Teacher raises

In the PNJ it said the Santa Rosa teacher's got their step increases this year. The caveat is that it will have to be renegotiated every year. Now that is said, oh CC's, how about your deputy sheriff's? The sad fact is we have 250 member union they have a 2100 member union. I guess I answered my own question. At least we know where we stand.

This is typical for the SO. No one even has a thought or even a thought about how badly the deputies are getting screwed. Yea I know we should all be happy because we have a job but how about a small bit of fairness in the process. The deputies will get laid off while the school board gives step increases.

The school board is in a completely different boat than we are. The school board has their own ad valorem tax. The school board gets the all of the tax revenue collected for the school district. Their budget is not determined by the county commission. In Florida the Sheriff’s budget should be set up like this, but it’s not. The crooked politicians can’t tell the Sheriff how to spend his money, but they can tell him how much money he gets to spend. I am confident that we will not get our raise this year. I only hope that we don’t lose any more positions come October. Right now John Q is pissed at governmental employees because we have a job, job security, pension, healthcare, sick and annual leave, things that are rarely offered in the private sector anymore. Unfortunately John Q is pissed at the wrong people. The crooked politicians have allowed corporations to eliminate workers rights. Most corporations would fire employees if they tried to organize a union. Very few private sector jobs offer pensions, family health care, medical and sick leave. Instead of John Q raising hell because we get these benefits, he should be raising hell because doesn’t get these benefits. Anyway, the budget is not going to fix itself, we need an MSTU or sales tax. I think they should put a special sales tax on all alcohol sold in the county, the alcohol does account for most of our calls for service.

You are kidding right? The county budget is 105 million, the school board gets 58 million of it. Regardless what you call it the school system gets the majority of the county budget and the CC's fight over who gets what from the rest. Exactly what is the duty of the CC's? Roads, sheriff, drainage, whatever is required for the people of the county. Once again i will point out the school system gets more than half the total taxes collected in this county. Just like the sheriff they can allocate "their" money anyway they want, then raise their portion of the tax base.

By law the Sheriff cannot be his own taxing authority like the school board is. Maybe someone needs to let the public know exactly what is going to happen (or not happen) when they call the SO after October. The Teacher's union went to the media......they made their issues be known. We could do that too, but if we did a whopping 6 maybe 10 people would show up out of our (as a previous poster said) 250 member union. That number's not completely accurate as detention is covered along with the civilians. I'm sure that would be a sight on the news..........

The teachers get the raises one, because they have a strong union presence and they are a large organization; two, because educating the children affects nearly every family in the county, people are interested in what is happening with their children's education. Most people aren't affected by law enforcement on a daily basis. Most don't understand what under-staffing and under-funding will do to the county in general. Most people only care about LE when their car is burglarized or defaced or their loved one is missing. The majority of the community's face-time with LE is not particularly positive, so the general concern is low, until someone is directly affected. Think about narcotics enforcement, drugs are not a dinner-table topic, unless there's been a lab in the neighborhood or little Johnny, who used to go to school with a friend gets busted. You hardly ever see an outcry about a drug ring being busted, because that does not affect the general public and it is easy to overlook. Unfortunately, crime will have to affect people directly and the people will have to understand it is due, at least in part, to under-staffing and under-funding. Then, and only then, the public may support a 1-cent tax increase or something similar for emergency services.

You are kidding right? The county budget is 105 million, the school board gets 58 million of it. Regardless what you call it the school system gets the majority of the county budget and the CC's fight over who gets what from the rest. Exactly what is the duty of the CC's? Roads, sheriff, drainage, whatever is required for the people of the county. Once again i will point out the school system gets more than half the total taxes collected in this county. Just like the sheriff they can allocate "their" money anyway they want, then raise their portion of the tax base.

I understand that the school board gets the largest part of the county's budget but the school board is essentially it's own taxing authority. The CC's have no control over how much money goes to the school board. The school taxes collected go to the school board. Unfortunately the Sheriff's budget comes out of the county's general fund and the CC's can tell the Sheriff how much money he gets. If the Sheriff's of Florida were allowed to be their own taxing authority we would be in the same position, the cc's would have no control over how much money the sheriff would get.

Teacher here:

1) Our union is a joke and not even half the teachers are members. We cannot even strike.

2) The teachers still don't have their raise as the SRCSB still has to vote on it as well as the union. The special magistrate's decision is NON-BINDING and that means the SRCSB can go against it. It's 1.87 percent and considering insurance for a family has went from $260 to over $500 per month in consecutive years, teachers are at a net loss paywise. That is two years in a row that we have taken a hit on pay (read LOSS) here. You guys are still getting a decent family insurance plan. From what I have been told, you guys have a family plan that is $300 per month. That sure beats our deal. I asked the school board why we don't have a plan as good as the SRSO and they had no answer.

3) We are teaching without planning periods this year. How many of you on patrol can't take a leak/dump whenever you want? We have a 25 minute lunch period as well. That is our only break all day long. Teach little kids and it is less because you eat lunch with them. Does Sheriff Hall require you to go all of your shift without a bowel movement or relieve your bladder? I don't think so.

4) 150+ teachers were let go last year. That was about 10% of the instructional staff. (2100 number counts aids and others).

Before you go crazy on me, I respect the job that you do....100% and have written the five stooges in your behalf more than once. You earn your pay everyday and protect the public from a lot of human vermin. Just the fact that you can control the masses with the workforce that you have should make you feel great about yourselves, but again the "touchy-feely" sentiment is BS, I know. $$$ talks and BS walks.

I wonder if we could combine unions and really hit the BOCC where it counts? You do know that ALL of the BOCC double dips (county check and their personal income check) and expects the rest of us to be happy with the crumbs that we are given? Food for thought.

Teacher here:

1) Our union is a joke and not even half the teachers are members. We cannot even strike.

2) The teachers still don't have their raise as the SRCSB still has to vote on it as well as the union. The special magistrate's decision is NON-BINDING and that means the SRCSB can go against it. It's 1.87 percent and considering insurance for a family has went from $260 to over $500 per month in consecutive years, teachers are at a net loss paywise. That is two years in a row that we have taken a hit on pay (read LOSS) here. You guys are still getting a decent family insurance plan. From what I have been told, you guys have a family plan that is $300 per month. That sure beats our deal. I asked the school board why we don't have a plan as good as the SRSO and they had no answer.

3) We are teaching without planning periods this year. How many of you on patrol can't take a leak/dump whenever you want? We have a 25 minute lunch period as well. That is our only break all day long. Teach little kids and it is less because you eat lunch with them. Does Sheriff Hall require you to go all of your shift without a bowel movement or relieve your bladder? I don't think so.

4) 150+ teachers were let go last year. That was about 10% of the instructional staff. (2100 number counts aids and others).

Before you go crazy on me, I respect the job that you do....100% and have written the five stooges in your behalf more than once. You earn your pay everyday and protect the public from a lot of human vermin. Just the fact that you can control the masses with the workforce that you have should make you feel great about yourselves, but again the "touchy-feely" sentiment is BS, I know. $$$ talks and BS walks.

I wonder if we could combine unions and really hit the BOCC where it counts? You do know that ALL of the BOCC double dips (county check and their personal income check) and expects the rest of us to be happy with the crumbs that we are given? Food for thought.

I don’t think anyone here is opposed to teachers getting raises. This post was started because of someone who does not understand how school board taxes and the county budget work. I will always support teachers and I would never be against teachers getting a raise, you guys deserve it. I think it would be a wise move for us to have each others backs. It would be great if we could get the teachers to show up at the CC meetings to support us. I know I would gladly show up at school board meeting to support the teachers. I would also like to get the same type of agreement with the other law enforcement agencies, Escambia and Okaloosa. If the teachers, firefighters, and law enforcement unions from the tri county area became organized and joined forces we would be a political force that had some serious clout. I know it’s a long shot but I guarantee our voices would be heard.