Elkrun

Are you guys happy now!

Apparently you guys whined enough to Jerry to get him to pull off the website link. I guess he had his reasons, but one would wonder why he waited for over 100 posts before he did it (thanks for waiting Jerry). No one really got that excited except you and goose, so one wonders what the big deal was, especially since that website as been broadcasted daily on the local radio talk shows.

Since you have spent quite a bit of time in your last post trying to convince us that we "the public" have no business in knowing exactly what each state employee makes, I think it's only fair to give you a reply back. Please do not take this reply personally against you or you occupation. But since you have gone into such detail in describing why a "teachers" job salary shouldn't be made "public", I feel compelled to use that occupation as my example. Remember, it's nothing personal!

Let's talk about property taxes as an example, and how special school "levies" affect our rights to "need to know" about school employees and their salary. Since each school "district" directly places special tax burdens (levies) on each property owner, and sets the amount of that "extra tax" that they must pay, shouldn't the people who that burden has been placed upon have the right to know exactly who, and what they are paying these "extra" taxes to and for? I am not talking about the "general monies" that the all school district gets per student from the state funds; I am only talking about the special extra taxes (levies) that are placed upon us by the school district itself for there own "extra needs".

Many, if not most of these funds are used to hire or pay their staff (public employees) and special teachers wages for the districts. Shouldn't the person who has to pay these "special" taxes be able to know exactly who, why and how much he has to pay each person that he has to pay these "special" taxes to?

How do you know if the money was needed for education or just for the teacher's salaries if you are not entitled to see what each individual teacher's wages are? Remembered, these are "special taxes" that others are not being asked to pay; so why not see exactly what you are paying each teacher or staff member in your school district to do? Then if you feel that you are paying them too much individually, you do not have to vote in a proposed school levy (that really gives the teachers heart burn!). I know what you're going to say already about how under funded schools are but you asked for examples and now you got one! How on earth would we tax payer know if our districts need more money for salaries if we can not see exactly what we are actually paying each employee?

You know as well as I do, that all levy money goes into the schools "general funds" and then the district spends it in the way that they (our employees) feel fit to do. So if you can not check on each teacher or state worker salary, how on earth would you known what the district actually had spent your tax money on?

After reading all of your continual concerns about school districts, you got me worried! I went to the website that Jerry has now removed and checked up on my own school district. I checked on one of the teachers in our area that was "very active" during the last levy request. His son even wrote a bunch of letters to the local newspaper whining that the teachers didn't make enough money, and that teachers needed this "extra" money to increase the teacher to student ratio (all in the mane of the kids…you know). Well, one might think that "his" parents were hard pushed for funds, and think "maybe the teachers do need that raise" and past the levy without really even knowing what each teacher really makes.

So thanks to you elkrun, I just looked up that teachers salary on the site that Jerry has now pulled, and it said that he makes $58,000, plus he's also a coach and make another 3-4 thousand more extra each year doing that. So that tells me we are now paying him around $62, 000 a year. Now that's not to bad of wages for a high school teacher who's working in a very small rural school district like ours, plus he gets all summer off! After that I thought; well, he makes that much, and his wife is a teacher at a smaller neighboring school district, what is there combine salary as "public employees"? So I attempted to look up her name at that school district. I can't find here name! What's going on here? I know that she works there, so I called my neighbor and got her maiden name. So now I looked under her maiden name and "presto" up it comes! Now I see that she is making $54,000 a year. Combined they are making well over $116,000 a year and that not even including the huge benefit package that teacher get and the 3 months off!

So next time around, when they ask me to cough up another $260 for their school levy from my $15,000 income, to pay them for more raises when there making $116,000, you can pretty well figure out what my replay will be!

So that's my example why the website that Jerry has now removed was so darn important to the public! It just taught me something that I didn't know before! You got state workers (employee) who are using two different names for what every the reasons may be making well over $116,000 for working only 9 mouths of the year. If nothing else elkrun, I want to thank you for bringing this "teacher issue" to my attention. It's really too bad that you guys got Jerry to pull that website. Hopefully, enough people have done like DUROBOAT15 has done and bookmarked that website, and will be able to check up on there "local employees" just like I have done.

Thanks again for your tip on the teacher issue!!

Cowlitzfisherman