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Thread: Buffalo schools spend more on retiree health benefits . . .

  1. #1
    Member gorja's Avatar
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    Buffalo schools spend more on retiree health benefits . . .

    Buffalo schools spend $66 million for retiree health benefits as opposed to $64 million for active employees.

    Rare, costly benefit for Buffalo school retirees
    Lifetime, platinum-level health insurance consuming funds as district continues to deal with fiscal challenges
    By Daniela Porat


    Most retired employees of the Buffalo school district receive a benefit not enjoyed by their counterparts in suburban school districts – lifetime health insurance. And not just any old health insurance, but about the best money can buy.

    This coverage, provided to an average of about 4,200 retirees, including teachers and administrators, doesn’t come cheap.

    The bill for the budget year that is winding down is a projected $66 million. That’s more than the $64 million the district is spending on health insurance for active employees.

    One parent leader criticized the spending in light of the district’s subpar graduation rate.

    “You’re going to spend the majority of taxpayer’s dollar that’s there to educate their kids in the system today on paying the health care of people who are retired,” said Samuel Radford, president of the Buffalo School District Parent Coordinating Council.


    District officials say the cost of health insurance for retirees needs to be addressed.

    “This is something that has become a priority in any negotiation that we engage in,” said Nathaniel Kuzma, the district’s general counsel. “Otherwise we’re going to see as part of our budget bigger and bigger chunks being taken out not going into the classroom because we have these contractual obligations to provide benefits to our employees.”

    Recent changes to the contracts covering teachers and administrators saved the district about $9 million in retiree health insurance costs for this budget year. Retired teachers and administrators pay into the plan, but their contributions cover a small share of the cost.

    Health insurance costs averaged $15,318 per retiree for the fiscal year that ended last June. The district could not provide a breakout between those receiving single and family coverage.

    For more - http://www.investigativepost.org/2018/05/17/rare-costly-benefit-buffalo-school-retirees/

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    This topic is about 5 years old here on SpeakUp.....



    It's just a matter of time before active teachers sell out retired teachers for their own benefit.

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    I'm sure the Buffalo teachers would gladly take the salary/benefits/workload package of any adjoining district. My guess is that in 15 years the district will be 50% to 60% charter enrollment with multiple charters opening and closing their doors to keep salary costs down. There have been at least 5 charter schools closed in Buffalo. I also see consolidation. My guess is that Elmwood Village and CSAT will put the other charters out of business as they consolidate and grow. I get students from charters and they really don't know any more than their peers from public schools, nor are they better behaved, etc. There's already a teacher shortage that will likely become worse. To the extent that schools free parents to have 2nd incomes, the job market won't be as robust so there is a greater likelihood that you will have increases in home schooling. My guess is that the educational system as we know it will be shuttered in about 40 years.
    Last edited by Genoobie; May 26th, 2018 at 10:47 AM.

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    If the Buffalo Public Schools are shuttered how will anyone really be able to tell. Daily attendance is already barely 50%. The notion that the schools free parents to earn a second income is silly but what the heck. More likely, parents who care will form coalitions to hire small group tutors. For those who have been dependent on the dole for generations, taxpayers will still be mulcted to support the system because one political party survives from the support of teachers unions and the dependent class. That party needs a system in place in which the dependent can warehose their spawn while they consume their feast of SNAP funded junk food, do their drugs and spend the rest of the day creating more of the same. Oh, wait that’s what’s happening now. The educational system as we know it, no wait, make that knew it, ended with the empowerment of teachers unions.

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    "That party needs a system in place in which the dependent can warehose their spawn while they consume their feast of SNAP funded junk food, do their drugs and spend the rest of the day creating more of the same. Oh, wait that’s what’s happening now. The educational system as we know it, no wait, make that knew it, ended with the empowerment of teachers unions."

    That's a lot of soundbite...you sure you have an original thought left in that Alzheimer's riddle swiss-cheese mash stuck between your ears? I think you got up too fast from your rocker there and some of the blood left your brain.

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    Genoobie, you’re getting the message! I didn’t claim any originality. It’s been the same story for about 50 years now. I’ll repeat it for about the 27th time. It’s not a rocker, it’s a recliner. And it’s not a BarcaLounger as some have claimed.

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    We have a systemic problem as well as a cultural problem. Perhaps they go hand in hand, point is no one wants to address it. PC perhaps or it's simply ignorance I don't know, we need to recognize the obvious. Teacher shortages based on total neglect toward our educators. Wages are an all time low, because of the disrespect targeted towards our educators-we have less entering into the field, and we have a retiree problem-the baby boomers are retiring. All we have to look at is the extremely low sub list pool. That is an indicator that we have an educational crisis. The parents are ultimately the problem. Parents need to take control of their children, reinstitute behavioral modification programs, put both parents into the home and for goodness sakes reopen the alternative learning institutes. We need vocational studies and bring back trade curriculum like auto mechanics, plumbers, carpentry, and electricians. Let's get back to basics and start looking at our educators and their real value to our children.

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    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shortstuff View Post
    We have a systemic problem as well as a cultural problem. Perhaps they go hand in hand, point is no one wants to address it. PC perhaps or it's simply ignorance I don't know, we need to recognize the obvious. Teacher shortages based on total neglect toward our educators. Wages are an all time low, because of the disrespect targeted towards our educators-we have less entering into the field, and we have a retiree problem-the baby boomers are retiring. All we have to look at is the extremely low sub list pool. That is an indicator that we have an educational crisis. The parents are ultimately the problem. Parents need to take control of their children, reinstitute behavioral modification programs, put both parents into the home and for goodness sakes reopen the alternative learning institutes. We need vocational studies and bring back trade curriculum like auto mechanics, plumbers, carpentry, and electricians. Let's get back to basics and start looking at our educators and their real value to our children.

    Bull.

    The reason why wages are low for new teachers is the generation of teachers that worked over the system out of pure greed. The teachers who worked that Tier 1 and 2 like it was a whore.

    For years, teachers said it was just a matter of more money and things would improve. They lied. They know they lied and now they have to deal with people thinking schools are just fixed with money. So, while I agree 100% that crappy parents are breaking the system, it's the cowardice and greed of teachers that enabled them in exchange for short-term gains

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    The empowerment of teachers unions, the rise of the trial lawyers who scrounge the system for any perceived inequity and idiotic political correctness in the curriculum have destroyed the schools. Combined with entire generations who rely on welfare rather than education to provide for themselves and their children, this lethal cocktail has likely destroyed public education. The notion that teachers are underpaid is the purist crap. They work 35 weeks a year at a maximum and about 6 hours a day. In Buffalo, where they claim the burden of class size, they “teach” to half empty classrooms most days. It’s an unfolding disaster fueled by the greed of teachers and administrators.

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