maine - don't confuse total compensation with salary. Yes it's a total package but don't call that 78K total income as if it were take home pay.

One year I added up all the hours I spent above and beyond the teaching contract day (which is 8 hours by the way) and it averaged over 2 hours per day as nearly every day I was at school 30 minutes before the contract starting time and rarely left before 5 or 5:30 every day. My total hours above and beyond were over 550 for the school year (and that was a typical year). Add to that 190 contract days @ 8 hours (1520) and we're close to 2100 hours for the school year. I explain this only to explain that a teacher does work that many hours in a year, nothing more.

I'm willing to bet those in Milwaukee and Madison making 100K+ are administrators and not teachers. I believe the superintendent in Madison makes around 150K per year.

I'd also bet that your teacher of the year making 55K has a Masters Degree (or more) plus about 20 years of experience. I don't have a problem with our best most experienced teachers making that much. Personally I can tell you that most districts in the state are small rural districts without the big budgets of those large districts like Madison, Milwaukee & suburbs or even Jannesville. I left teaching 4 years ago, but after 20 years as a teacher, only in year 20 did I crack 40K per year. With those giant QEO raises every year, who knows what I could be making now had I stayed in. I'm not bitter, just splainin'.

Wisconsin’s Teachers Make More Money Than They’re Letting On, 2/21/2011 by M. Boyle,
The Daily Caller
Wisconsin’s public school teachers and the unions that represent them are saying budget cuts proposed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker would be devastating — but many of those teachers make more money than they’re letting on.
The Daily Caller has broken out the salaries and benefits of teachers who have publicly entered the debate by commenting to the press.
Wisconsin’s 2010 Teacher of the Year, Leah Lechleiter-Luke of Mauston High School, told CNN the budget changes would force her to look for additional part-time work.
“When people say that public sector employees live high off the hog, I’d like to share that for 13 of my 19-year teaching career I have held a part-time job either in the summer or teaching night class at the local technical college,” Lechleiter-Luke told CNN. “In addition to tightening the belt even more and crossing our fingers that nothing breaks, I will need to find part-time work again.”
Lechleiter-Luke makes $54,928 in base salary and $32,213 in “fringe benefits,” which include health insurance, life insurance and retirement pay.
Brad Lutes and his wife, Heather Lutes, told MSNBC’s Ed Schultz that Walker’s budget would hit them twice as hard.
“Having to explain to an 8- and 10-year old that the governor of your state basically wants to take money away from dad and mom? It’s just really, really frustrating,” Brad Lutes told Schultz.

Report Details Top Public Employee Salaries in Wisconsin by B. Poston of the Journal Sentinel, Jan. 19, 2012

A report released this week by Sunshine Review details the salaries of public employees from the city, county and state level.
You can search for individual public employee salaries on Data on Demand, a portal for exploring searchable databases and interactive graphics.
On that page, you'll find databases for Milwaukee city and county employee salaries, as well as pay for Waukesha County employees, public school workers and state employees for 2010. We are in the process of updating our records with 2011 data.
The report includes information on seven other states. The report says that Wisconsin "had 39 public sector employees making over $150,000. In addition, a detective from Milwaukee was among the top ten highest earners making $376,995."
Dogged wrote a post on the Milwaukee Police detective's pay back in 2010 - and it's not as clear-cut as the report makes it sound.
That detective, Philip Sliwinski, was reinstated after being suspended for 9 years. He received more than $300,000 in back pay in 2009, which greatly increased his pay that year.
Other findings in the Sunshine Review report from Wisconsin included:
"There are 113 employees of the Milwaukee school district making more than $100,000 in 2011. One employee of the Madison Metropolitan School District was paid a salary of $150,000 or more between 2008-2011.
Nine employees at Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office salaries in 2010 earned over $100,000 in total pay. The highest paid position is the medical director for detention services, who made $192,694. In 2009, 15 employees of the Dane County Sheriff's Office made over $100,000.
The fire chief for the Madison Fire Department earned the highest salary in 2011, making $132,542.45. For Milwaukee, the highest salary went to its deputy fire chief, who earned $150,512 in 2010.

dtb
You write: "the total amount needed..."
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When a recession hits and those footing the bill have their wages reduced, then public sector workers need to reduce their wages, which reduces "the amount needed."
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Teachers' argument for better benefits has always been that it's a tradeoff for lower salaries than private sector jobs. Let's do the math...Stephen Strieker Teacher Salary: $51,334 Fringe Benefits: $26,941 Parker High Janesville School District Source: http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/... Total Income - $78,275.
The school year consists of 180 days but for the benefit of the doubt let’s call it 200 with in-service and the like. The school day is roughly 8:00-3:00, but let's give an extra 2 hours per day for prep time and extracurricular, so 9 hour days. That's 1800 hours of work per year. Divide his income by that and we get... $43.48 per hour! With all due respect to teachers, that's a pretty decent wage. Maybe the tradeoff isn't as significant as you think.
Stephen Strieker Teacher Salary: $51,334 Fringe Benefits: $26,941 Parker High Janesville School District Source: http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/dataond...... - Many people in Rock County would be happy to have that fringe benefit total as their annual salary.

What's the difference whether you work your 2000 hours over 10 months or 12?

dtb, if you are going to compare apples to apples make sure it is for the degreed person that only works 8 months of the year.

maine, that's just how property taxes work. The tax is the total amount needed by the municipality divided by the total of all property values in an area. So if values fall, the mil rate will necessarily go up and if values rise, the mil rate will go down.

Can you verify that $36,000 average annual salary in Beloit? What about the average salary of a worker with a Bachelors and/or Masters degree in Beloit? Let's compare apples to apples. And as long as we're comparing apples let's not compare the 73K total compensation to the 36K salary. That 36K worker must get some sort of bennies, no? On a $52K salary, FICA and medicare make up about 4K of those 21K benefits.

And whz_bng, before Act 10, teachers were already contributing the entire cost of their pensions. That extra "contribution" was just a salary reduction to make up for the state slashing funding to education.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/20...

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statem...
Yes, I have heard of Solyndra.

Everybody believes they are good "stewards" of their money, including governments. Sometimes they are right, sometimes not.

Maine, the teacher you are referencing certainly is not overpaid. however it is fair that he pays a small amount into his health care and retirement.

Pharm, I think I am a better steward of my money than Washington. Yes tax cuts deprive Washington of money. Tax cuts let me keep more of what I earn to spend and boost the local economy rather than wasted by Washington. Ever heard of Solyndra? Well there are about 30 more failed solar and wind companies that have failed and wasted the taxpayers billions of $.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/econ...
Tax cuts cost the government revenue.

Property Taxes Keep Rising as Home Values Keep Falling By Charles Hugh Smith , Dec. 18, 2010. Common sense suggests that as home prices decline, the property taxes based on their valuations ought to as well. But even as house prices continue to slip, property taxes nationally are clicking higher. Why is this occurring? There are several factors at work. The first is that many local governments are responding to sharp declines in real estate values by raising property tax rates. In one southern Washington state county this year, the rate jumped from $10.06 to $11.60 per $1,000 of assessed value -- a more than 15% increase. Throughout Washington, even as assessed values slumped by more than 13%, property tax revenues rose 2.1% to $8.8 billion -- a $181 million increase. Though the state has limits on property tax hikes, local governments' property tax rates don't rise or fall based on assessed values -- they're set by budget requirements. So falling prices don't necessarily translate into lower property taxes.

The comments made by the Beloit Elementary school teacher were classic. "Walker was balancing the budget on the backs of teachers and his students. It’s class warfare, and I’m angry,”
A little bit of research has this gentleman collecting $51,897 in salary and an additional $21,939 in fringe benefits. Total compensation in 2010 for teaching elementary kids music is $73,836.
Now let's consider the average HOUSEHOLD income of Beloit residents in 2010--around $36,000.
So we have this gentleman "angry" and screaming about "class warfare" while at the same time collecting more than twice as much as the average households from the community that he works in. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

Even the "sticky wages" of the public sector are now finally being globalized. Hopefully, property taxes will come down:
Grim Economic Outlook for States, Including NY & NJ, July 18, 2012 By Cindy Rodriguez:
Bloomberg testified that the $8 billion pension bill is squeezing city finances and wants state legislators to create a new lower tier for future municipal and state workers. Even as the economy shows signs of picking up, the outlook for states is grim, according to a task force report by public policy and budget experts. The report of the State Budget Crisis Task Force examined six states — California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia — with large populations. It warned that the people in those states should expect cuts to education, social services and infrastructure investments as state governments struggle to cover the rising costs of Medicaid, healthcare for public employees and pension benefits.
At the same time state expenditures grow, the report found that tax revenues have gone down because of declines in the stock market, retail sales and corporate profits. In New York, overall adjusted gross income fell by 18 percent, and capital gains subject to income tax fell 75 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to the report. “[States] must have a budget in which the recurring revenues match the recurring expenditures,” said former New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch who co-chaired the task force with former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

because I can tell you, my family is tapped out... not too many more tax dollars available at my address.

pharm your math is off. A tax cut lets people keep their own money, it does not take money FROM the government.

whz_bng -- Food stamps and welfare won't save an economy. However, the reason why they have such a high impact on the economy is because they drive consumption in one particular market very effectively. Given a choice between food stamps and tax breaks, the former will almost always have a higher impact.

Yet the main reason such spending won't save the economy is because people that receive welfare, by virtue of their low income, have little extra to spend. This means that while the dollars they have to spend on food do a great deal, they have few other dollars to contribute.

As far as tax breaks, the dollars retained have great potential to create activity. Yet, if those dollars don't move, they have little impact. Given the state of lending, even saving those dollars does little for the economy these days. Sure, if companies and individuals decide they have reason to start spending rapidly, the economy would then bounce back.

Right or wrong aside, companies have been downsizing and cutting cost to remain profitable. Until there is a substantial increase in employment, and thus disposable income, full economic recovery will likely not happen. Sure, the debate of whether the government is to blame will ensue. Yet, until the private sector bounces back, the economy will likely continue to only sputter along.

While there are many people that may disagree with the program being suggested, there also is ample justification for the goal such a program tries to achieve. Let's face it, without increasing the amount of people capable of fulfilling these types of roles, the edge we hold in developing technologies will diminish. Further, existing businesses will become strained trying to obtain/retain the engineers and scientist currently needed; as more engineers retire or move to more lucrative professions.

Now this may seem a little off topic, but think of the current state of energy demand in this country. Any way you look at it, engineers will become more and more necessary as we move into the future. Whether they are needed for the growing bio-fuel and solar/wind markets, or the more traditional energy markets, the role they play will become much more crucial. And without an adequate supply, the cost to hire engineers will rise.

Now granted, the above is only one area where these people will play a role. There are many newer technologies gaining momentum that offer similar potential to the boom that came with the adoption of computers. Things such as smart materials and 3-D printing offer strong promise to being the next big thing. Yet, without engineers and scientist to develop the processes necessary for implementation, the boom may just be a fizzle.

Many of the comments here take issue with the amount of money it will cost; and how that affects the typical persons income. Yet, without an investment like this, the expenses of many things will rise. Much of the reason cost haven't skyrocketed over the last few decades is because of the amount of cost savings provided by the innovations from engineers and scientist. Yet, because most people don't see these things on a day to day basis, they take them for granted.

All too often, people complain that something isn't necessary because they don't see the value in it. Yet, when businesses continue to request visas for engineers from other countries as a stop gap, one thing becomes clear: this country needs more engineers.

The big question is, do we work at producing more from this country in order to reap the benefits?

Or do we just remain idle and let all the opportunity drift away?

$3.5 trillion in tax cuts, so far. Well over 5 if the Bush cuts are extended.

Why hasn`t almost $5 trillion of tax cuts worked in the past 11 years? It takes a combination of things, including luck, and that is in short supply. All I can do is cite what the experts say about things, I don`t pretend to know all the answers. I have opinions, just like everybody else.

Pharm...Why hasn't either stimulus (2009) worked if expanded food stamps and welfare were the solution. Here we are another 3 years into that policy and facing another stall in the economy (recession).

GDP change for $1 tax cut and $1 spending increase for;
Extend unemployment insurance benefits-$1.64
Temporarily increase food stamps-$1.73
Aid to states-$1.36
Increase infrastructure spending$1.59
Cut corporate tax rate-$.30
Make Bush tax cuts permanent-$.29
http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/docume...

But oneday...Why waste the money on education when Steny Hoyer and Ms Pelosi think Food stamps and welfare stimulate the economy.

"80% of American jobs are in the retail sector (Walmart, Target, etc.). These jobs require at most a high school education."
So is this the new American Dream, to grow up and hope to get a job at Walmart? If that is what our work force is to become you will be the same people who start bitching when these Walmart workers still have to depend on food stamps and welfare because they do not make a living wage. Not to mention, they will be unable to save anything for retirement. Right now a huge portion of engineers that are hired in this country are Chinese or Indian. But that's ok with some of you, we can get retail jobs that pay minimum wage. With no Social Security, Medicare or any safety nets for the poor, if Republicans have their way, we are looking at a nation if destitution in about 20 years. The middle class will be reduced to the point of nonexistence. All of you right wingers who claim to love America are the very same people who support policies that are destroying the nation. The Tea Party has done more harm and divided this country more than any political party in history.

"How about putting a billion dollars into a stimulus for small businesses"
Obama tried to get more funding for small businesses. The republicans voted it down
" Obama is only trying to give money to his base, its that simple"
"I'm running to make sure that America has the best education system on earth, from pre-K all the way to post-graduate," Obama said.
All of you people on this site that have demonized teachers have proven how unintelligent you are by the grammer & spelling errors, not to mention your complete inability for critical thinking or lack of ability to analyze statistical data displayed in you post. Most of you probably suffered thru school and barely got thru because of your lack of intelligence, making it difficult for teachers to get anything through you thick heads, so now you hate education and anything to do with it.

no...But that's not the Democrat's way.

All right, let's transfer yet another billion to a giant labor organization that always votes for the D's! What a great idea! What could go wrong?

I've got a better plan, why not use the billion bucks to just pay the students who succeed in these areas. What a novel concept, incentivize rather than subsidize.

If you don't like it, vote for Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney to students: You're on your own
http://youtu.be/wfG3fAWhFxY

Don't touch that dial!
More "Fun Fox Facts" coming right up!

"""There are plenty of people willing to fill positions in the public sector, and that includes the $150,000 per year bus driving ones!"""
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"""If this goes through Mr. President, you can tell all the kids that were taught and successful that they didn't earn it."""
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Two more ignorantly partisan comments. Seriuosly, you need about a 4th grade comprehension level and the ability to not blindly hate for partisan reasons, to understand that Mr. Obama was referring to the bridges, roads and internet when he said, "you didn't build that."
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As for the bus driver... I love the outrage over a bus driver making $150k but NO, ZERO, ZIP, NONE regarding a man making MILLIONS AND MILLION and then hiding it overseas to avoid paying taxes.
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So a bus driver, taking advantage of a system and working overtime, thus providing a service, making more money is NOT OK and a HUGE problems and the FAULT OF UNIONS...
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BUT
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a multi-millionaire making millions and millions purposely putting that money in overseas accounts to avoid paying taxes is OK.
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Seriously, defend this. Defend the idea that EARNING $150k using the overtime system is wrong while a millionaire hiding his money to avoid paying taxes is OK.
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Then tell me about how Mr. Obama "needs to learn how to be an American".
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The ignorance and blind hatred on both sides is disgusting. What I find ironic is the side that claims god and patriotism is the side most filled with hate and partisanship. The right is much more hate-filled and partisan than patriotic and god fearing than it was 8, 12, 16, 20 years ago
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Read about what Jim DeMitt is doing to veterans; how the republicans are blocking disclosure of political donations; and listen to a former president refer to being president as awesome because he was popular and "powerful".

If this goes through Mr. President, you can tell all the kids that were taught and successful that they didn't earn it.

RAF, I agree with you, for once :)
As I read the comments I kept seeing the comment (excuse me as I paraphrase) 80% of jobs are now low paying so why put money into education...
Maybe that is the exact reason to put money into education.

This is a lot like middle school candidates for class president promising "ice cream for everyone" and "no more homework" to get votes!

I think any change to the current process to improve the end product, educated students, is a good thing. As long as the process is sound in the selection process, for teachers and students, this type of program could work.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20...

georgethedog - cannot you NOT read?

80% of American jobs are in the retail sector (Walmart, Target, etc.). These jobs require at most a high school education.

There are plenty of people willing to fill positions in the public sector, and that includes the $150,000 per year bus driving ones!

If teachers have it so great why we don't see more of you lining up to get your teaching licenses?

1 Billion dollars -- to us a lot, to the military that's what a stealth fighter or two?

Finally, don't forget it's also for technology and engineering teachers as well. All four areas are in the upper tier of in-demand job categories with too few of students and too few skilled workers to fill those jobs.

The left continues to come up creative ideas on how to spend money and even to collect it from our paychecks. They hate banks, well thats easy to understand, the money never rests long enough to be in one. Then look at the politics -- Obama is only trying to give money to his base, its that simple. Reward them for their support, maybe if he gets them extra they wont turn on him. This guy doesnt understand simple socio-economic models or he studied books that most viewed as comic material regarding economics.

I am not going to argue with you. You are talking out of your a.. " When I can go back to college and take 2 semesters of classes, and a semester of student teacher and now am able to teach-but I'm now at a level above what a normal teacher would make based on other degrees-Masters...and essentially can make more than someone with more experieince (who probably would be a better teacher than me), theres a problem."
Get some facts. I would explain them to you but I am an overpaid teacher that you probably wouldn't learn anything from anyway. Better yet, get your two semesters and student "teacher" out of the way and teach. You obviously are qualified.

realist: I don't think some people actually read the WHOLE article. They hear $1 billion and that's it. But it's ok to put the same amount of money into the defense fund. Funny, I think our priorities are all screwed up.

No, merit pay should be payed out of what they are currently getting. I won't tiptoe around it...I feel teachers are overpaid for work done/qualifications for job. When I can go back to college and take 2 semesters of classes, and a semester of student teacher and now am able to teach-but I'm now at a level above what a normal teacher would make based on other degrees-Masters...and essentially can make more than someone with more experieince (who probably would be a better teacher than me), theres a problem. Obamma is just trying to rally support of the unions (as if he needed to). Teachers represent a minority, and were going to reward a minority amongst them with a billion dollors (science and math only). So what if teachers gave up a little, or have to contribute. Welcome to the real world-where the majority have to deal with this on a daily basis. How about putting a billion dollars into a stimulus for small businesses, that have struggled and rode out the economy for years...people that employ others and generate money for the economy. This would make more sense. But no, Obumma wants to cater to the poor teachers (math and science) of America. Lets throw more money and hope we get some winners that will educate are students better to be more competetive in the world (actually I don't think its PC anymore to say competetive in schools). You want better teachers, here is the solution. There are no shortage of applicants of bright college graduates looking to be teachers. Raise the standards for becoming a teacher-which will result in the brighest and the best (student teaching is just as important...application vs. just general knowlege) then sh**can the teachers that are currently teaching that are unwilling or unable to do a good job. Works in the private sector-and will work in schools.

mteg
Quote of the day from you, "Rather than throw another billion away, why not use the billion for a tax credit for homeowners-invest in the middle class vs. a small minority of population."
Funny how just a few short months ago you wanted the same "small minority" to take pay decreases to cover the cuts to education to save the "homeowners" money on thier taxes. Taking from the same "small minority" to save the "middle class" $50 on thier taxes.

If you read the article, "The program to reward high-performing teachers with salary stipends is part of a long-term effort by President Barack Obama to encourage education in high-demand areas that hold the key to future economic growth" I understand this as a merit pay type of system in which the best rise above and earn more money. Isn't that what the republicans want? Merit pay for teachers. Surprise surprise now that someone actually wants to do it, it is a terrible idea because teachers are still overpaid. Now do you see why teachers are so up in arms about taking pay cuts and losing benefits that they will never get back. And yes I mean never as long as there are republicans involved.

Plain and simple...Obumma's plan is a failed attempt. Had he ever worked in the private sector he would have learned that rewarding mediocur performace, does not (a)cause people to work harder (b)increase a persons performace (c)cause people to strive to be better. Now what does this the essence of Capitalism...which is competetion. You want people to perform better..to find the stars that will rise above...to find the best candidates, you need to rank them and pick the best ones. Test them and bring new ones on that will stimulate the competetive attitude. I've never once worked a job where they said they were going to pay us more in hopes of raising performance...moreso I have worked jobs where my performance level outshone others I worked with which result in the pay increase/bonus/etc...

80% of Americans are now employed by the low-wage retail-service sector, which doesn't require math- and science graduates (see below). We are in a Great Recession, and our President wants to pump more taxpayer dollars into teachers who are already so grossly overpaid that more and more U.S. cities are having to file bankruptcy! Decades ago, before the digital age, politicians needed political campaigns in order to educate the public about their agenda, but not today. Make political campaign contributions illegal now. The money that companies waste on political campaign contributions should be going toward wages.

America’s Ten Largest Employers – April 24, 2011: The firms on the largest employer list are predominantly retail companies, which is to be expected. Walmart, Target, Sears, Kroger and McDonald’s are all among the top ten. Each not only has a large number of locations, which usually require a significant number of workers to staff them.

When employment in the U.S. eventually recovers, it's likely to be because American workers swallow hard and accept lower pay. That has been the pattern for decades now: Shockingly, pay for production and nonsupervisory workers—80% of the private workforce—is 9% lower than it was in 1973, adjusted for inflation. Sure, back in the 1950s pillars of the economy such as General Motors paid generously, because they could. Contracts between GM and the United Auto Workers set a pattern for pay throughout the economy, says Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in labor issues. But while unions covered 36% of private-sector workers in 1953, the figure plunged to less than 8% by 2008. "Today, working conditions are set either by trends in the global economy or by nonunion firms in the U.S.," says Shaiken. He points out that while GM was the largest U.S. employer in the 1950s, "today that role is played by Wal-Mart (WMT), with very different consequences."

Sorry -- meant $500 B. of reduction

West -- $500 million removed from defense budget. Projected job loss to be 100,000. Increased welfare and disability applications to be 50,000 as a result.

Nope -- will spend $1B on an education to nowhere plan.

This just in: Romney Proposes $1B for Defense Programs.
You can hear the collective sigh of relief as millions of right wingers get their ideology stroked.

Isn't making $50k+ a year, working only 9 months, and still having on average better benefits (both health and retirement)than the average worker, all while needing nothing more than a BA or BS along with a semester or 2 of student teaching-incentive enough??? Last time I looked, teachers (including science and math) failed to make any list for top 10 jobs needed in America. This is nothing more than a cheap ploy by Obbuma to rally support for his failed cause. If he truly cared he be more worried the economy, job creation, middle class, etc... Last time I looked, pretty much the same things are taught to my stepdaughter in HS and they were when I was in it. Where's the $1billon effort to help boost the taypaying, homeowning, productive members of society?

There are more math teacher candidates out there than jobs - by a large factor. Most districts that post for such jobs get 50-100 applicants.

Of course, if you are blinded by your hatred of logic and reality (i.e. a Democrat), that is just more proof that we need to borrow more on the backs of our children to pay off a political constituency. It's all for the kids!

It's unfortunate that so many people fail to see the importance of investing in Math and Science teachers. Wisconsin has had the historic luxury of producing more teachers than we need (we were one of only a few states in that regard). Now that we've launched an assault on the profession, immediate graduation numbers for teachers are on the decline and students entering the program are on a steeper decline.

The first areas this will be apparent are Math and Science - those with the aptitude to excel in those areas make much more in the private sector than working as an underpaid and under-appreciated public worker (I have that same aptitude, and I earn more than double what an experienced teacher with a Masters degree earns). It then becomes a simple question of economics - we compete with the private sector for a limited population of people with a specific mental skill set, and we pay much worse than the private sector. If we choose to do nothing, we end up with worse and worse options for Math and Science educators until we eventually run out, and end up with unqualified space-fillers (as many inner-cities and southern states are currently struggling with). This is a downward spiral, as it reduces the number of students receiving a quality Math and Science education, and consequently reduces the population of people capable in those areas - hurting both the public and the private sector.

Those who are true Capitalists understand the supply and demand curve - until we raise wages in this area to the level necessary to create adequate incentive for people to become Math and Science educators, we continue failing to produce the necessary quantities of students capable and willing to enter those areas and we continue down our path of slow economic decline against the world stage.

Rather than throw another billion away, why not use the billion for a tax credit for homeowners-invest in the middle class vs. a small minority of population.

Rather than throw another billion away, why not use the billion for a tax credit for homeowners-invest in the middle class vs. a small minority of population.

More pandering to the grossly overpaid public sector, and in return, he'll get campaign contributions. He can find an excuse to pull the plug on the funds once the law is passed and they'll simply raise property taxes to fund this. Everybody ready for higher property taxes? Why do politicians even need campaign contributions? They can get free media coverage to get their message out, just like celebrities do.

almost 2 solyndras in this gift to union leaders!

So he now wants to pay teachers more as a bonus to do the same work they were originally hired to do, but call it extra work. They now also have a reason for a confernece(vacation) in Hawaii.... next ..... A picture of a teacher in a tub....

I say we should combine our two biggest expenses. Demand that all who want to be teachers must first serve active duty in the military. It would weed out the half hearted folks, and better prepare the rest for inner city work.
But seriously, I agree with the first folks. here a billion there a billion every where a billion billion!!

Why is it that the more we spend on education the worse our education system gets?

Spending more money we don't have! Where does he come with these bad ideas!

What will they be called, teacher czars?

The teachers we have, just need to do a better job, and be rewarded for it..merit pay.