[quote=pri_dk][quote=EmilyHicks]Tackling a failed pension system should be the first thing to do.[/quote]
The pension system is a time bomb – I’ve brought this up many times. However the problems with the pension system do not impact the current budget. (It’s just our children that will bear this massive burden.)
Governor Brown has to solve the immediate problem first.
I do agree that public safety compensation is out of control and fraud is rampant. I have no doubt that we could receive the same level of service at a fraction of the cost. We could pay firefighters less than six digits and still be just as safe.
[quote]And NO, teachers are not underpaid. They make an average of 86k with cushy pension and 3.5 months off every year.[/quote]
I’ve never heard of a teacher making six digits, so I find it very hard to believe that they make an average of $86K. You’ll need to cite a source on that one.
Although I’m a big critic of state worker compensation, I hesitate to lump teachers in with the rest.
I know many smart people who would never choose to be a teacher because of the poor compensation. I’ve never heard of anyone turning down a firefighter job because of the pay.
We need to be selective about where we cut:
Cut education and we deny our children future opportunities.
Cut firefighter and other state worker’s pensions (e.g. CalTrans), and we save our children from massive tax burdens when they are adults.
[quote]Yes, illegal immigrants is a big problem. In Santa Ana, 80% of the students are children of illegals.[/quote]
That’s a pretty extreme statistic – Got a source?
The illegal immigration “problem” is massively exaggerated. And even if it were a problem, how do we stop spending on them? What specifically do we cut?
We don’t need scapegoats, we need solutions.[/quote]
Aren’t you trying to make the public workers the scapegoats? At least public safety personnel perform services that greatly benefit our society; they prevent crime, rather than cause it; and they don’t drive down the wages of other workers, either. The illegal immigrants are not supposed to be here, period.
The problem with trying to cite statistics about the costs related to illegal immigration is because many public agencies (like schools) are often **forbidden** to ask about citizenship status. Having worked in a large school district that was largely impacted by illegal immigrants, I would definitely agree that they (and children of illegal immigrants) easily comprise about 30-50% of the student population in many school districts, and it could easily be higher in districts located in poorer areas.
