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I thought the lottery was supposed to fund all these education. Maybe the lottery is paying out way too much in administration costs.

Thankfully I make enough money that my wife will be able to retire from teaching in about 4 weeks.

Cutting from the top of this mushroom cloud the county's administrators has made over the people who actually work directly with students is better than the other way around.

Also, when you read that Charlotte is losing 600 teachers due to budget cuts and a much larger deficit, I can't help but to say yet again that Mo Green is doing an excellent job.

The place to cut is not in the central office staff, or special programs, but is rooted in the multiple layers of administration between Mo and the teachers. How many special titles of people are there above the principals of schools and what do they do? Most of them are probably making close to or over 100k annually and delayering management padding can save tons of money that would avoid layoffs. An example is what Charlotte did many years ago (before Mo). As I recall the new superintendent cut layers of management, eliminated car allowances, told the administrators who were left they had more job duties but no pay increases, and didn't cut any teacher poisitions or programs. That's the way to do things. Cutting 10 administrators who make 100k is better than cutting 20 teachers that make 50k, or 40 clerical staff who make 30k.

GOOD JOB MOE!!!!

Brian:

Its important to note for the public that things are still very fluid. The legislature doesn't even go into session until next month so the budget estimates that we are working with come from the Superintendant of Public Instruction's Office. While I am not very sanquin about the budget prospects, there is still a lot of work to be done before we know exactly where we will be budget wise. If there is a bright spot in any of this it is that we are once again forced to focus our priorities on the things that matter most.

Also, it is important to note that the proposed furlough is part of Mo's plan "B" which is based on suggestions from the state budget office that may or may not come to fruition. Having said all this, I think Mo and his staff are doing a great job managing the situation.

Best regards,

Paul Daniels,
District 5

Due to current economic condition, I think parents should contribute a fraction of their income once a year as per the below chart. GCS has 71,000 students = if all of their parents earning is 60K, then GCS can collect 7,100,000 minimum. (7Million to 15Million)

Family Income-- EFC/Year--% of Contribution
$60,000 ==> $100 ==> 0.00167
$70,000 ==> $125 ==> 0.00179
$80,000 ==> $150 ==> 0.00188
$90,000 ==> $175 ==> 0.00194
$100,000 ==> $200 ==> 0.00200
$110,000 ==> $225 ==> 0.00205
$120,000 ==> $250 ==> 0.00208
$130,000 ==> $275 ==> 0.00212
$140,000 ==> $300 ==> 0.00214
$150,000 ==> $325 ==> 0.00217
$160,000 ==> $350 ==> 0.00219
$170,000 ==> $375 ==> 0.00221
$180,000 ==> $400 ==> 0.00222
$190,000 ==> $425 ==> 0.00224
$200,000 ==> $450 ==> 0.00225
$210,000 ==> $475 ==> 0.00226
$220,000 ==> $500 ==> 0.00227
$230,000 ==> $525 ==> 0.00228
$240,000 ==> $550 ==> 0.00229
$250,000 ==> $575 ==> 0.00230

EFC - Expected Family Contribution.
- Also, we should increase the class size to 25 students per teacher.

Yeah, these folks should definitely contribute more....it is not like they don't already pay for 50% of the county to eat two meals a day and actually contribute by paying state and federal taxes on time.......

What a joke-last year the Governor made them pay back money and they could only take off the time alloted to them if school wasn't in session!!!Stupid idea and a trick for sure-thanks alot

I think that there are very few of us who share the burden of the various taxes that go to provide funding public schools. In my experience, there are many people utilizing services who have unreported income and actually make money that is not taxed in any way. And since there is no record of income, these families continue to Those of us who are property owners and who pay taxes on all of our income because we get w-2s should not have to pay extra for public school education. That being said, I feel that these people who work on a cash basis ( for services,etc, even drug dealing), should be expected to contribute in some way. I am tired of subsidizing people who are constantly cheating the system and adding to their long list of entitlements at my expense. AND if those parents have to take some responsibility for their kids they will be forced into taking more of an interest in their kid's education and they may stop reproducing indiscriminately. Personal Responsiblility is the key here.

To Green
I'll go along with your plan if the administration takes a 40-50 % pay cut for being totally useless. Oh and you fire the 10-20% teachers that are collecting pay checks instead of teaching.

Mo seems to take the problems head on. One area he did not address was transportation. Too much, one bus one child business going on. We use 7 million of local dollars for transportation. This is way out of porportion to what ther counties spend.

15 years ago the then superintendant and school board were trying to extort a huge amount of money from the County Commissioners by actually sending dismissal letters to all new teachers, and requiring tenured teachers to submit new applications for continued employment. The resulting firestorm was whipped up by the N&R, of course (the Commission was controlled by Republicans then).Then the Commission stated that they would give the Schools more money - by granting $1.50 to the classroom for every $1.00 cut from administration. The offer was turned down out of hand, and the N&R reported not a word of it the offer. Thank goodness you are giving Green more respect than that - what was only common sense then is still valid today.

I do applaud Mr. Green's efforts in the past and I do understand that there might be a budget shortfall and that cuts will have to be made. But, let's be honest. The idea of a furlough is basically requiring teachers (and other school employees) to work two days without pay. So, call it what it is: a paycut. There are far too many employees in GCS who don't actually work with students at schools. Go to gcsnc.com and click on Directories. Click around and see how many people are listed under a variety of creative titles. And many of these people who are listed have staff members who are not listed.

How many taxpayer paid trips to Hilton Head will the coaches take this year?

isn't a furlough a day away from work with no pay? How is that requiring teachers to work?

All:

Here's the thing that doesn't make sense to me (and didn't make sense last year either): The total GCS budget and its operating budget as it now is projected is actually BIGGER than it was last year. This was the elephant in the room at the last meeting and no one followed up on my questions which demonstrated that despite all the talk of "cuts" our budget is actually larger than it was last year, $651 million versus $642 million.

I am disappointed that no one in the media (except the Rhino) has even mentioned this fact. How can we have a public debate on this when there is no scrutiny of the numbers provided?

Best regards,

Paul Daniels