O-Trap;694945 wrote:Though I always enjoy a good "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" point, I'm afraid it's hardly that black-and-white.
Is borrowing against what you cannot pay back always a matter of fiscal responsibility? To some degree, it is, but there exists something else that takes priority in the minds of the admins negotiating with the collective (ie the continued education of the students and the school remaining open).
I just find it perplexing that the teachers' union is, in many cases (not all, of course), willing to refuse to teach the kids if they aren't paid beyond the means of the district, while the district sends itself further into debt in order to continue the classes where the students will continue to learn ... and yet somehow, the teachers in these instances seem to try to assert a platform that they care about the education of the students. That makes no sense to me.
I sympathize with your position, as a teachers' strike can tear a community apart. All this proposed legislation does, IMO, is "dummy down" the process so that local boards and administrators don't have to make difficult choices or prioritize their limited resources. They can always point to the legislation and say that their hands are tied.
Of course, we need a complete overhaul of the way the schools are funded, but that's another argument for another time.
