The September 9, 2005 issue of the Cornwall Local
detailed how Seniors in our wonderful town can pay their ever-skyrocketing
school taxes by taking out a reverse mortgage, using the proceeds of
that mortgage to pay their school taxes, and literally dying debt ridden.
Perish the thought of a senior leaving an inheritance to their children
or grand children, or maybe just wishing to spend the final stages of
life debt free.
How moral is a society that asks its elderly
citizens to make their final exit burdened with debt, so that they
can use the resources that gave rise to that debt to feed a bureaucracy
who will not answer questions such as “what is the average annual salaries that teachers earn?” “What
is the number of days that teachers fail to show up for work in any given
year?” “Has there been a full accounting of the monies that the system
has raised in the past?” “Why do the lights stay on, in all of our school
buildings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year?” Most of our
seniors can't even afford to leave their porch lights on overnight.
We can reduce taxes on our seniors and everybody
else for that matter, by adopting a system that consists of part time
pay for part time work. Teachers work 6 and ½ hours per day
and the school year is only 180 days. This means that the total number
of hours that teachers work in any given year, assuming that they are
totally dedicated and never miss a day, is 1170 hours. People with
traditional jobs work 8+ hour days, they get 3 weeks vacation and if
they are lucky, 11 paid holidays. This means that non-teachers have
to show up for work 235 days a year. Our calculators and our life experience
tells us that people with real jobs put in a minimum of 1880 hours
per year, whereas teachers put in a maximum of 1170 hours per year.
That's a part time job no matter how you spin it and it's about time
that we have serious discussions of part time pay for part time work.
Our seniors have carried the water for our teachers and administrators
long enough. Let them live their final days as they see fit. On May 17, 2011,
there will be a budget vote.
YOU MUST GO OUT AND VOTE “NO”
ON THE SCHOOL
BUDGET VOTE |