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Race to the top funding: N.J. teachers union stood in the way - By Star-Ledger Editorial Board "...Steve Wollmer, NJEA spokesman, said the union is "very comfortable" with its opposition to Race to the Top, and thinks the Obama administration’s vision for education is "very, very misinformed.
One thing is very, very clear: the union’s inflexibility doesn’t place students first. At a time of financial crisis, leaving money on the table makes no sense at all."
Sick days have become golden parachutes for N.J. public workers By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
"...Thanks to decades of irresponsible (and costly) negotiations by many municipalities, sick days have become golden parachutes instead of use-them-or-lose-them insurance policies against illness, as they are in the private sector. That must change. Immediately..."
Race to the top funding: N.J. teachers union stood in the way
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board/The Star-Led...
March 06, 2010, 5:49AM
Thanks a lot, teach.
New Jersey was left with a big zero after it failed to make the cut as a finalist in the Race to the Top competition. More than $4 billion in federal funding is up for grabs, and New Jersey was seeking a nice slice of up to $400 million.
The state can kiss that dream goodbye. Contest rules emphasized, among other things, charter school expansion and linking teacher pay to student performance. That didn’t sit well with the teachers union, which bristled at the emphasis on charters and rejected outright the philosophy behind merit pay. The New Jersey Education Association urged members not to participate. Teacher buy-in was one of the criteria for a successful application. New York and Pennsylvania are among 15 states that made the list of finalists.
Acting education commissioner Bret Schundler met with union officials to discuss how to strengthen the state’s application for the second round of the contest, but it doesn’t appear any change on the union’s part is in the offing.
Steve Wollmer, NJEA spokesman, said the union is "very comfortable" with its opposition to Race to the Top, and thinks the Obama administration’s vision for education is "very, very misinformed."
One thing is very, very clear: the union’s inflexibility doesn’t place students first. At a time of financial crisis, leaving money on the table makes no sense at all.
Sick days have become golden parachutes for N.J. public workers
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board/The Star-Led...
March 07, 2010, 5:48AM
With the state on the brink of pension and severance reforms, hundreds of municipal cops are lining up for retirement. Anthony Weiners, president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, has predicted a “mass exodus.”Oh, there’s going to be a mass exodus all right — a mass exodus of taxpayer money.
Don’t bother sending these officers a retirement card. They will trade their badges for six-figure going-away presents — from you. Towns, already cash-poor, will be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars as these cops redeem huge amounts of unused sick and vacation time.
Retiring New Brunswick police chief Anthony Caputo is walking away with $376,234 in unused time, on top of his annual $115,000 pension. Caputo was hailed by the mayor as a “tireless worker,” but taxpayers would have been better off if he had taken a few sick days during his 26-year career.
Caputo may be tireless, and now taxpayers are penniless.
And he isn’t the only New Brunswick employee leaving with a barrel of cash: Capt. Leslie Levine will receive $310,079 in sick and vacation time (to go with a pension of $103,934); Lt. Paul Schuster will get $277,489; Sgt. William Oels will get $219,050; Sgt. Stanley Fenkel will receive $115,534; and deputy fire chief Nicholas Grischuck’s bye-bye bullion amounts to $159,161.
Remember when retirements were celebrated with sheet cakes and gag gifts?
Thanks to decades of irresponsible (and costly) negotiations by many municipalities, sick days have become golden parachutes instead of use-them-or-lose-them insurance policies against illness, as they are in the private sector. That must change. Immediately.
The Senate recently passed a bill that places a $15,000 cap on sick and vacation pay redemptions. They call it a major reform, but it is really a weak gesture that preserves the status quo for decades.
The reform applies only to new hires. That means a 25-year-old officer in your town can keep banking time for the next 20 years or so, then hand you the tab when he (or she) retires. The huge payouts will continue.
Here’s a better answer:
First, scrap the proposed $15,000 cap. Zero is better. Private-sector workers generally can’t redeem sick and vacation days, so why should public-sector workers?
Second, the change should take effect immediately, not in 20 years or so. Labor contracts have to be respected, and the credits already accumulated must be honored. But the state can pass a law to end this practice once current contracts expire. This drain on taxpayers should end, even for current employees.
Third, towns should pass ordinances that require all banked time to be redeemed at the wage it was banked. A rookie cop’s sick days are often cashed in, decades later, at a chief’s or assistant chief’s pay. Thats increases the cost even more.
Finally, until this practice is banned, the law should require that a manager outside the department keep track of the accrued time. Police chiefs and other officers retiring with exorbitant payoffs often were in charge of keeping track of their own time. That invites fraud and abuse.
PBA officials insist “many” municipalities already have instituted a cap, but the union doesn’t know how many. And PBA leaders and the League of Municipalities can’t estimate how much severance is out there, waiting to be cashed in. But it’s a lot.
In December, four retiring Parsippany cops received $900,000 for unused sick and vacation days. More will follow. Jasmine Lim, the township administrator, says two other officers will retire with a payout in excess of $300,000; eight more will retire with between $200,000 and $300,000; and five will retire with between $150,000 and $200,000. In total, there are 20 officers eligible for retirement by 2013, Lim says, and all will leave with a wad of cash.
Now do the math for hundreds of other municipal police departments.
Cops insist they save taxpayers money by working on their days off. But that assumes towns would have hired more cops for those shifts. Instead, municipalities could have better managed the department.
Yes, New Jersey cops risk their lives. They have a tough job, and their work is appreciated. But they are the highest-paid officers in the nation, and they receive top-notch pension and retirement health benefits. That should be enough.
When they turn in the keys to their squad car, they shouldn’t drive home in a Brink’s truck.
