Posted on 09/01/2011 5:20:04 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
When students return today for the first day of school across Wisconsin, many familiar faces will be gone, as teachers chose retirement over coming back in the wake of a new law that forces them to pay more for benefits while taking away most of their collective bargaining rights.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press under the state's open records law show that about twice as many public school teachers decided to hang it up in the first half of this year as in each of the past two full years, part of a mass exit of public employees.
Their departures came before the new law took effect, changes pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature that led to weeks of protests at the Capitol.
The ensuing exodus of teachers and other state employees has led to fears that the jobs might not be filled and that classroom leadership by veteran teachers will be lost.
Ginny Fleck, a teacher of German from Green Bay with 30 years of experience, is among nearly 5,000 teachers who retired.
"It wouldn't make sense for me to teach one more year and basically lose $8,000," she said. Fleck, 69, decided to retire in February, even before the bill became law, in part because of the hit she would take to her $60,000 annual salary, and because of other changes the district was making.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
I’ve heard that since WI gov’t quit witholding union dues, a very large percent of workers aren’t writing checks out of their own pockets for these dues. I’d really like to see some reporting on this.
Leaving because of benefit cuts?? I saw another gem played on MSNBC on this subject, Matt Damon was interviewed by a reported at a Save Our Schools March who asked him if paying(or keeping) public school teachers for performance would result in better teaching. Damon had a fit insulted her and he replied :
“ A teacher wants to teach. Why else would you take a sh*tty salary and really long hours and do that job unless you really love to do it? ”
I had liberals tell me this too. He missed the WI public school teachers shutting down the schools over their own benefits, he must have been on a movie set when that was in the news.
Matt Damon Interview Video: Rips Reporter Over Teacher Salary
This is a very badly researched article. It reads like a PR piece for the Unions. You would think that there is a dramatic increase in the retirement rate. It has increased but it is still less than 10% which means that there should be no problem coping with the influx of new teachers - IF the school systems are well run.
In addition, what changes are going to cost Ginny Fleck - a 69 year old teacher - $8000 presumably per year? When was Ms Fleck going to retire?
As for the potential double dipping, School Boards and Administrators who allow such behavior need to be replaced pronto. As for poor morale, there needs to be strict enforcement of sick time and attendance policies since this is where poor morale normally shows up.
Scott Bauer, the AP author of this piece, needs to take a course in critical thinking before he writes another story.
I don’t know about Wisconsin but in Texas one can’t do this.The only way to start teaching again one must come out of retirement.
Many teacher unions rushed contracts through with reduced packages just to get a year or two of dues still being sent to union direct. At the Oshkosh Board of Ed meeting this was openly discussed and the board still approved the contract just days before the Gov signed the new law. Hopefully we can correct this problem with upcoming elections.
Good. Paying their pensions is expensive, but at least the amount of harm they can do is limited.
Your “return” key is your friend. You can also use the “br” command in HTML to initiate a new line.
good. see ya.
Chop that dead wood. Obviously, these veteran “educators” were in it for the money.
The morons on the School Board approve of it.
Yes. It is legal in WI for the teachers to be re-hired after they officially have retired. They used to go to a new district, but now they just go back to their same old classroom and collect retirement, as well as a current salary — double dip. The school district tries to excuse this saying that they actually save money because they only have to pay once for health insurance because it is just one individual. (Retired teachers in WI continue to receive paid healthcare).
The same goes for other government employees. The Director of Public Works in my town retired and didn’t even go home for a day. Just resumed his job the next day, double dipping. Same for the Police Chief of the town where my business is located.
The past Superintendent (lousy at his job) of my school district did the same. At least he moved to Minnesota to take a new job after he “retired” in WI. Since retired teachers collect nearly as much as they made during their working years, he essentially doubled his income. Another little scam they have is to work the system to get big raises the last couple of years before they retire because their retirement income is based on their highest salaries.
it’s AP. critical thinking is not for presstitutes.
Yeah - there's a few like the above - VERY FEW.
Most teachers work 5 to 6 hour day, get three weeks off for Christmas, a week off for Spring Break, and a few months off for summer fun... They can't teach, resent being held accountable and have all the charm of union truck drivers.
Somewhere up there Dandy Don is breaking into song.
“Turn out the lights.....the party’s over....”
I have a bro-in-law who retired in his mid fifties after thirty years of teaching in Wisconsin. He sat on his rear end for eight years after retirement mostly watching the Golf Channel all day. He finally got a part time job last year working in a convenience store just to stave off the boredom.
Reference PUBLIC school teachers not private
We have already seen PUBLIC school teachers show themselves just as Ann Coulter pointed out. They will choose shutting down the schools or being layed off (less teachers) than accepting cuts in retirement benefits, love teaching my a... Damon is a AH.
Where can you retire at less then 50 years of age??
Any branch of the Armed Forces.
All these teachers came from the 60’s and 70’s generation of educators. I know. When I got back from my tour of duty in ‘71 I went to Cabrillo College in California. Seriously, my English lit class consisted of sitting outdoors, holding hands, and talking about what “we” could do to end the war. Those participating in these classes were given A’s; I got a B. Many of those, knowing nothing, went on to “teach” - they are now retiring...you can’t make this stuff up.
Yes! I should have known that!
My father was career Navy.
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