Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on June 19, 2008

Click here to view bill details.

Boy are you guys dumb. Competition is a good thing. Keeps everybody on their toes -- those in the "in" group and those that want to become an "in" group. Dumb Dumb Dumb. You don't deserve your salary

CEO's Make even more millions. It still costs tons of money to privatize. For instance Bussing. Still have to pay for payroll taxes, workers comp, licensing fees, insurances. The worker gets shorted in these deals and so do the taxpayers. But guess who still makes the millions of dollars the Chief Executive Officers. They pay always increases. Thats the problem.

How much did the MEA and the other school unions contribute to this guy's campaign? God forbid we should have any competition in schools or try to save any money. With the unions having such a stranglehold on the legislature, we might as well hang a "businesses not welcome" sign at every entrance to the state. Pathetic!

so expensive and not cost effective then why does it scare the heck out of the union bosses and all their comrads?

The math is VERY SIMPLE. Take the two employee groups (in house and contracted) and assume equal hourly base pay. The contract employees win at the very start because the school district is not forced to make a state mandated 17%-18% employer contribution to a pension fund that's $31 BILLION underfunded (see: http://roblawrence.blogspot.com/2008/02/governor-granholm-and-big-31-billion.html). This works in each and every case of contracting. This bill is a joke. Case closed - next.

The reason the school districts across this state have to consider privatization is it saves the districts money. Not because labor is cheaper, because you don't have to pay the pension that is dictated by the state. It puts more money into the classroom, where it belongs. There is a structural deficit in funding our schools. Now that is coupled with a loss of students and higher fuel and energy costs. If this legislation passes, it will require more manpower to jump through all the hoops. Wake up Michigan! Before you start reforming education take a look at progressive states across the country.

.. The demand from Lansing is that Schools SAVE MONEY or else !!! So why does this bill make it harder to let K-12 schools do just that? Cooperate and consolidate... but not by competetive means. Get more money in the classroom ... oh but not by reducing the unbelevable amount spent on services like custodians and transportation. This is bad legislation!

And yet we will continue to allow the Detroit Public Schools to have a thousand excuses why they are over 100 million dollars in the red and should be coddled and allowed to do it ther way ... juts pour more state money into that hole in the ground and watch it do NOTHING. How about fixing that problem instead of this non-existing one ??

 

Huron Valley Schools in Oakland County is currently threatening the jobs of 197 Huron Valley Support Services Personnel (HVSSP) employees.

Contract "negotiations" which have continued for 18 months has left these hard working employees with a take it or leave it ultimatum doled out by the administration: Give up your benefits or lose your jobs to privatization.

Please be aware these are not highly paid Food Service and Transportation Services public school employees. Losing an average of $5,584 in annual compensation when they only bring home $17,000 annually is not a proposal they are even capable of accepting. They are already working at a poverty level and now they are faced with no health insurance, sick or vacation days, and the discontinuance of their retirement benefit as the only measure that will save them from being added to the ever-growing unemployed Michigan population.

At the same time the Huron Valley Schools administration has enjoyed continued pay increases in addition to other perks and benefits.

The Superintendent had a 7.06 percent increase in pay since July 2006. She is scheduled for a 4.25 percent increase this year which would bring her annual pay to $164,352. In addition to that she can grab a six percent bonus for achieving her goals (at the expense of others) garnering her a annual income of $174,213 which will amount to a 13.49 percent increase in 4 years. Add to that an $8,136 annuity and a car allowance of $700 per month. (What kind of a car can you get for $700 a month?)

The Executive Director of Human Resources had a 6.28 pay percent increase since June 2005 in addition to an increase in his car allowance. He stands to get a 9 percent bonus for reaching his goals too.

The Deputy Superintendent could gather the same 9 percent bonus this year in addition to the 10.65 percent pay increase she has received since 2006. Even the Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services has enjoyed a 2.25 percent pay increase since 2006.

But the burden of balancing the budget is cast upon the lowest paid district employees.

In an attempt to quell the public’s concern about the privatization the district has taken out a quarter-page ad in the Milford Times (2-12-09) urging the community to

"Learn about the financial challenges we face and the difficult choices that must be made".

This ad directs the reader to the districts web site - where you will find no information on any viable alternatives to privatization because they have already made up their minds on how they will distribute the taxpayers money

It would certainly have been difficult for the administration to cut their annual compensation at the same percentage that they force onto others but instead they propose to take the easy way out and terminate the employment of 197 employees, some that have been with the district for many years, so that they may out source taxpayers’ monies to out-of-state and possibly out-of-the country businesses.

 

 

 

 yes, those are difficult choices we must make.

the choice is this. either 'cut' those jobs, or ALL jobs will soon be lost.

the choice to keep on wasting and bowing to corruption should never be an option.

 

 You need to flip this on its head.  Require privatization if any expense can be reduced any percent.  Why should cost savings ever be discouraged?  Aren't we all concerned about high taxes, inefficient government, and most of all, now more than ever, as it takes a village -- the children? 

Socialist and economically illiterate.  Nice combo.

 privatization would open up new jobs, which, if they APPLIED for them, and were QUALIFIED TO DO THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, they could get.

hmm... problem solved.

pffft...

They will hire back less than 50% of the current workers to keep the union from following.  (The people doing the jobs right now are qualified - being qualified is not an issue here.)    People that live in the community will lose their jobs to out-of-state companies.  But hey...that's Michigan.  Why not cut the car allowances for the big wigs before jobs or spread the compensation decrease across the entire school district? 

 being qualified has EVERYTHING to do with it, but being willing to work for what the new pay is going to be is also important.

people in every community are going to lose jobs. people in communities all over the world lose jobs every day. the INDUSTRIOUS ones go out and get another job.

it's not the job of the state to provide jobs, it's the job of the state to NOT FRIVOLOUSLY SPEND OUR TAX MONEY. i think that unions are a frivolous expense.  if you are in a job that is being paid way too much money for the amount and type of work being performed, then your job is a frivolous waste of taxpayer money.

i'm sorry to be so blunt and so harsh, but those are the facts. pretty soon, every person who fritted away our tax money will be out of a job.

Anonymous Citizen:

so expensive and not cost effective then why does it scare the heck out of the union bosses and all their comrads?

Because they do such a good job of turning out good little useful idiots with great self esteem. They should privatize everything the government does. It would be cheaper and we would get much better service.

 there are three or four things the government SHOULD do, everything else SHOULD be privatized.

let churches handle religion.

let charities handle charity.

let businesses handle business.

let private schools handle education. 

tax what you must, but ONLY what you must, not what you disagree with.

spend frugally, not liberally.

legislate sparingly.

build strongly.

stop trading freedom and liberty for security, comfort, and political correctness.