Can This Be Right???????

With all the discussion and politics regarding education, maybe this will give you all some real insight!   This is a must read!!! Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year!  It's time we put thing in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That ...would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to......... 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Heaven forbid we take into account highly qualified teachers ......

Make a teacher smile; re-post this to show appreciation ♥ all you out there!

Let's Not Have an Educational "Hurricane Sandy"!

Although there are a lot of political discussions online, I have not participated.  This year’s election is so controversial and I can’t stand all the negative blasting between all the candidates.  However, there is one issue I’d like to talk about and hopefully my audience will hear me. PLEASE VOTE YES ON PROP 30!

Our schools, teachers, and students are suffering their own “recession”.  With budget cuts and overloaded classrooms, how can our “future leaders” get the education they deserve.  If Prop 30 does not pass, we will have an Educational Hurricane Sandy!  We will immediately begin teacher layoffs, the school year will be shortened, class sizes will increase and that’s just the public K-12 schools.  Let’s talk about our community colleges.  Our own local Santa Monica College has already cancelled their winter sessions.  If 30 doesn’t pass they will lose 500 more classes minimum!  A ripple down effect will hit local businesses who cater to the school district and college.

Santa Monica has proven that a small increase in sales tax will help the schools.  Thanks to Measures Y and YY we have increased financial support to our schools for the past two years through a sales tax increase.  Now we have a chance to do it again.  The monies will go directly to the schools!  It says so right in the bill!   

Here is the basic information direct from Sacramento:

What would passing Prop 30 cost?

• It would raise the state's sales tax by 0.25 percent (one-quarter cent) for three years, and
• It would raise marginal personal income tax rates on filers making over $250,000 (joint filers earning $500,000) by 1 percent to 3 percent for six years.

Where would the money go?

• Of that new revenue, 89 percent would go to K-12 education and 11 percent to California Community Colleges (CCC). Prop. 30 works with Prop. 98 in support of the California state budget.

What exactly is the impact if Prop. 30 passes?

• $500,000 in additional revenue, which translates to 31 class sections (8,460 student seats) more than we served in 2011-12.

What if Prop. 30 fails?

• An automatic cut to our district budget of $4.34 million on Jan. 1, 2013 (after we have already cut more than $8 million since 2008-09).
• The elimination of 8,460 more student seats per year from classes. We would have to cut 251 class sections, plus we would lose the 31 we could add if it passed, multiplied by the average enrollment per section of 30 students. We have already cut 45,060 student seats (1,502 class sections) since 2008-09!
• The elimination of the teachers to teach those classes; most part-time instructors teach more than one section, so at least 141 instructors would not be hired.
• We already have a selective hiring freeze in place, but jobs, wages and benefits would be at risk. Those are negotiable issues, but each would have to be carefully examined.
• Similar cuts will occur at the CSU and UC systems, affecting our students' ability to transfer on for four-year degrees. California students have the third lowest debt load of college grads across the country because thousands of them get their first two years in at the CCCs, which cost less than any community college in the country.

These are not threats.  These trigger cuts are already a matter of law. The current California state budget counts on passing Prop. 30 to avoid $1 billion in cuts to higher education. For California's 112 community colleges specifically, $548.5 million is at stake.

The students being turned away from our doors are our future nurses, firefighters, doctors and lawyers. They are new high school graduates who would be the first in their family to go to college, as well as laid-off workers who want and need to retrain for the jobs of tomorrow.

Let’s pass Proposition 30!

Bullying... Let's do something about it.

The recent violence and increase in bullying has most of us outraged.  Safety for our kids has to be our number one priority.  It shouldn't matter who is being bullied.  It's got to stop!  This is just a first step.

Last week, a freshman at Rutgers University killed himself after his roommate secretly recorded him with another male student, then broadcast the video online. It's just one of a number of teen suicides in recent weeks following cruel anti-gay bullying and harassment at school. Some of the kids were as young as 13.

Human Rights Campaign is calling on the Secretary of Education to keep students safe by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to school anti-bullying programs across the country.  I just added my name to their letter -- will you join me?

The Heart of our Teachers!

I am constantly amazed by our teachers.  Our childrens lives are affected each and every day by these fabulous individuals who are dedicated to their lives and futures.  Stop and take just a few moments to watch this video and remind ourselves of what happens after the bell rings!

Making a difference in the life of children.....

I've been working with children (mostly teenagers) for lots of years.  Encouragement to our youth seems to be something that is needed and unfortunately with today's economy, seems to be lacking.  At a recent Chamber Board meeting, I listened to a proposal from our local school district Superintendent as he explained how many teachers will receive pink slips, what courses will be cut, and how class sizes will increase.  A parcel tax was proposed and passed for endorsement almost unanimously for a special election by mail in May.  A temporary "fix" for now. So - what else are we going to do about the lack of education to the future leadership of our country?  I'm proud to be a part of Rotary International who puts great emphasis on literacy.  As this week is "Literacy Week", many of us have found our way to local elementary schools to "read to the students".  It was most satisfying to have those little faces full of attention as they listened to stories about everything from the alphabet to animals.  Not only are we lacking in the schools - but how many parents take (or even have) the time to just read with their kids.  I can remember back to my own childhood and my parents encouragement to read.  I started like most kids with Dr. Seuss, moved on to Nancy Drew, and from there, a continuous library of reading has been a good part of my life and learning experiences.  My mind opened up to all kinds of possibilities and dreams.  Adventures of story book characters kept me enthralled and as a bi-product improved my vocabulary and imagination.

So, here's where I encourage you, my readers.  Choose a school and volunteer.  Get involved.  Find alternative learning opportunities.  We have a wealth of life experiences to share.  So let's share it.  My kids are grown now with kids of their own.  They love reading and being read to.  My daughter was reading to my granddaughter while still swaddled.  Now, at 10 years old, Anya reads voraciously, sometimes 2-3 books at a time.

Don't wait for a week especially created to "read to our youth".  They need us now!  And that's just the beginning.....

A celebration of Heroes!

It was my honor and pleasure to Chair our Chamber’s 15^th annual New Educator and Hero’s reception last Thursday evening.  It’s such a lovely tradition that as far as I know is only held in Santa Monica.  We gathered at the gorgeous Le Merigot hotel courtyard to welcome all of the new educators, firefighters and police officers to our community.  The food was generous and hearty and absolutely delicious.  Each new person was recognized and welcomed by our Chamber members, and City officials.  When you take a look at all of the people who are dedicated to our children's education and our safety – it’s quite impressive.  I’ve been involved with this event for the past 14 years, and every year I’m reminded again of my gratitude for these amazing people.  We raffled off about 40 fabulous gift items, from video games to gift certificates for dinners and hotel stays.  Items like this are meaningful as most of our guests don’t have the opportunity or the funds to be frivolous.  We collected countless items from fellow chamber members and handed out “goodie bags” to each guest.  The bags were filled with everything from discount coupons to water bottles, key chains, pens, and amusement park passes.  Our members really stepped up with their offers of support.  Our school Superintendent, Fire and Police Chief were thrilled and excited to participate.  These people are the role models for all of us and our children's futures are in their hands. This is what it’s about my friends.  Giving back to your community and honoring those who selflessly give of themselves is exactly what the term “paying it forward” means.  There’s no better sense of satisfaction than contributing to others.  I left feeling proud and full of pleasure that I was a part of something so meaningful.  Yep – I still have a huge smile on my face and a light heart just thinking about what a great evening we all enjoyed!