ISO Information Protesting going on a W. Dares Beach Road Yesterday

[intertidal]

If it's an "agreement" as you said, then I don't really feel too much pitty.

Salary scales for positions show grades and steps within grades. They are used by recruiters to suggest that each step is an annual increase. Even those in this discussion look at the salary scale and assume that step 10, for example, means that a teacher or state worker, with 10 years experience, receives that pay. So it is more a case of false advertising and misleading the public than a contract violation. BTW, state workers have received 2 step increase in the last 10 years, averaging 1.8% each.

 

[intertidal]

I nit pick because Goddamn people like you always "forget" to add pertinent details and, by doing so, change the truth of the narrative. Yeah, teachers should "pay more". And that's not a problem but I guess you missed the part that teachers are the only people in the System paying the higher rate and that additional 2% (which was an increase of 40%) doesn't go to the pension system but the General Fund.

You, and I also, forgot to mention that O'Malley dumped the state contribution for school system pensions, which had been covered by the State since the very beginning back in the 1920s, onto the Counties.

Actually, all MD state workers (except contractuals) and teachers pay the same 7% of their pay since the 2011 change. The extra 2% of pay was put into the general fund in the early years, but now goes to the pension fund. The counties pay a percentage of the pension to the state and that portion increases each year. The real scandal is how that pension money is wasted on very high fees that buy awful investment performance year after year with no accountability or transparency while teachers and state workers had their pensions cut. The state promised to make extra payments to the pension fund in exchange for the 40% increase in employee contribution, but they have not come close to meeting that promise in any budget year.

 

[intertidal]

If I may ...

And another. From August 2016 The $45.5 billion investment portfolio earned 1.16 percent after fees for the fiscal year that ended June 30, well below the fund’s annual objective of 7.55 percent, according to a news release from the State Retirement and Pension System.

So guess who is going to get squeezed to close the gap? For something most living around here had absolutely nothing to do with nor were a part of. Why is it up to the citizens of Calvert County, and other counties, to fund the teachers retirement account shortages?

I would say these teachers better be damned careful of not pissing of the populace. If everyone gets wind of where their tax money is going instead of funding roads and the like, teachers may very well find themselves in a very unpopular, and with far less funding, position.

There is no reason to "guess" who will be squeezed by the perpetually underperforming pension fund. The history of who will pay has been very clear - it has been the employees. In 2011, the forced pension contribution was increased 40%. For new teachers and state workers, retirement age was increased to 65, vesting was increased to 10 years (meaning that very few teachers will stick around long enough to collect anything at all). Colas were cut for both new and old employees and retirees and are not based on CPI alone - but are tied to the performance of the corrupt pension plan.

If the populace is to be pissed off, it should not be at the victims who are being ripped off - but to those who direct massive fee payments to their political contributors running investment scams.

 

[DannyMotorcycle]

Another reason i'm glad trump won, school vouchers.
Just privatize it already..


https://conduitstreet.mdcounties.org/2016/04/26/chart-shows-marylands-school-funding-per-student/

 

[Clem72]

Another reason i'm glad trump won, school vouchers.
Just privatize it already..


https://conduitstreet.mdcounties.org/2016/04/26/chart-shows-marylands-school-funding-per-student/

I might be for school vouchers if we had any decent non-parochial options down here. And no, hippy dippy druggies running Montessori schools do not count.

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

I might be for school vouchers if we had any decent non-parochial options down here. And no, hippy dippy druggies running Montessori schools do not count.

If vouchers do materialize, where there is a void, it will be filled. If teachers in Calvert County bitch soooo much about pay, maybe they should consider moving to one of the top three, highest expenditure per pupil, areas; Worcester County at $17,606, Baltimore City at $16,713 or Somerset County at $16,304? Those teachers must be paid more right? Those students must be so much smarter and score much much higher than any other student in the state, right? Look at all that money being spent, "for the children". There must be an influx of people moving to those areas because of the outstanding school systems, right? There must be a tight real estate market in those areas, right? Yeah right?

 

[intertidal]

If I may ...



If vouchers do materialize, where there is a void, it will be filled. If teachers in Calvert County bitch soooo much about pay, maybe they should consider moving to one of the top three, highest expenditure per pupil, areas; Worcester County at $17,606, Baltimore City at $16,713 or Somerset County at $16,304? Those teachers must be paid more right? Those students must be so much smarter and score much much higher than any other student in the state, right? Look at all that money being spent, "for the children". There must be an influx of people moving to those areas because of the outstanding school systems, right? There must be a tight real estate market in those areas, right? Yeah right?

I'm not aware of any correlation between teacher compensation and the expenditures cited by county. Teacher pay is only one, and probably a fairly minor component to total expenditure per student. Since teachers can have over 200 students, many would be quite happy to be paid per student - say $300 per student per year. Is that excessive? Is it excessive that a school super is paid like a rock star? Is a school system superintendent worth the compensation of 30 new teachers? Not to mention all his assistants and deputies.

As for adherence to the Calvert salary scale, all public workers have been "shorted" over the last 15 years. The only objective way to assess if Calvert teachers have been shorted more than others is to compare actual empirical data. One teacher indicated that after 30 years, she was at step 22. Taken alone, such a statement is meaningless. How does it compare to teachers in other counties and to other groups of public workers? State workers would be very happy to be at that level - as they have reached only step 18 over the last 30 years, with years of furloughs and pay reduction days not experienced by Calvert. And their health benefits are not nearly as good as those in Calvert (granted, the only reason the teachers have such good health insurance is because the commissioners get the same gold-plated benefits and did not care about saving the taxpayers millions to very modestly increase co-pays).

 

[intertidal]

I might be for school vouchers if we had any decent non-parochial options down here. And no, hippy dippy druggies running Montessori schools do not count.

People commonly think the argument by politicians in favor of vouchers is for alternative brick-and-mortar schools. The actual push by Betsy DeVos et al is for "virtual schools" - little more than some superficial website put up by a corporation that wants taxpayer funds without the overhead of public facilities and teachers.

 

[Gilligan]

The actual push by Betsy DeVos et al is for "virtual schools" - little more than some superficial website put up by a corporation that wants taxpayer funds without the overhead of public facilities and teachers.

Links?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Salary scales for positions show grades and steps within grades. They are used by recruiters to suggest that each step is an annual increase.

Many pay scales are like that, if it was an annual increase it would say years experience not step.

The regular federal pay scale is like that. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-ove...ies-wages/salary-tables/17Tables/html/GS.aspx

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

Salary scales for positions show grades and steps within grades. They are used by recruiters to suggest that each step is an annual increase. Even those in this discussion look at the salary scale and assume that step 10, for example, means that a teacher or state worker, with 10 years experience, receives that pay. So it is more a case of false advertising and misleading the public than a contract violation. BTW, state workers have received 2 step increase in the last 10 years, averaging 1.8% each.

Typically teacher contracts don't have inter-step sub-increases. See below for more.

Many pay scales are like that, if it was an annual increase it would say years experience not step.

The regular federal pay scale is like that. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-ove...ies-wages/salary-tables/17Tables/html/GS.aspx

I may be wrong, but don't GS salary scales have bands within steps? Teacher contracts, at least every one I've ever seen, don't.

Step 1 is X. Step 2 is X+1. Step 3 is X+2. And so on until it tops out, with a (presumably) raise each year until then. Prince George's tops at 20 years, I don't know when Calvert tops out.

What many people don't understand, and I think I mentioned this, is that School Boards can sign contracts all day long but the Commissioners don't have to fund it above MOE (Maintenance of Effort).

Up until the current Board of Commissioners was elected (actually two Boards before this one), they would meet with the School Board and hammer out an affordability agreement. That worked pretty well. The schools were funded, raises were adopted with pretty much not many issues.

Then you had the buffoon from Dunkirk elected. For some reason Slaugenhoupt thinks he's going to replace Mike Miller in the State Senate and the way he's chosen to show he's qualified is to pick fights with almost everybody.

Then you have Hart who doesn't read any books unless they have a lot of pictures. That's his justification to abolish the County Library system.

 

[intertidal]

Links?

http://hechingerreport.org/devos-praises-virtual-schools-new-research-points-problems/

https://www.the74million.org/articl...omoted-virtual-schools-despite-dismal-results

https://www.idahoednews.org/kevins-blog/devos-overstates-grad-rates-idva-virtual-schools/

 

[Gilligan]

http://hechingerreport.org/devos-praises-virtual-schools-new-research-points-problems/

https://www.the74million.org/articl...omoted-virtual-schools-despite-dismal-results

https://www.idahoednews.org/kevins-blog/devos-overstates-grad-rates-idva-virtual-schools/

thanks..interesting info I had not seen. I despise the public school mess, mostly failing as a result of thug-like teacher unions and simply gross mismanagement ....but whatever options need to be created do need to make sense.

 

[intertidal]

thanks..interesting info I had not seen. I despise the public school mess, mostly failing as a result of thug-like teacher unions and simply gross mismanagement ....but whatever options need to be created do need to make sense.

I'm a product of parochial schools that I mostly despised for their brutality (can never forget seeing a student with a compound leg fracture forced to climb/crawl up a flight of stairs in obvious great pain). My kids attended excellent public schools in Calvert and excelled. One got a perfect SAT math score, finished first in her college engineering class and her MS was finished in a year and published. The other, an entrepreneur, was featured on the cover of his college magazine and has founded several companies. They were self-driven but I credit the excellent foundation they received in Calvert public schools with their ongoing success.

 

[intertidal]

thanks..interesting info I had not seen. I despise the public school mess, mostly failing as a result of thug-like teacher unions and simply gross mismanagement ....but whatever options need to be created do need to make sense.

I've never seen this "thug-like" teacher union behavior. Perhaps you can describe a local example. I have however, witnessed the AFL-CIO bus in real union thugs from DC who tried to prevent mostly local senior citizens from attending a meeting about Dominion at the Southern Community Center three years ago - by blocking the entrances. That was thug-like by any definition.

 

[intertidal]

Typically teacher contracts don't have inter-step sub-increases. See below for more.




I may be wrong, but don't GS salary scales have bands within steps? Teacher contracts, at least every one I've ever seen, don't.

Step 1 is X. Step 2 is X+1. Step 3 is X+2. And so on until it tops out, with a (presumably) raise each year until then. Prince George's tops at 20 years, I don't know when Calvert tops out.

What many people don't understand, and I think I mentioned this, is that School Boards can sign contracts all day long but the Commissioners don't have to fund it above MOE (Maintenance of Effort).

Up until the current Board of Commissioners was elected (actually two Boards before this one), they would meet with the School Board and hammer out an affordability agreement. That worked pretty well. The schools were funded, raises were adopted with pretty much not many issues.

Then you had the buffoon from Dunkirk elected. For some reason Slaugenhoupt thinks he's going to replace Mike Miller in the State Senate and the way he's chosen to show he's qualified is to pick fights with almost everybody.

Then you have Hart who doesn't read any books unless they have a lot of pictures. That's his justification to abolish the County Library system.

IMO, Mike Miller needs to go. But this complete fool is not the person to do it. At one time, Calvert was represented by decent and honorable people like Bernie Fowler. Now we have trash looking out for themselves.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I may be wrong, but don't GS salary scales have bands within steps?

There are no bands within steps. The steps really aren't big enough to have bands between them.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

There are no bands within steps. The steps really aren't big enough to have bands between them.

Then is it steps within bands? I'll admit I've never paid much attention to how the GS scales are set up. Like if you go from a 12 to a 13 are there interim raises?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Then is it steps within bands? I'll admit I've never paid much attention to how the GS scales are set up. Like if you go from a 12 to a 13 are there interim raises?

The steps are mostly automatic, 1 year for each step up to step 4, two years for each step from 4-7, then three years for each step from 7-10. It takes 19 years to go from a step 1 to a step 10 within a grade.

If you get bumped up a grade they take your current step, increase it by two and you have to make at least that.

So if a GS-13 step 5 making 84528 got promoted to GS-14 they would see what a GS-13 Step 7 made (89500) and then they would make at least that so they would then be a GS-14 Step 2 making 91074

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

The steps are mostly automatic, 1 year for each step up to step 4, two years for each step from 4-7, then three years for each step from 7-10. It takes 19 years to go from a step 1 to a step 10 within a grade.

If you get bumped up a grade they take your current step, increase it by two and you have to make at least that.

So if a GS-13 step 5 making 84528 got promoted to GS-14 they would see what a GS-13 Step 7 made (89500) and then they would make at least that so they would then be a GS-14 Step 2 making 91074

Ok, so GS steps are different than teaching steps.
This link will show PGCPS teacher salaries, click on FY 2017 PGCEA. Note: "Grade" means your degree and additional credits, not the grade taught. I know you're smart enough to know that but others, well, not so much.
http://www1.pgcps.org/humanresources/index.aspx?id=7332