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i was discussing with co-teachers last year, and i laughed scornfully when they talked about teacher pensions, saying, "you crazy? that's not going to still be around for *us*!" and they, so idealistic, disagreed. well, I was right, and what a cold comfort that is...
i only have a rudimentary understanding of the whole process, but it's one of those cases where i really, really, wish that i didn't have to pay into this pension system..I'll take it in salary now, thanks, and be responsible for laying away my own nestegg. the state of nj has fallen into the same stupid trap as the federal government, and the comeuppance is here; the state took money that should have been set aside for pensions, raided it for other things, and now can't pay it (similar to social security and the federal government). ((If I am misunderstanding this, please illuminate me, gently)). But the smear-campaign against teachers is *incredible*. Every morning, I torture myself by listening to NJ101.5 (traffic and weather, and I occasionally *like* Jim Gearheart's curmudgeonly rants against the follies of the local government), and teachers (not administrators, who are the ones who actually control the budget; not Boards of Education; not the lobbying-monster of the teacher's union, are smeared, with accusations of how we have grandiose health benefits (NO, we simply *have* health benefits, and fight to protect them; compared to the corporate world which can bargain and yank them away or hire contractors, temps, etc to get around providing benefits for their employees...believe me, they are NOT grandiose. I have a co-pay. I don't have eye-doctor coverage. My dental expenses are capped at a ludicrous sum of something like two or three hundred dollars, and the prescription plan is a bureaucratic nightmare which takes forever to track down reimbursement of only certain covered medications and prescriptions). Yeah, livin' large! Whooo! What about the blame for the HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES who got us into this inflated MESS, and, because they are seeing a light at the end of their dark cash-tunnel, are JACKING their rates this year for a last big payout, making everything WORSE for everyone at a time when the state coffers are dry and no one can afford it. ((Why aren't people saying to the companies, "No, we're changing our coverage, because we can't afford your inflated premiums at this time, and your increase is ridiculous"..why are Boards of Ed simply cutting the teacher's benefits? What about competition? There *has* to be a competitor out there that we could switch to? A "Geico" for Horizon BCBS? Or couldn't we form local co-ops or local funds or something instead?)) As a single teacher in a low-paying district last year, I was not making a livable-wage in NJ, able to pay off graduate loans and rent at the same time...
Any smart person who is not an altruistic "For the children!" saint, would vacate this profession (and does). And *that's* why our education system gets poorer and poorer, because the only teachers left are the ones who aren't smart enough to do anything else.
Anyway, that's my biased understanding of it all. I'm not about to fly a plane into a Horizon building or anything (I agree with what one of my FB friends said, s'terrorism).
i only have a rudimentary understanding of the whole process, but it's one of those cases where i really, really, wish that i didn't have to pay into this pension system..I'll take it in salary now, thanks, and be responsible for laying away my own nestegg. the state of nj has fallen into the same stupid trap as the federal government, and the comeuppance is here; the state took money that should have been set aside for pensions, raided it for other things, and now can't pay it (similar to social security and the federal government). ((If I am misunderstanding this, please illuminate me, gently)). But the smear-campaign against teachers is *incredible*. Every morning, I torture myself by listening to NJ101.5 (traffic and weather, and I occasionally *like* Jim Gearheart's curmudgeonly rants against the follies of the local government), and teachers (not administrators, who are the ones who actually control the budget; not Boards of Education; not the lobbying-monster of the teacher's union, are smeared, with accusations of how we have grandiose health benefits (NO, we simply *have* health benefits, and fight to protect them; compared to the corporate world which can bargain and yank them away or hire contractors, temps, etc to get around providing benefits for their employees...believe me, they are NOT grandiose. I have a co-pay. I don't have eye-doctor coverage. My dental expenses are capped at a ludicrous sum of something like two or three hundred dollars, and the prescription plan is a bureaucratic nightmare which takes forever to track down reimbursement of only certain covered medications and prescriptions). Yeah, livin' large! Whooo! What about the blame for the HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES who got us into this inflated MESS, and, because they are seeing a light at the end of their dark cash-tunnel, are JACKING their rates this year for a last big payout, making everything WORSE for everyone at a time when the state coffers are dry and no one can afford it. ((Why aren't people saying to the companies, "No, we're changing our coverage, because we can't afford your inflated premiums at this time, and your increase is ridiculous"..why are Boards of Ed simply cutting the teacher's benefits? What about competition? There *has* to be a competitor out there that we could switch to? A "Geico" for Horizon BCBS? Or couldn't we form local co-ops or local funds or something instead?)) As a single teacher in a low-paying district last year, I was not making a livable-wage in NJ, able to pay off graduate loans and rent at the same time...
Any smart person who is not an altruistic "For the children!" saint, would vacate this profession (and does). And *that's* why our education system gets poorer and poorer, because the only teachers left are the ones who aren't smart enough to do anything else.
Anyway, that's my biased understanding of it all. I'm not about to fly a plane into a Horizon building or anything (I agree with what one of my FB friends said, s'terrorism).
