-----Original Message----- From: Mark Snyder Fortunately, the editorial I remembered seeing in the Strib was only a week old, so I can post the link to it: http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/3036173.html
This may not be the kind of merit pay Mr. Trainor is pushing for, but it is a move towards an alternative to straight seniority. I'm not sure why the push for teacher testing - all the teachers I know had to demonstrate competency in their subject in order to earn their certificate. Might Mr. Trainor explain why that's not sufficient? [Terrell] The Strib editorial says "Last week, just over a third of Minneapolis' 4,500 teachers signed up for a salary schedule that will boost pay when they acquire and use skills known to improve learning." It doesn't appear to me that the traditional step and lane system has disappeared, there have been other factors added in determining teacher pay. With the thousands of teachers in the Minneapolis system, the district needs a collectively bargained pay system. It would be impossible for each teacher to negotiate their own deal. That being said, there should be a system to properly recognize and reward our best teachers. The bad teachers need to be given assistance to improve their job performance and if they are unable or unwilling to improve move on to other lines of work. Now, that's not easy. Student performance isn't necessarily a measure of teacher effectiveness. [Mark Snyder] Mr. Trainor is right that I didn't keep his statement fully in context. I suppose that was due to my skepticism of the proposal. I could fully see the GOP passing legislation to free employers of the requirement to to provide health insurance. I'm not so sure I trust the GOP to include in that legislation a requirement that employers must raise salaries to compensate. ... [Terrell] There is no requirement federal, state or city that an employer provide health insurance. There is a prohibition on discirminating against similarely situated employees that prevents providing insurance for some but not others. My employer doesn't provide health insurance. I work nearly 2,000 hours a year, receive a W-2 get paid for some vacation and holidays, but no health insurance. You can buy stock in the company I work for. I buy an individual Blue Cross policy with a deductible of $2 or 3,000 (don't remember which) per year for which I pay about $115 per month (I get the non-smokers discoutn). [Mark Snyder] Here's my other question: if health care costs are skyrocketing now despite the collective purchasing power of big companies or *ack* government to supposedly rein in prices, what's gonna happen if we all have to fend for ourselves? Who among us gets a good feeling about the idea of choosing their health care coverage all by themselves knowing how good our insurers are at presenting nice, simple, straightforward descriptions of their policies and the associated benefits, requirements and restrictions? Insurers may be the one industry I know that makes banks and credit card companies look pristine by comparison. [Terrell] Actually if we needed to "fend for ourselves" costs might be more under control. One of the reasons we are horrible health care consumers is because we have no concept of what things cost. I paid $175 last year for a 20 minute eye exam. [Attention Mayor and Council Budget committee]: One way the City of Minneapolis or any other entity could get better hands around health care costs is to provide each employee with a base amount to spend for health care. They would then insure for only the big stuff. This forces people to be better consumers, if they don't use this years base amount they should be allowed to carry it forward to the next year. Terrell Brown Loring Park terrell at terrellbrown dot org __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes http://autos.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
