[quote=briansd1][quote=pri_dk]”Retirement Heist” is a very appropriate title.
Healthy 55 year-olds taking money from schools and the poor so that they can play golf every day is downright criminal.[/quote]
I agree. That’s where the problem lies.
It’s not like those 55yo can’t work and be productive. In the mean time, services to schools and the poor are being cut to that retirement payments can be made.[/quote]
Uh, pri_dk, the 55-65 yo set I’m acquainted with (my contemporaries) DON’T play golf every day (or even play golf). The vast majority are still working FT, even if “consulting” on a PT basis.
brian, I AGREE that a 55+ yo is capable of working. Feel free to TELL THIS TO THE EMPLOYERS that won’t hire them under any circumstances!
Actually, this “boomer set” you speak of here was downsized, riffed, “laid off” and took “mandatory early retirement” in the last 15 years, very often NOT OF THEIR OWN CHOICE. To the detriment of their employers, they walked out the door with their intellectual property between their ears.
And rightly so. You can’t have it both ways.
The vast majority of these “over 55’s” would like to work FT today but can’t get hired. Level of education and experience makes no difference.
Take SD Superior Court, for example. The vast majority of the relative *newbies* working the public filing counters are ignorant of CA Rules of Court and CA Code of Civil Procedure and there is often no supervisor immediately available, especially in branch courts. When they are confronted with a document they are unfamiliar with, that isn’t on one of their “forms,” (usually a “litigation” doc) they refuse to file it and the (expensive) attorney, attorney svc or paralegal has to wait around for a “supervisor” or “mgr” to return from lunch, mtg or break to “examine” the document. These documents are very time sensitive and the service in there is often poor. In addition, they are only open now from 8:30 to 3:30 pm, a full TWO HOURS LESS per day than when they were staffed by the “boomer set” that is now “retired!” And between 12:00 and 2:00, 5-6 windows are reduced to 2 windows, to allow for lunch breaks.
I would advise EVERYONE to keep their skirmishes out of court if at all possible as the “system” isn’t anywhere near as efficient as it used to be.
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pri_dk, the REAL REASON the money is not there to fund school extras such as lay-teachers and FT counselors and programs for the poor, such as TANF, Section 8 and the EBT program are grossly impacted is primarily because of unfunded mandates.
In other words, states, school districts and counties are “mandated” by Federal law to provide certain services to subsets of residents yet have never been funded sufficiently by the Federal govm’t to do so! CA bears the brunt of this problem due to it being a border state. Believe me when I tell you that the AG’s office and county counsels around the state have whole divisions dedicated to this issue and are in litigation EVERY DAY, ALL DAY with each other and the Federal govm’t to receive CA’s (and counties’) fair share of funds to operate these “mandated” programs.
This problem has been going on since the dawn of time but has been exacerbated in recent decades due in part to the 1986 Amnesty Act as well as different CA cities being chosen by the Federal govm’t for resettling large numbers of war-torn and/or third-world foreign nationals.
As far as frills such as “Seminar” and “GATE” being dropped from elementary school curriculum around the state due to lack of funds, these programs are “elective fluff” and thus, the first to go in the absence of sufficient grant funding. The CA Education code requires ONLY that public schools teach appropriate progression leading to A – G public university entrance requirements and FAPE, that is … Free and Appropriate Education for all school-age students with professionally diagnosed mental or physical disabilities.
Period.
Band, vocal music and fine arts are nice to have, but school districts are not required to offer them if there is no money to operate the programs.
For instance, trigonometry was even dropped from the SUHSD curriculum in recent years (but can still be taken eves/summers for free at SW College for HS credit).
If CA parents feel their child is “gifted” and can’t find an appropriate public school curriculum or class to “challenge” them enough, they are free to enroll them in private school or private tutoring.
None of these shortfalls has anything to do with “pensions” already promised decades ago.
