Education budget in Texas just got a $4 billion cut... teachers to see pay reduced

Originally posted by BigJoninTexas
Stupid people feeling entitled, that's the US.

Or at least people named BigJon who are from Texas.

You really think a civilization can function on the basis of "f*ck you, I've got mine" and that you really ARE completely self-made, don't you?

Call your kids' school. Find out how much they receive in federal and state funds. You don't need to keep "private schools receive no public funding" among your many delusions.

From my experience with teachers, most are over paid get to many holidays and are politicians in waiting. They promote no bullying yet they are the biggest bullies, they hold the public at ransom because they are the peoples baby sitters. Your children would learn more at home if you or someone skilled actually took the time to teach them. Schools are small kingdoms with the principle / board sitting at the top and it is all about the money.

reply to post by Vitchilo


These kids should consider themselves lucky. The way they educate people is half the problem in the first place.

Quit playing both sides of the game people and wake up already.

Originally posted by BigJoninTexas
I live in Texas and I think this is a good thing. The federal gov't. and state gov't have no business funding education. It is the responsibility of the parents. I went over my property taxes a few weeks ago and found that I paid over three thousand dollars to my local school district. I also send my son to private school which costs about five thousand a year, so basically I'm paying three thousand a year to send someone elses child to school. This is ridiculous. Every person needs to man up and take care of their own responsibilities. The system is broke. I'm thirty so assuming I stay in my house for the next 40 years and taxes won't go up (yeah right) that means I will pay 120,000 dollars to support other peoples' kids. Every parent should be taxed for their kids, not just the property owners that busted their butts in order to become successful. Stupid people feeling entitled, that's the US.

You ever notice how entitled these "I made it on my own, so should you" people are. Its my money I am not a member of a community or society! I expect that the guvment does its job with no pay and unions make my taxes go up! RAH RAH! Tea Party Cheer! How come I has to pay for anyone else's education. My kids go to private school they wont have to worry about those other kids. I fully expect my child to run this country, police it, fight all fires, make policies, fight all wars, make all diplomatic decisions, teach other peoples kids, plow my yard, fix my roads, keep parks clean, make scientific discoveries, give me my health care and everything else dang on it! My kids had me to give them fancy schoolin' so obviously they are perfect and will never fall on their faces and will never need any hand outs and if I should fall ill and become a burden on them I expect them to tell me to stop being a leech on them!

You must have amazing kids that they and their few class mates at Private school are going to be able to run this country when no one else is educated to do it...... ENTITLEMENT doesn't just mean those getting handouts. It also applies to those who feel entitled to piss on everyone else and refuse to be a collective member of a community and society. This is sickening.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox

Unlike the general public, and some here on ATS, I have worked for a school district and got to see first hand the inner works of how a school is ran. It was appaling at best, horrifying would be the word. Children failing to be controled, teachers who thought that the sun rose and set on them, and a school board that tried to get what they want, when they wanted things without considering the costs of such. Oh yeah that is a wonderful place to be. Mention budget cuts, and you get a good view of what congress looks like during the base closure debates, as every teacher did not want to see their department cut at all.
And during my time, this is what I learned about the public school system, they could never come in under costs. That is right, if they had an operating budget of say 300K, they would have to operate as if they had a budget of 500K, and care to guess why? If they put in a budget of 300K, and operated and came in under budget, the city, county, state and federal government would punish the school, and the district, by giving them less money. So if their budget was 300K, and they submitted the expense report stating they only spend 240K, then the next year they would get only 200K to run the school.
And that is not all, not only would they loose funding, but at the same time, they could lose their accrediation.
It is not about the equipment, it is the quality of teachers, which by the way, in New York, are almost impossible to fire. In New York City alone, they have teachers sitting around doing NOTHING, and getting paid for it, that is right the unions prevent a teacher from getting terminated. A teacher gets accused, but not convicted, of any crime and they pretty much get paid to do nothing. So how is that helping the problem. And if there is a teacher whose class is not perfoming, but is at average standards, well they have a guaranteed job. The only way that those running a school have any options to get results is to fire the lot, if the school fails to make the grade, and that is the poorest schools.

reply to post by LexiconRiot


The fools are the folks who think that there is such a thing as "education" in the public sector to begin with. Today, education has little to do with instruction. Education is a social engineering labratory where all manner of social ills are sought to be corrected. Free meals, social engineering instruction such as minority and gay studies, money for programs like student support groups and the rest of the rubbish that is done within the confines of "education". Most of what happens within the context of "education" has absolutely nothing to do with teaching kids the things they need to learn to be successful upon graduating.

There is absolutely no way that presented with a $4bn cut and given the goal of providing students with the proper level of instruction in the priorities of English, math, history, science and civics that the school system would not be able to do that, no way. Every day in the private sector executives are brought in and told to cut resources and guess what they do? They figure out what their critical functions are, how to do those as cheaply as possible at an acceptable level of quality and then priority rank the other stuff and, yes, some of that stuff gets cut.

This notion that has been fueled by the media, unions and political class that the monolithic beast of education provides a suite of functions that are both all necessary and all of equal priority is absolutely nonsense and defies logic.

Private firms don't run that way, private schools don't run that way, many government agencies don't run that way, families don't run that way, but somehow it is anti-social and harmful to our nation - our very democracy to consider that the poorly performing education establishent has to run that way, It is illogical, foolish and does not serve the clients of the public education system - the tax payers.

If anything, cutting a massive amount of money from education would force the establishment to take a hard look at themselves, pair out the non-critical functions and would likely improve instruction. Ideally cutting the funds would expose who the competent executives and leaders are within the system and weed out the poor ones.

Originally posted by dolphinfan
reply to post by LexiconRiot

 

The fools are the folks who think that there is such a thing as "education" in the public sector to begin with. Today, education has little to do with instruction. Education is a social engineering labratory where all manner of social ills are sought to be corrected.

What the hell are you talking about? This is a nonsensical rant about the left vs right ideology. You know were this exact thing you describe is really taking place? Sunday school. Cure the gays and idea like this is social issues being corrected. I have never seen a school do this.

Free meals, social engineering instruction such as minority and gay studies, money for programs like student support groups and the rest of the rubbish that is done within the confines of "education".

Oh noes! They are teaching are kids how to be tolerant and respectful of the various kinds of human life! Free meals for poor kids is bad? I don't understand should those kids be made to starve? You seem like a bigot against the poor minorities and gays. I am glad you kids may be helped through education.

Most of what happens within the context of "education" has absolutely nothing to do with teaching kids the things they need to learn to be successful upon graduating.

This is simply not a true statement.

There is absolutely no way that presented with a $4bn cut and given the goal of providing students with the proper level of instruction in the priorities of English, math, history, science and civics that the school system would not be able to do that, no way.

So you feel that taking education back 40 years and not teaching general computer skills is a plus? Interesting, however, I must disagree.

Every day in the private sector executives are brought in and told to cut resources and guess what they do? They figure out what their critical functions are, how to do those as cheaply as possible at an acceptable level of quality and then priority rank the other stuff and, yes, some of that stuff gets cut.

One of the more common this to get cut are the entery level workers. Next is the fair wages and full time benes. Those cuts often directly effect the working class and are often attempts to not follow EPA regulation so they can pollute our world at lower cost to them.

This notion that has been fueled by the media, unions and political class that the monolithic beast of education provides a suite of functions that are both all necessary and all of equal priority is absolutely nonsense and defies logic.

What defies logic is that people seem to think education is something that is expendable. Way to doom middle class kids to poverty without proper education.

Private firms don't run that way, private schools don't run that way, many government agencies don't run that way, families don't run that way, but somehow it is anti-social and harmful to our nation- our very democracy to consider that the poorly performing education establishent has to run that way,

Private firms only care about bottom lines same with private schools. Government Agencies are run far worse by all accounts and why would a family run like a school? The truth is if you want to fix the poorly run education monolith you describe the only way is with more MONEY! Reduce the class sizes= hire more teachers. Keep up to date with modern knowledge = new books every year. Keep well taken care of facilities = more maintenance costs. Encourage more academic related activities as good alternatives to sports = competition costs and instructor costs. I along with many other are merely asking to stop cutting education.

It is illogical, foolish and does not serve the clients of the public education system - the tax payers.

There are not "clients" to the public school system. This is entitlement at its supreme worst. This idea 'My taxes pay for it what is it doing for me" is a farce and sickening. You are the same people who cry about the entitlement of the poor taking their hands outs to barely eek out a menial existence.

If anything, cutting a massive amount of money from education would force the establishment to take a hard look at themselves, pair out the non-critical functions and would likely improve instruction.

Cutting that money would cause more teachers to feel as if they are unable to do a quality job become disenfranchised and perform worse. Your opinion of non-critical would set education back 40 years. It is time you take a hard look at your selfish and self serving mindset and see who are the real entitled people here. You fail to see the value of "pay it forward" because you couldn't afford a new car this year, or maybe it was that big screen HDTV. People who often preach about getting back to basics are often living extremely lavish and so far from the basics hypocrite doesn't begin to cover it.

Ideally cutting the funds would expose who the competent executives and leaders are within the system and weed out the poor ones.

edit on 18-6-2011 by dolphinfan because: (no reason given)

Ideals are nice but reality is better...

reply to post by LexiconRiot


I don't think its a left/right thing at all. I think it is responsible management and frankly the obligation of the school systems to manage what should always be scarce dollars - scarce because they are tax payer dollars and always should be spent wisely as a matter of policy. No different than canceling the NFL channel at home when times get tough.

Why folks are so invested in what has obviously become a failed enterprise is beyond me. The creep of functions into the public school space has occurred absent any public approval or acknowledgement. It has taken place under the guise of providing a better education but in reality has been done with the goal of social engineering and social experimentation. Time is a finite resources. We have crowded out the time for real education by supplimenting the school day with rubbish that the vast majority of kids think is a joke and most parents do not support. They certainly don't support it in the context of reducing instruction in other subjects to make room for it.

Why not blow the entire thing up and rebuild it from the ground up with a bit of imput from the folks who are actually paying for it? Why are folks so afraid of placing the same scrutiny on the education establishment as they are readily want to place on a bank?

Get the schools back to the basics of educating kids in the fundamentals. You want your kids to learn about the gay lifestyle, teach them that at home. You want them to learn about Latino history? Teach them at home or find a private organization that can provide that instruction. Now if we're flush with cash and the schools are kicking ass, fine, lets take a look at adding functions, I'm fine with that. If the schools were performing well and could be audited to such an extent that they were maximizing tax payer funds, I personally would not be against offering alternative studies, taught from a balanced perspective. Unfortunately we are way beyond that now and the entire model needs to be blown-up

good, less pay for the brainwashers

Welp, here comes more tweens that won't be able to read very well.


Thanks again Gov Goodhair.

Originally posted by sdcigarpig
reply to post by TheWalkingFox

 

Unlike the general public, and some here on ATS, I have worked for a school district and got to see first hand the inner works of how a school is ran.

Forgive me if I take your claim with a grain of salt. I've seen so many people who come forth and claim "I was in this field, and it's EXACTLY like the political propaganda from the side I support says! Trust me, i'm an expert on the internet!"

It was appaling at best, horrifying would be the word.

Reading the rest of your post, your standards for "horrifying" are awfukly darn low. A triple homicide is "horrifying." Going over budget is a nuisance.

Children failing to be controled,

'Cause the first order of business is to control those kids! Make sure they're yoked down and made docile for our Corporate masters!

teachers who thought that the sun rose and set on them,

Of course this situation is only present among teachers. Of course, since they're doing all they can to make sure thirty morons come out of this particular gulag with something to show for it, in spite of the constant efforts of parents, administrators, and politicians to keep these kids dumber than a sack of wet moss, I can understand where htye might be coming from.

Of course as I pointed out, people like you expect teachers to be slave labor. Yessuh massa suh, i'se be keepin' a gud eyes on yuh chilluns massa suh!

and a school board that tried to get what they want, when they wanted things without considering the costs of such. Oh yeah that is a wonderful place to be. Mention budget cuts, and you get a good view of what congress looks like during the base closure debates, as every teacher did not want to see their department cut at all.

Why should they want to see their department cut? And remember what I said? A school's business is NOT to cut budgets, it's to educate people. See, I don't know what it is with the school-hating morons, but they all seem to think that the local school needs to be raking in some sort of profit, as if it's a Fortune 500 company. These morons obviously believe that money is the be-all end-all to life.

And during my time, this is what I learned about the public school system, they could never come in under costs. That is right, if they had an operating budget of say 300K, they would have to operate as if they had a budget of 500K, and care to guess why? If they put in a budget of 300K, and operated and came in under budget, the city, county, state and federal government would punish the school, and the district, by giving them less money. So if their budget was 300K, and they submitted the expense report stating they only spend 240K, then the next year they would get only 200K to run the school.

So if they came in at or slightly below projected budget, their budget alottment was lsashed? Well, what's your problem with that? Your position here is clearly that we NEED to be stripping all funding from schools anyway, so I can't imagine that you actually think this situation is a problem. of course, you Do show this by blaming the schools rather than the school board; it's the school's fault for trying to keep themselves funded, and NOT the school board's for constantly trying to severely undercut.

And that is not all, not only would they loose funding, but at the same time, they could lose their accrediation.

Which is the goal of people like you, who want to see Public schools die so they can be sold off and your children can be taught by Bechtel and Montsanto, sans ANY culpability, at greater expense to taxpayers. YAY charter schools!

It is not about the equipment, it is the quality of teachers, which by the way, in New York, are almost impossible to fire. In New York City alone, they have teachers sitting around doing NOTHING, and getting paid for it, that is right the unions prevent a teacher from getting terminated. A teacher gets accused, but not convicted, of any crime and they pretty much get paid to do nothing. So how is that helping the problem.

Oh, there are swarms of quality problems way before you ever reach teachers. it's simply that you are an ignorant coward who, rather than challenge the district, the text book commissions board, the administration, or even other parents (much less yourself) you want to punish teachers for your own continuing efforts to make sure your kids are blithering morons incapable of doing more than pushing a button over and over again. You want, ultimately, for teachers to make your children into geniuses like in all those movies, and you want to see them do it with absolutely no pay, no benefits, and a laundry list of restrictions on their personal lives. Like in the old west, where teachers were paid in flour and forbidden from talking to men.

As for your second problem... yeah, they don't get fired when they are just under accusation. Welcome to America, where we operate under presumption of innocence.

And if there is a teacher whose class is not perfoming, but is at average standards, well they have a guaranteed job. The only way that those running a school have any options to get results is to fire the lot, if the school fails to make the grade, and that is the poorest schools.

Oh my god... AVERAGE?!?! The tragedy! The humanity! Those... those poor kids! You mean they're not walking out the door with brand new 180 IQ's every day? Oh... oh how I weep.

As an educator in the state of Texas, I must admit that I am aghast at some of the comments at teachers. Perhaps you had bad experiences throughout your K-12 experience with one or more teachers or have experienced that with your children but shame on you attaching that stigma to teachers collectively.

Let me help debunk a few myths here about teachers, at least here in Texas.

1. We are NOT overpaid
Teachers may start out with a higher base salary as opposed to some Bachelor degrees, but career ladder is essentially non-existant. Most school districts you are looking at less than $10,000 more from your starting pay after being in the business for 20+ years. Most of the career ladder boosts that you receive in pay come during your first 5-10 years as a teacher and then the raises get progressively less and less. Let's compare this to some of the highest paying salaries in America at this time (Links will be included as we go for those who will refuse to believe otherwise). A CNBC Report about job pay in 2010 listed the average pay offered to 2010 graduates is $48,351—down 2 percent from the 2009 average of $49,353. As we continue into high paying jobs, we see several engineering jobs with $57,000+ starting pay with a 4-year degree (trust me, that is MUCH higher than the starting pay of a teacher in the state of Texas who requires a 4-year degree as well). The highest paying starting salary of all these jobs listed in this study is Petroleum Engineering with an average starting pay of $86,220. Teaching is nowhere on this list.

2. We can NOT join unions
In regards to unions, Texas is a Right-to-work state which means that the state prohibits agreements between labor unions and employers that make membership or payment of union dues or fees a condition of employment, either before or after hiring. In other words, NO UNIONS. It is unlawful for a teacher in this state to join a union. So please, get these outrageous ideas out of your heads that we have lavish benefits packages and all drive Ferari's because collective bargaining brings us in a six-figure salary. If I wanted to make a six-figure salary I could go teach at an uppity private school but that is not why I went into teaching. I went into teaching to change lives. The best I can do to protect myself from lawsuits is join a teaching organization and pay them annual dues to give me advice if I got into trouble. Not a union though, because I cannot take off work to protest the state capital or participate in a walk-out. I will lose my job, and another teacher would gladly take my place.

3. RIFs have been happening more than you think
A RIF stands for reduction in force. Essentially, the teaching world in Texas has been rocked ever since they started these talks several months ago. Several of my colleagues were RIF'd, meaning that their position was cut and no longer existed. Anytime a RIF happens, and this law would allow for even more, the basic business principal of having to do more with less enters play. Now before I am called a cry-baby who is afraid to do more let me tell you how it affects you. My class sizes get larger, which means less one on one time with your child. My conference period time gets smaller, which means less opportunity to call you and discuss what we can do together to help your struggling student succeed. My schools field trip budget gets axed, which means I am no longer able to let your child see outside the community you reside in and they miss the opportunity to experience new things. Is this really something you want to see with your child? My students (and I do not teach in an outrageous rich district by any means, in fact at my school many students are on free or reduced lunch because otherwise they would not have a meal all school day) are afforded the chance to do many things. College field trips, trips to businesses, our science kids have visited Zoos and other science related institutions are just some of the things they are afforded. This bill would allow the district to axe my pay if they wanted and have furloughs like in California which would mean I would not go into work that day and would not be paid for that day off. You are now responsible for providing day care for your child, and in my district the parents cannot afford it even with both parents working, some even 2 or 3 jobs apiece. On top of that your child now also loses the chance to learn at school that day and more than likely will enrich their minds on your couch playing Call of Duty. It is no reflection on you, it is no reflection on your child. It is an unfortunate result of these cuts.


If you look at number of contract days a year and amount of pay, teaching is a "fair" pay. I am not asking for teachers to be paid an exorbitant amount. But before you nod and say "yes, cut teachers pay and allow furloughs" think about the impact that has on your future. Another member brought up Idiocracy earlier, and if the movie was not so profane with its liberal use of profanities (albeit its used to show the degradation of our culture) I would show the film to my students. The lessons learned from it and phenomenal.

In conclusion, please think twice before jumping on the "teachers are evil" bandwagon. There are many teachers who go into the field for the wrong reason but that is not the majority. Most of us truly care about your child and their success and for me, watching your kids, my student, that I taught all year walk across the stage is one of the coolest things in the world.

reply to post by SneakySleuth911


Thank you for you selfless service in dealing with other peoples children, in Texas I assume that is tough. There are so many ignorant people that are now taking aim at teachers it is inane. I love the movie Idocracy because to a much less degree this is how I feel on the boards here often. That is why I brought it up. One of my college professors started showing it to her classes after I told her about it.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox

You are neither forgiven, and if you did not insult the person behind the post, your arguments would hold weight. Lets start with the first part of where you fail to see the points, and please if you are going to debate, keep it civil and not insult me. After all, many people do that when they have no proof or credibility to back up their point.
1) I never said I was an expert in the field, or about the education system. I was relaying what I saw first hand and talking to the different levels of people at a public school/district.
2) I was not referring to making children mindless drones, however, when I was talking about control, I was referring to the lack of discipline on the part of the children and the teachers to control the children. You know, things like sitting there and taking instruction quietly, instead of getting up and moving around, talking and not listening to what the teacher had to say or allowing for the other children in the class to be able to learn. Little things like that, or failing to follow the school rules, like no cell phones, which 60% of the student body ignored.
3) I never stated that was the only situation that was present among teachers, however, given the quality of education with the children, they are conceded. And from my own personal experience a good 10% of the teachers failed to follow even the simplest rules that applied to them. After all seems like these days more and more teachers are making the national news for abuse and sex scandals with their students? That is not a group with a stellar reputation or example of good civic minded individuals.
4) Yes it is the schools job to educate, and as far as I can see, all that is required is a blackboard, chalk, paper, books and a teacher. That is it. Let the parents fund for a new computer, if they want their child to have a computer, not the school districts. It is really sad when the basics are ignored in favor of what is new. Pretty sad when a school district has to cut, say busses, cause they wanted to ensure that every student has a laptop.
5) Yes, but what you often fail to realize is that there is a portion of a school that is suppose to make a profit, and that is the food services department, the people who are suppose to feed the children. And the reason why they can not operate at a profit, is it seems that when the budget is low, the food services get cut as their budget gets raided. Yet it is the food services department that can give the greatest benefit for any public school as the more students that are on the free and reduced meal program the bigger the grant it can get from the different levels of government.
6) There is where you are wrong, the school boards for each of the school districts have to approve and set the budgets for each of the schools in their district.
7) For the record, I do not believe in the school voucher program as it is a waste of tax payer money and does nothing for the children, save cause head aches for the parents. And also for the record, I think that the public school system has a lot of potential, however, if they ran within a reasonable budget and were held accountable for every penny they spent, like a business, they would have more than enough money to not have to lay off any teacher.
8) And it is the district that is responsible for the running of the schools in its district, and ultimately should be challenged and held accountable.
Teachers need to be challenged and treated like any other employee out there. It would force them to buckle down and perform or find another line of work. It would ensure that all teachers are doing their jobs to ensure that the students are going to pass those tests and be ready for the world outside. The system right now is just raising and educating a bunch of test takers, is that what we are wanting for our children?

Originally posted by sdcigarpig
4) Yes it is the schools job to educate, and as far as I can see, all that is required is a blackboard, chalk, paper, books and a teacher. That is it. Let the parents fund for a new computer, if they want their child to have a computer, not the school districts. It is really sad when the basics are ignored in favor of what is new. Pretty sad when a school district has to cut, say busses, cause they wanted to ensure that every student has a laptop.

I do hope that you do not really think that what worked 50 years ago is what will work today. Education evolves every single day. The lesson plans I used the previous year are molded to match the needs of my current students. Rote memorization of drill and kill is not the only way or the best way to go. Our students are the first generation to ever bridge the knowledge gap wherein parents ask their children for help and advice when using technology. I have watched kids do things on a computer that many on these forums couldn't fathom doing when they were in High School. Our students need new and unique ways. No, that does not mean buying each child a laptop or an iPad, but let me tell you there are some pretty awesome things that can be done with them. Without seeming like an Apple salesman, let me tell you about a school district in Scotland. They were a lower ranking school that couldn't beg recruitment and were facing budget cuts. They decided to buy an iPad for every student in their school (not to keep, but to use during their educational process), because it was cheaper than buying textbooks and keeping up with the IT fees of running multiple computer labs. This has happened within the past year and their scores have gone up, their attendance rates have gone up, and they are now at the point where they have to turn kids away because they can't house that much enrollment numbers.

The point of that side story is that technology is the future. Tablet PCs and hands on learning are what reach the kids. Ask any teacher one of their biggest complaints in a classroom is, and they will tell you text messaging. Myself and several of my colleagues turn this in our favor. They now have websites where you can set up text polls that do not charge past normal rates - most of us have unlimited plans nowadays anyways with how much prices have gone down - so it doesn't cost a dime. I will start class on discussion days with a text poll projected on my screen, and my kids can watch the results in real time. Business people, this is for you too. It's free and will perk up boring meetings. Here is the link for Poll Everywhere. Free for groups of people 30 and less and rates for larger groups as needed. By taking something negative and distracting like cell phones and turning them into a positive, I do not have cell phone issues in my classroom.

**(Mods please do not delete, I am not trying to solicit a service, merely trying to point out ways that technology is needed in the classroom. I promise this is on subject and I am not endorsed or affiliated with this company)**

The days of standing up in front of a group of kids and just lecturing to them are dead and gone. With this legislation of allowing even bigger cuts to education while granting monies irresponsibly to various groups in this state we are doing our children, which in turn means our future, a disservice.

If I don't have the tools and financial means to challenge your child because the state of Texas cuts the amount of funding my district while at the same time cutting the pay that I use to buy things for my classroom, then who will? Will you? Are you willing to do my job during your personal family time after you finish work? This is not to say I can't do a fine job with less. But I won't match the individual needs of your child with a piece of chalk and a blackboard.

The real disservice lies in these cuts. Taking money away from education is a slippery slope that has terrible consequences for everyones future.

If public school teachers weren't turning out a nation of idiots, I might be concerned about this. Other nations laugh at the idiocy of Americans, and international math/science scores give them good reason to.

And the reply is always "We just need more money!". As if the trillions spent on public schools to date wasn't enough to get kids somewhat proficient in math/science, be able to locate the USA on a map and know who George Washington was.

Wasn't this way back in the day. I think the unions bear a lot of responsibility for allowing inept or tenured teachers who don't give a f#ck to stay in their positions.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
As many say, more money ain't the solution. But this bill still ain't fixing anything.

edit on 17-6-2011 by Vitchilo because: (no reason given)

Sure it is. A less educated public is easier to manipulate.
A less educated public means a larger and cheaper manual labor pool for corporations to exploit.

Now, if we just eliminate child labor laws corporations will no longer have to rely on China for their slave labor.

Maine GOP Legislators Looking To Loosen Child Labor Laws
www.huffingtonpost.com...

Missouri GOP Wants to Repeal Child Labor Laws
www.alternet.org...

Republicans in several states (Utah, Ohio, Minnesota, Maine and Missouri) are proposing sweeping changes to child labor legislation, including allowing sub-minimum wages for workers under the age of 20.
msmagazine.com...