Annual “Firing of the Teachers” saga begins, once again, in California!

But this time, there is little sympathy.

Dear Readers: I wanted to share an experience that may be happening to you, now. It is the annual panic that the Teachers Unions across the country try and generate in what I have termed to be the annual “Firing of the Teachers“. This endeavor is meant to make us tax-payers more willing to cough up more hard-earned tax dollars to support schools no matter the quality of the programs or teachers.

In the email box of both my husband, Horemheb, and myself, we found a note of concern from a parent who bought into the assertions of the California Department of Education, who wanted to support the hard-hit teachers. I do not think anyone has ever challenged her assertions until by beloved took a stance truly worthy of a Tea Party activist, and wrote this wonderful response I wanted to share:

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As a parent at Kumeyaay also, I applaud your passion in regard to the funding situation with the schools. Certainly we all want the schools to be funded at a reasonable level to provide our kids with a good education. And although everything you suggest we do is necessary, our schools and other services in the state will continue to suffer unless we also go after the governor and legislature to change how the budget process in California works. We need to ask ourselves, why does California have the highest (or nearly the highest) taxes of any state, and yet we’re 47th in the country for education funding? And even though we have the highest taxes (including increases is income and sales taxes last year), the state has had unbelievable budget deficits of several billion dollars the last few years. The amount of revenue the state took in increased dramatically in the years leading up to the recession, and as a result the state got fat and happy with the budget and increased spending at an alarming rate. Spending across the board increased, the number of state workers and size of state agencies ballooned, and most importantly, the pension commitment for state workers has gone through the roof in recent years as a result of deals made with the unions several years ago. Very generous pension obligations are a huge burden on the state budget (as they are on the City of San Diego’s budget, nearly bankrupting the city). Then when the recession hit a couple of years ago, reducing revenue to the state, all hell broke loose and the schools have had to suffer. When the economy recovers (which may be awhile), revenue will increase and the problem of school funding may appear to go away temporarily, but the problem will continue to reappear every time revenue decreases.

Again, thanks for your good work, but also realize this situation probably won’t change until the state makes significant structural changes to the overall budget. In my opinion forcing the politicians to do that will help our schools most in the long run. Thanks for hearing me out.

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I am sharing this as an example of how other Tea Party activists might handle similar situations. The taxpayers of this country all all being forced to trim back — and government agency and entity needs to cut the waste and increase the efficiencies. For further information and references, I also offer these links:

* Teachers Earn More Per Hour Than Most
* Pensions for Public Sector Employees: Another Ticking Time Bomb
* California Education Reform Meltdown
* AFP’s “Common Sense”: The Lone Star State Pulls Ahead of the Golden State

My beloved husband is a wise man, indeed!

(Maya and Merit – Masterpiece of ancient Egyptian Art)

Color me skeptical. The news is always abuzz about the dreaded “layoffs” each year, but I seem to note most — if not all — are hired back. I am not moved.

If you are so inclined, please help us on the CITIZEN POWER CAMPAIGN – PAYCHECK PROTECTION INITIATIVE. In a nutshell, it will corral the power of the big, state employee unions by preventing employee monies — taken directly out of employee paychecks — to be used for political purposes. We could sure use your help.