Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
QEO Virtually Dead...
The QEO, qualified economic offer, is virtually dead since the language inserted into the state budget by Governor Doyle to reward WEAC has survived Joint Finance Committee review. Given that the Democrats control both the Assembly and the Senate, anything in the budget bill after the committee finishes its review will pass.
This will almost assure that the next Germantown School District negotiation with the teachers will see a settlement of something beyond 3.8%. The actual amount remains to be seen but the era before QEO saw increases in the range of 6% and 7% depending upon the arbitrators' view of the levels paid to teachers by area districts. Once one area district provides a higher level of pay, there will tend to be more and more districts with similar increases. Once the surrounding districts have become "equalized" to the new higher levels of compensation, the cycle will begin again.
While we cannot predict actual increases with any certainty, we can predict that the days of "only" a 3.8% increase are gone.
There will likely be no increase in state funding for local school districts, so we can be virtually certain that our school district property tax payments will increase. The Governor states that he hasn't increased our taxes, but that is incorrect. He has increased taxes for every school district by virtue of this language inserted in a budget bill so that it isn't even subject to debate.
Let us hope the electorate remembers this when we see his name on the ballot once again.
This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.