3% not 8%

The Manteca Bulletin misleads with the headline "8 % pay cut for all school workers." The actual "pay cut" is 3 percent. The other 5 percent is a cut back in the length of the school year from 180 to 170 days. That is two weeks less pay for two weeks less work -- that is not a cut in the rate of pay, the true measure.

Two weeks less work means they can start their summer job two weeks early, or do some other project two weeks longer. Or, they can vacation two weeks longer. It's not fair to call that a "pay cut" any more than if you buy a gallon of milk for $4 and the next day you buy a half gallon of milk for $2. Would you say "they are selling milk for half price?" (no!)

The union leaders love to take advantage of that ambiguity between "pay" and "rate of pay" and try to get sympathy by exaggerating their "suffering." The Manteca Bulletin should either start talking to both sides of the issue or open a book on economics.

p.s. I almost forgot. They call the "black arm bands" a mark of "solidarity" and the press repeats this. No, it's not a mark of bullying or intimidation... it's "solidarity." You know, they are all sticking together to "help you" by providing less education and to "help" their own members by getting by demanding some of them be fired.

Right: Armband thrown in trash by wearer shortly after proclaiming they were all wearing the armbands "in solidarity."

Are we living in a Randian dystopia?

I found this a pretty fascinating insight into the current "economic problems." They are discussing an essay in the Wall Street Journal that compared the current world to the world parodied by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged.

Keep Lathrop High School open

The Manteca Unified School District will be meeting on Tuesday night to make more cuts to the budget. They're down to the last "hard choices" which include across the board salary cuts for teachers and workers, eliminating bus transportation for students who live outside walking distance and closing Lathrop High School. Dennis Wyatt's opinion piece in January 24's Manteca Bulletin calls for the closing of Lathrop's newly opened high school.

I have grandchildren who attend Manteca schools and the budget cuts have been a big topic of discussion with the oldest, a student at East Union. It's very interesting to hear what the scuttlebutt is on campus from an actual student. We heard that "everyone," including students and teachers, was relieved that Senior Projects were given the ax. We heard that many students are upset with the prospect of school buses being discontinued or being charged for transportation to school...that seems to be a big issue. Eliminating elective and AP courses also is not popular with the kids.

In Wyatt's piece, he thinks that rather than ask any MUSD employees to defer raises or take a cut in pay or hours, the district should close Lathrop High School. He seems to place a lot of blame for opening it prematurely on acting superintendent Jason Messer, though I don't know if that's fair. A couple of years ago we kept hearing how all the schools were becoming overcrowded and there were even signs posted on some elementary school office doors warning that your child might not be able to attend that school because of overcrowding, so register early. The "irrational exuberance" that fueled the housing bubble and all the new people expected to pour into the area extended to the school district and they scrambled to make sure they could accommodate all the new students they expected.

The schools seem to be run not for the benefit of the students, but for the benefit of the unions that most school district employees belong to. Photos from the last school board meeting published here and in the Sun Post showed a sea of blue union shirts dominating the landscape, all there to protest any reductions in raises, salaries, hours or positions that might be considered. Many of them looked angry and scary with scowling faces and crossed arms. To hell with the kids...the employees come first. Wyatt even says, "Employees are covered by negotiated contracts. What they may give up in actual pay — or negotiated raises — now has to be restored and repaid at some point. " Is he saying that they're such bullies that we might as well give them what they want now because they'll just get it anyway sooner or later?

He also says that reducing pay or raises will severely affect the teachers' and employees' morale and that in turn will make them less effective. What about the students' morale? How does cutting education and activities affect their learning or their ability to graduate? Something like 85% of the school budget goes towards personnel. Now they want to take even more of the budget for salaries and at the expense of making the STUDENTS give up more things that help make high school bearable and even enjoyable. California teachers are the highest paid in the nation,* despite the hype you hear about how underpaid they are.

Don't close Lathrop High School. What a morale crusher that will be to the students there. Remember that the school district exists to provide education to over 22,000 students in its care, not to keep union members employed. Do the right thing.

*From Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2007 by the American Federation of Teachers: "For the second consecutive year, California had the highest average teacher salary in 2006-07 at $63,640 or about 25% above the national average."

Nice "landscaping."

It's a good thing Manteca has that requirement (I mean "standard") that all the car dealers have to have "landscaping."   Where else would you showcase your product?

Shown: Corner of Union & Yosemite, Manteca, California.

GOP needs to return to its roots

I attended the South San Joaquin Republicans meeting at Chez Shari Restaurant in Manteca a couple of weeks ago. I should have written something about it sooner, because it's becoming a dim memory but I'm not a winter person. Cold, dreary, dark days make me want to hibernate until spring comes and this meeting didn't raise my spirits any. I've been to a few of the SSJR meetings in the past and there's usually a pretty good turnout but this one seemed sparsely attended. Maybe all the Republicans were depressed over Obama's win.

I'm a registered Republican though I feel like an outsider at GOP functions. I'm on the libertarian side of conservatism and have been totally disillusioned with the Republicans for a long time. The party of "smaller government" has become almost indistinguishable from the Democrats. Both spend taxpayer money on an ever expanding insatiable government and there's no end in sight. Freedom is an endangered species in the United States with both sides favoring taking away rights. There are two major issues that polarize both parties and are the only real areas where the parties differ: Gay marriage and abortion. Two areas that government should not be involved in at all because both are moral and religious issues.

Frank Aquila, president of the SSJR, puts a lot of work into organizing these meetings and is a good soldier for the party. He had quite a line-up of guests for this month's meeting, but some bailed on him and no-showed, including newly elected state assemblyman Bill Berryhill who sent a young aide to fill in to thank volunteers who worked on GOP campaigns in 2008. Most of the speakers spouted the party line about Bush's "war on terror," no gay marriage and no abortion and how successful they'd been in putting out "our values" and that we must never stop, blah, blah, blah, blah. I zone out and start wondering when it will ever end.

One young man, Adam Ellison of Pacific College Republicans, spoke about his efforts at UOP to register Republicans and crusade against gay marriage. He recounted fun college antics of tearing each others Prop 8 posters down and seemed fixated on gay marriage as if that was the only thing Republicans care about. If he really wants to make a difference and entice young people to consider voting Republican, he should focus on things like smaller government, less taxes and less government intrusion into our lives. By focusing on gay marriage and abortion, the GOP is seen as the party of repressiveness and religious zealotry and drives away more young people than it attracts.

I was impressed by two speakers, former congressman Richard Pombo (whom I've heard speak before) and newly elected Stockton councilman Dale Fritchen. Neither talked about abortion or gay marriage though "values" may have been mentioned once. Pombo, who was defeated by Jerry McNerny two years ago, talked about how important it is to get out and meet the people in your district and how that made a difference in getting him elected to office when he was young and unknown. He had good advice for anyone thinking about running for public office. Fritchen spoke about what the party really stands for and offered quiet strength and inspiration to continue on despite the losses. I wish him luck in what has to be a tough job...representing south Stockton, one of the poorest areas of the city and the county.

The SSJR is planning "A Tribute to our Gold Star Families" on May 15, 2009 with a special dinner honoring families who have lost a loved one in the war. If you're interested in attending, you can contact Frank Aquila by email at mantecarepublicans@yahoo.com

Where are you on the political spectrum?

If you've ever wondered where you really stand on the political spectrum, you can find out by taking The Politics Test. I picked this quiz because it's impartial and at the end it will pretty much accurately peg your location on the chart.

If you doubt the results of that test, you can try The Political Compass test. This one is very similar though questions are different and it's an international organization. There's a nifty certificate with cartoon drawings of politicians, world leaders, economists and historical figures and their location on the spectrum with your location highlighted and your name on the certificate available. A couple of years ago you could print it out for free, but now I see they want money for it. This one can also be taken en Español.

If you missed the civics quiz, you can still take it here and post your results on our poll.

Special interests pack school board meeting.

The teachers and school union workers packed the school board meeting to make sure that your child gets charged for things you probably believe you already paid for and gets less education.

The teachers and union refused to take a cut in pay or in their car allowances this year. They are even still demanding, so far, that their pay be raised this year! To make up for their demands for raises, they insist that your child pay an extra fee of $153 to play sports (on top of all other expenses), eliminated the guidance counselors, senior projects, and demanded an extra $20 payment for the bus to "science camp."

Look at the number in that room (and the shirts)! And the surprising thing is that very few were traditional "parents" or other "stakeholders." Most were workers, employees, union members there trying to protect their jobs. They knew about the meeting but the general public really wasn't given much of an opportunity to express their opinions.

For example, the agenda item simply said: 1. Consider Budget Presentation. That's all. It should have said "1. Consider budget cuts." That would have been clear. In theory they weren't even authorized to do any cuts. They were only authorized to consider a presentation. It's a Brown Act thing. But it's also a slap in the face to the public.

You might think that's nitpicking, but look at the other agenda items. They can be clear when they want to be. The other items are things like consider the process to be used for the selection of a district superintendent and Recognition of district spelling bee winners -- perfectly clear English.

From the photo, does it look like there's not much interest in school board meetings? That was the reason they decided they don't need to televise the meetings on cable TV or even make a video. No one really cares, they said. No, they don't want people seeing what they are cutting and why -- and last night's meeting was perfect proof of that.