Laws Which Favor Teacher & Municipal Unions are Destroying NY State

I don't know about you, but I am tired of being made a fool by New York State rules which favor teacher's and municipal unions. Let's list a few.

1) School Board Elections not on Election Day in November (RESULT - Teacher's Union is able to surmount small turnout in May and they elect people favorable to the teacher's union.)

2) Tri-Borough Amendment (RESULT - Union continue getting step increases and benefits with no incentive to agree to a lesser, leaner contract.)

3) Step Increases (RESULT - Union receive both step increases for longevity and coursework as well as contract percentage increases)

4) State Union pensions are not taxed by NY State Income taxes (RESULT - union members get an unfair taxation advantage)

5) Arbitration if negotiations with unions are deadlocked. (RESULT - Arbitration ruling usually results in a compromise negotiation which will not create reform required to stop DOWNWARD SPIRAL of increased taxes and decreased population.)

6) Decreased state pension fund performance requires local school districts and municipalities to pick up more of cost of DEFINED (GUARANTEED) PENSIONS. (RESULT - local school districts and municipalities are close to bankruptcy over unfunded pension obligations. Also, private company pensions (IBM) have gone to 401K Defined Contributions.)

IMMORALITY of TAX INCREASES

It is IMMORAL for the City of Kingston or the Kingston Schools to call for Pay Increases and Tax Increases.  We taxpayers especially in NY State have been taken for FOOLS for so long. The new taxpayer rallying cry should be DON'T INCREASE OUR TAXES TO GIVE UNION WORKERS RAISES WHEN THERE ARE PLENTY OF POTENTIALLY QUALIFIED FIREMEN, POLICEMEN AND TEACHERS WHO WILL DO QUALITY WORK FOR LESS IF GIVEN A CHANCE.  Let's get our local governments back in control with the flexibility they need to balance their budgets without increasing taxes.  Let's debate and discuss future Police, Fire and Teacher contracts in the open with the issue of NO Tax Increases firmly on the table.

Eliminate Step Increases AND Move School Board Election to November

To our current Kingston City Schools Board Members,

I would like to get to the bottom of 2 key issues that are NOT dictated by State Education Law and that the local School Board could correct.

1) Eliminate Teacher Step Increases in the upcoming Teacher's Contract.

2) Move the election of Kingston School Board Members to the November 2011 Election Day so that a larger more representative voter pool could vote for our all important School Board representaton. The Budget Vote can stay in May 2011.

VOUCHER Solution to Possible Closure of Kingston's St.Joseph's School

In the long run, to save St.Joseph's School in Kingston, ....let's be logical.......If Catholic schools are successful educating and disciplining our children and if our citizens want to spend our education tax dollars wisely, why don't  all American citizens........especially Catholic parents support educational VOUCHERS, where parents get a payment voucher and can choose to send their children to either public or parochial schools?  Let's break the teacher unions and tell our politicians to support VOUCHERS in order to save our children's future education and local employment opportunities.