bugetary scrutiny that any other state agency does.

 

Across the board cuts is not budgetary scrutiny. It is simply a cut. There has never been budgetary scrutiny, it is simply cut. I will let you come in a scrutinize my school budget and you can tell me which employee to cut. You can decide which of my 6 teachers these students don't need. I have about and 800,000.00 for my school. We get no supply money from the district, I get 29,000.00 to spend on "supplemental supplies" from a federal grant. There is maintenance on a 1953 building that we are in that eats up some cost + heating and cooling it. There is a little transportation, and the rest is staff. Come scrutinize and tell me if I should get rid of my math/pe teacher, my social studies teacher, my geometry/technology teacher, my science/algebra 2 teacher, my english 1,4/special ed teacher, or my English 2,3/arts,humanities teacher, or should I get rid of one of the three social workers that work to help kids overcome their family lives so they are successful in school and don't have to rely on welfare all their lives. The most recent budget cuts that we just had means 50,000 out of my building, I guess I need to scrutinize a staff member out of their job, and scrutinize the kids out of a teacher.

 

I know, it is tough all over.

[mcpapa]

Average teacher salary I am not sure of. Teachers start out in the mid $30,000 range and then get increases based on experience, gaining their masters degree, etc. I would guess the average public school teacher makes around $45-50K. That is purely a guess.

 

Here is another factor people often aren't aware of. Most teachers spend part of their income on supplies for their class room. I was very surprised when I heard that. I assumed the school system covered all those costs.

 

Some of the teachers on here will probably correct me on some of this but those figures are in the ball park.

 

True in the one case with which I'm most familiar.

[Voice of Reason]

I think the key thing for me is how Williams has handled this whole issue. Closing up shop and leaving town last week is the typical bully type action he consistently uses. His management style tells me he would be the absolute worst executive I can imagine. In this debate he has chosen to slash and burn and no apparent thought put into the best way to attack a problem. He handed Beshear all the ammo he needs to position Williams as reckless, thoughtless, uncaring and polarizing.

[75center]

I think the key thing for me is how Williams has handled this whole issue. Closing up shop and leaving town last week is the typical bully type action he consistently uses. His management style tells me he would be the absolute worst executive I can imagine. In this debate he has chosen to slash and burn and no apparent thought put into the best way to attack a problem. He handed Beshear all the ammo he needs to position Williams as reckless, thoughtless, uncaring and polarizing.

 

That wouldn't need much ammo.

[Voice of Reason]

That wouldn't need much ammo.

 

:lol: True, just reloading would be a better way to put it. I wish Trey Grayson would have run but he probably had his fill of it after the Senate race.

[Da champ]

I thought Richie was running

[Jim Schue]

I say any budget-cutting move starts by slashing the salaries of the legislature.

[Jim Schue]

I thought Richie was running

 

That's how they're trying to portray it to overcome Williams' arrogance and abrasiveness.

[Dlbdonn]

I say any budget-cutting move starts by slashing the salaries of the legislature.

How much to the Legisators make per session

[tcjkbt]

One thing in Williams' favor (or whoever the Republican candidate is - Phil Moffett?) is the sordid later years of the Abramson adminsitration as mayor of Louisville, as being chronicled seemingly every day in the Courier-Journal. You know it must pain the C-J higher-ups to have to publish this stuff. Regarding cuts, it's like the old saying: Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die. Beshear's plan is a little iffy. I think he is just postponing the real pain until after the election.

[woodsrider]

How much to the Legisators make per session

 

$186/day + per diem

[All Tell]

Across the board cuts is not budgetary scrutiny. It is simply a cut. There has never been budgetary scrutiny, it is simply cut. I will let you come in a scrutinize my school budget and you can tell me which employee to cut. You can decide which of my 6 teachers these students don't need. I have about and 800,000.00 for my school. We get no supply money from the district, I get 29,000.00 to spend on "supplemental supplies" from a federal grant. There is maintenance on a 1953 building that we are in that eats up some cost + heating and cooling it. There is a little transportation, and the rest is staff. Come scrutinize and tell me if I should get rid of my math/pe teacher, my social studies teacher, my geometry/technology teacher, my science/algebra 2 teacher, my english 1,4/special ed teacher, or my English 2,3/arts,humanities teacher, or should I get rid of one of the three social workers that work to help kids overcome their family lives so they are successful in school and don't have to rely on welfare all their lives. The most recent budget cuts that we just had means 50,000 out of my building, I guess I need to scrutinize a staff member out of their job, and scrutinize the kids out of a teacher.

 

I know, it is tough all over.

 

I agree with this line.

 

You liberals never cease to amaze me. You want to take from everyone else in the name of common common good except when it involves you. Let's tax the evil rich more (while I continue to take deductions to reduce what I have to pay), let's make everyone else pay more for medical insurance (while we fight to keep our coverage that is 100% paid for by someone else). Education is not and should not be a sacred cow.

[2 Humped Camel]

I agree with this line.

 

You liberals never cease to amaze me. You want to take from everyone else in the name of common common good except when it involves you. Let's tax the evil rich more (while I continue to take deductions to reduce what I have to pay), let's make everyone else pay more for medical insurance (while we fight to keep our coverage that is 100% paid for by someone else). Education is not and should not be a sacred cow.

 

This logic totally amazes me, perfectly willing to slam people who have a largely thankless job that are probably just getting by all the while having advanced degrees but give your sacred cow "rich" a free pass. How is it okay for middle class people to pay more and take pay cuts but the "sacred cow rich" can't be expected to forgo their 3% temporary tax cut? Simple answer, it's not. It's brain washed conservatives that want to continue to take away from the middle class to make sure the rich and corporations can maintain their low tax burden and continue adding to an already obscene wealth and income discrepancy..

[woodsrider]

This logic totally amazes me, perfectly willing to slam people who have a largely thankless job that are probably just getting by all the while having advanced degrees but give your sacred cow "rich" a free pass. How is it okay for middle class people to pay more and take pay cuts but the "sacred cow rich" can't be expected to forgo their 3% temporary tax cut? Simple answer, it's not. It's brain washed conservatives that want to continue to take away from the middle class to make sure the rich and corporations can maintain their low tax burden and continue adding to an already obscene wealth and income discrepancy..

 

What's your solution? Go back to taxing the wealthest at 70% and give that money to the middle and lower classes?

 

How about instead of attacking individuals of any class we attack the government for their failure to do the job they were elected to do. I am not saying tax increases are completely off the table but until the government, state and federal, can quit spending money like it's someone elses then the words tax increase should never enter the conversation.

 

And I don't see All Tell slamming teachers. He is simply stating that NO area of government spending is off limits.

[acemona]

How is removing teachers from a classroom benefit the common good. Here are cuts in education over the last 3 years.

 

Here are our allocations of funds for different categories from 07/08 to this current year, 10/11. The difference is of course in the third column.

 

Fund 07-08 Allocation 10-11 Allocation Difference

ESS $37,000 $26,000 $11,000

KERA PreK $190,000 $145,000 $45,000

Prof. Dev. $17,000 $3,000 $14,000

Safe Schools $27,000 $11,000 $16,000

FRYSC $94,000 $84,000 $10,000

Textbooks $23,000 $0 $23,000

 

When you add up the difference column, it amounts to $119,000. We are receiving that much less in allocations from the state over the last four years. That is an impact of 2 to 3 quality teachers.

 

The past two years, we have received more than $430,000 from Federal Stimulus dollars. That money is done at the end of this fiscal year. My assumption is that the Federal government thought that the economy would be back on its feet by now and state governments would be bringing in more revenue to take up the slack. It is obvious that that is not the case.

 

On top of that is another loss of $55,000 to our district in mid year SEEK adjustments this past January. The total of all of those losses now exceeds $600,000. Of course, all of this is not State caused, but nearly $170,000 of it is.

 

We are also acutely aware that SEEK will have another adjustment for next year that will involve another loss of $30,000 for the 11-12 school year.

 

Our EduJobs allocation of nearly $180,000 from this year has not been touched at this point in time. We hope that it is still available to us for the upcoming year. Even with that, it does not come close to making up for the cuts that have been realized over the last four years - $635,000. That's more than 14% of a $9,000,000 budget.

 

I hope now you can realize why i stated on Tuesday in my testimony that i find it laughable when i hear folks state that education has been held harmless by cuts in funding. We have not. Cuts have hit us and hit us quite hard over the last four years.

 

sorry, I don't know how to separate those columns.