Thursday, January 26, 2006

It's for the children Part 3

Potter proposes tax for schools
Mayor Tom Potter proposed an almost 1 percent income tax for city residents to help pay for local schools.

Blah blah blah, read the story for the details. So, we know that the tax is "for the children" right? What do they get out of it? A quick look at what positions the Portland Public Schools are hiring for is very insightful.

ESL /Bilingual Teacher - All Levels TEMP 05-06 School Year

Foreign Language Spanish (ML/HS) 05-06 SY

Elementary (Spanish Immersion) - 05-06SY

Elementary (Spanish Immersion) - 06-07SY

Foreign Language Spanish (ML/HS) 06-07 SY
SOURCE

Bi-lingual Educational Assistant (Applicant Pool)
SOURCE

So maybe the tax of for the illegal alien's children who don't speak English. But other than the endless supply of bi-lingual educaters the schools are running lean and mean. It's not as if they are hiring web developers or Psychologists or anything. Oh wait, they are.

Now let's pretend that you want one of these jobs, you know, for the kids. (certainly not for the generous benefits...) Simply contact the HR person.

Did I say "person?" I meant people, all 32 HR people. 32 HUMAN RESOURCES EMPLOYEES? WHY? Duh, it's for the children.

15 comments:

BEAR said...

We can expect the same thing from "peerless" Potter that we got from the legislature; When lottery money was earmarked for school funding, they simply back-filled, i.e., took the money they had been using for schools and put it in other depts., replacing it with lottery money, while promising that the lottery money was 'in addition' to already dedicated funds. Potter's promise to "audit" the spending from this new tax is a fraud.

Anonymous said...

Oregon has had over a 200% increase in non-english speaking students according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, between '93-'03. Nationwide there are now over 5 Million!
This IS the only reason for K-12 population growth, This IS the only reason why the Schools are broke, This IS the only reason why programs have been cut.
We need Atkinson (or Saxton?) to prmote English Immersion ONLY, at least. These 5-7 year dual-language programs are destroying are Schools and our Children's education. BUILD a WALL & ENFORCE the LAW!
Otherwise at current rates of Migration, it will double in the next 5 years, that is $175 Billion in OUR money, just K-12.

Anonymous said...

What part of "it's for the children" don't you understand? You must be thinking it is for your children- it is not. It's for the children of the owners.

Let's say you own a small company. You need lots of unskilled and semi-skilled employees. The cheaper the better. That's what our schools are for. Teach 'em to make change for a twenty and you got your self a large pool of future employees. Bring in lots of replacement workers from third world countries, teach 'em to say "thank you berry much", and you got your self workers who will compete to for the lowest wage possible. Competetion; it's the American way.

Elimanate the 'death tax' and you got a situation in which you and yours will be rich for generations to come. It is indeed for the children.

What? You don't own Wal-Mart or some other large company? Then it is for the children, just not yours. Quit complaining and realize it is not always about you.

RINO WATCH said...

RW is taking this position:

If the Portland lefty's want to Tax themselves into oblivion, thus chasing out citizens, businesses, & industry,

Let 'em do it!

Anonymous said...

anon2-

Love how you refer to parents as "owners" of children.

But I guess that makes sense from a liberal that is always looking for a gov't hand out (read: kids= tax write off, food stamps, Oregon health plan, welfare, etc).

And you have the nerve to tell Anon1 that it isn't all about him/us.

Look in the mirror.....

Anonymous said...

I agree. let's look at the Police and Fire Bureaus when we need to "Thin" the budget. Get rid of those pesky and expensive programs such as The detective Bureau for instance. Any good beat cop ought to be able to fill the shoes of a few Detectives right? Oh, and we can Cross-Train the Fire Dogs to be Hose Jockeys and to operate the ladder trucks! See Saved a bunch of money there too! (It's for the kids after all!) By the way, let's keep shelling out money for a needle exchange and portable toilets for the homeless. It's a worthy cause...we wouldn't want the homeless to be inconvenienced by having to crap under the bridge where they sleep would we?

Ric said...

"I know there are a lot of people who are tired of paying taxes," Potter told the Benson High School crowd. "But I don't consider this paying taxes. I consider it investing in children." Potter

“Failure is not an option,” she said. “We owe this to our kids, and shame on all of you who aren’t with us. The greater good will prevail. We have to do this. There is no other choice, and it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not.” - Nancy Hamilton

I also read, but cannot find the link, that Potter's team is working to separate the issue in the voters mind. The County is the one who taxed them last time ... not us, your humble city.

Daniel said...

I'm almost with RINO, that city is going to get this tax, more people will move out, it will become more liberal and the downward spiral will continue.

I'm almost resigned to it...

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking the neighborhoods outside the Portland school district should secede or separate from the city. Is this possible?

Anonymous said...

I have owned a small business in Portland for 11 years. When I wake up each day and sit down to figure out what we are taking in and what is going out we budget accordingly. If we don’t have the revenue to purchase something then we don’t get it! It’s a matter of checks and balances and every family in America is a “small business” in its own right with someone bringing home the positive cash flow and making sure they don’t go negative. If they don’t have the money, they don’t get the service it’s that simple. What’s the problem with Portland’s picture? Well for starters we have city officials that prey on Portlanders by telling them that there kids will lose out on education and scare those by saying essential services will be lost. The only essential services that should be lost are those who promise and don’t deliver. What we are really losing are Portlanders leaving MC and tax revenue from outside companies that don’t have the confidence in our city officials to provide an acceptable place for growth and livability for the families it brings. If I ran my company the Portland did I would be out of business.

We “hire” city officials who are supposed to be qualified to run our city; if a company manager doesn’t perform at his or her job they get fired. If my company doesn’t perform we lose the business we don’t promise over and over it will get better who in the you know what who’d buy that service. It seems that I can feed, cloth and school the children in a 3rd would country for far less and I’m sure they get a better education than the kids that Portland turns out now. These kids are brain dead, cant read, have no work ethic and you want us to keep paying, get real. I don’t even want to hire anyone that’s between 16 and 30, the kids are lost. Sad but very true, and if you are saying “what a terrible thing to say” then look at today’s youth and then read what I wrote again as a refresher. The public school system in the next 20 years is going to be a place for the “have-nots” who don’t have the money or option to get a better education. The butter is going to separate from the cream plain and simple. In the real world it’s called healthy completion not complacency and retirement packages. We need to give families the education they have paid for with sweat equity not (oh were out of money again-for the third time but we promise this tax is only (never going to go away). I think we need to trim the fat give parents the money to go to whatever school they want and make these teachers earn the money in stead of waiting to retire in Aruba while my kid can’t spell his name when he graduates high school and his or her best grade was in how to use an “Ipod while I taught my class... The leaders that founded this country were maverick not politically tied to the next election. We need people who are going to take risks, and move against the status quo. If you fail, at least you tried something new with my hard earned money. Let’s face it; it isn’t getting better, is it? The only difference between street panhandlers and city officials is that street people are honest about what there going to do with my hard earned money. Frankly I am not surprised at the eagerness of people either moving to Portland or already living in Multnomah county to move to Washington county / Vancouver. We are not paying attention to what pays for the schools,” Small business" and hard working people “that already pay taxes” HELLO!. We, like many have now left MC, during the course of selling are home our realtor noted all the people not even interested in looking because we were located in MC as they would have to foot the extra tax.
Now I’m not a rocket science major but I do know that sooner or later people are going to leave (and they already are) and tax revenue will go right along with it. The businesses will not move here and schools will get worse because there will be a shortened tax base, its basic psychology. If I make 1 million in MC a year I pay an extra 10,000 on top of what I already have to pay. Now why in the Sam tar nation would I pay the extra tax for a3rd time when they could get it figured out the first 2 times. Why have ailing schools and higher taxes when I can move across the county line/state line and enjoy the equivalent of 5 major vacations for my family and a better education so that my kids when they are of age to vote are educated to pick wise leaders. This Tax that you voted is NEVER going away. Why would any company move to MC bring its employees to a community that has ailing schools and heightened taxation? They won’t! Hence why we left and went west to WC. Frankly we need to start over with the school system, parents need to parent and teachers need to be motivated to teach and not be child day care specialists for parents who are chasing the American dream of “Buying more crap” keeping up with the joneses so they can eventually end up in therapy because they didn’t prioritize there kids in the first place. Let’s pay attention people, it’s our children, it’s our money and it’s our future. If you want change then get off your ass and pay attention using that great education you got from your local school district with all the extra cash you spent! When civilized people aren’t educated they are easier to control. An old adage we all know, FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU! FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME! Fool me 3 times and you’ll see that the school system failed us all.

Signed
Unacceptable (Grade F)

Anonymous said...

Pardon me.....I TOLD YOU SO!

Tommy Potter, Sten, Randy Leonard (the most arrogant (damn,I CAN'T SAY THAT), and Dan, and Sam,are getting away with this because they can.

I still am convinced that if the recall I started had nailed Sammy's then boss, none of these "gentlemen" would have had the "male parts" to talk, walk, and act as they are.

I will say that the demographics of the people who would have voted to recall them were better then, but now....just look at the out of state plates going downtown each morning. We are screwed, and they know it.

If you think moving out is the answer, that is just what they want.

You better put Sen Atkinson in Salem, he is the real deal, cause the real power is there.

You all better do a better job of "RINO" watching, call out these people early and get them out.

The subject of dangerous high risk sex offendors, and criminally insane group homes is reaching critical mass as the illegals issue is well past it, if something isn't done....we are going to pay for it in a horrible way.

The elected officals I mentioned are going to push all this foward until they are stopped by recall, by a power change in Salem, or we better call a real estate agent in Montana and buy some high ground before it's all gone. Jack Peek

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but the immersion teachers are for teaching kids like mine - US born, english speaking (even English heritage!)- Spanish as a *second* language.you immerse them a couple hours a day in a second language.


Actually, training US children in second languages is a goal of the Bush administration. So maybe this immersion training might be a good thing if you actually want to do *business* with the *free trade area* of the Americas that President Bush is getting implimented.

DUH!

Tim said...

"You immerse them a couple hours a day in a second language."

This is a reason why schools are failing. Instead of teaching them essential skills like reading and math, we're teaching them how to be touchy feely and learn crap they'll never use.

Anonymous said...

Tim:

"Touchy Feely" eh? Well my kids CAN read, quite well in fact. Plus, even though they are in grade school, they can read through faulty logic. For example:

The State Dept. put this out

"National Security Language Initiative

Briefing by Dina Powell, Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs and
Barry Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

President Bush today launched the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), a plan to further strengthen national security and prosperity in the 21st century through education, especially in developing foreign language skills. The NSLI will dramatically increase the number of Americans learning critical need foreign languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi, and others through new and expanded programs from kindergarten through university and into the workforce. The President will request $114 million in FY07 to fund this effort.

An essential component of U.S. national security in the post-9/11 world is the ability to engage foreign governments and peoples, especially in critical regions, to encourage reform, promote understanding, convey respect for other cultures and provide an opportunity to learn more about our country and its citizens. To do this, we must be able to communicate in other languages, a challenge for which we are unprepared.

Deficits in foreign language learning and teaching negatively affect our national security, diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence communities and cultural understanding. It prevents us from effectively communicating in foreign media environments, hurts counter-terrorism efforts, and hamstrings our capacity to work with people and governments in post-conflict zones and to promote mutual understanding. Our business competitiveness is hampered in making effective contacts and adding new markets overseas.

To address these needs, under the direction of the President, the Secretaries of State, Education and Defense and the Director of National Intelligence have developed a comprehensive national plan to expand U.S. foreign language education beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout formal schooling and into the workforce, with new programs and resources.

The agencies will also seek to partner with institutions of learning, foundations and the private sector to assist in all phases of this initiative, including partnering in the K-16 language studies, and providing job opportunities and incentives for graduates of these programs."

Anonymous said...

Thought you might find this entertaining....

http://utterlyboring.com/archives/2006/01/29/evolution_of_te.php#comments