Letter: Private financial problems don't excuse school
district's
Published: Wednesday, February 10,
2010 3:50 PM EST
To the Editor:
Enough of Mr. Graham's (Worthington News, Jan. 17) vendetta
against Huntington Bank given his frustration over financial
losses. Let's keep focus on the topic, which is reducing
teacher pay to ease the financial burden on taxpayers.
To close the books on my Huntington Bank experience, the
bank realized $536 million in income, including eight of
nine quarters of significant profit, when I worked for it.
So much for my "front row seat" as the "banking industry
plunged faster than the gas needle on a Cadillac."
As for teacher salary reductions, as outlined in my last
letter, recent economic data -- private sector worker
productivity -- is the primary justification for my
position.
As for questioning my data related to teacher pay, I stand
by it 100 percent and challenge anyone to prove it wrong.
As it relates to my position related to teacher pay cuts
lacking logic, let's try it for the third time.
Private sector employees have absorbed pay cuts. The same
should have been asked of Worthington teachers. The quality
of education would have not have suffered as there are many
teachers working for exemplary school districts nearby
making considerably less that would have taken vacated
positions. Supporting data has been presented in previous
letters.
Graham's defense of the school board's fiscal incompetence
was amusing. While he may find comfort in the fact that
other businesses were in worse financial shape, from my
perspective, any budget deficit reflects poor management.
While it is nice to see that he has come to support my
position of reducing teacher salaries, he has yet to provide
a specific recommendation. In a previous letter, he was
critical of those taking his current position. Have he
changed his thinking?
Finally, I am all for police and firefighters taking pay
reductions. We in the private sector have been forced to
tighten our belts and there is no reason why the same should
not be expected by all within the public sector.