Town of Braintree

Where the money really is from

Want to know where the money comes
from? Just look in the mirror.


By Taxpayer Charlie

We've been challenged


We've been challenged. By our school committee chair.

Our school committee chair has stated publically that they agreed to raises for teachers knowing we would need a prop 2 ?½ override to pay for it.
This raises some interesting questions.
Does she realize all town employees will expect the same thus insuring the amount needed in the override will only increase? --------We've been challenged.

Is it not a little arrogant to challenge taxpayers in this way when they have clearly expressed their inability to pay more?

What sort of concessions did we receive from teachers in return for what is a much larger wage increase than most working people can expect over the next few years?

At Silver Lake in Kingston they are asking for more time in the classroom from their teachers. If we did the same this would address our problem with overcrowded classes. Effectively it would be like hiring more teachers in return for the raise.

Our high school teachers get one prep period and one ''special duty'' period per day. If they spent one of those periods in the classroom it would be as if we hired a dozen or more teachers.

The selfishness of the teacher's union will inevitably lead to fiscal strife and pressure resulting in lay offs and a further degradation of services in the community.

Town Meeting has pledged to set aside a modest portion of regular revenues to provide for capital improvements. It looks as though the first session since the pledge was made will prove it a lie. Can't give the customary raises to our bloated payroll and still provide for needs that have been neglected for so many years.

The feds have cut us off, as has the state. We must hold our reps at that level accountable for their failure to prioritize human need over corporate greed. We can't expect the local homeowner to continue to dig deeper as their ability to make ends met is continually strained.

How about we ask Halliburton to give the feds back some of the money they have overcharged us, or Raytheon to refund the tax breaks they cheated our state out of? Maybe we could really reduce the burden on working families instead of the super rich?

When you see our Senators, Congressman, State Rep. or State Senators around ask them what their doing to change the status quo. As best I can tell, with the exception of our senior Senator, they are simply going along to get ahead.

Someone somewhere should be making some noise.




By frankreport, frankreport@pcw

Here's How it Works

Towm meeting votes on the amount of the school budget in its entirety. We can't vote on specifics in the budget, such as, let's delete the $$ for this teacher or that window replacement. But, we CAN vote to change the bottom line and that's a control that TM has always had with the school budget. If you don't like how much the town spends on schools, then you can absolutely debate it at town meeting. The school department asks for funding and explains what it's for, just like all other town departments. If you don't like it, then vote to amend the amount.



By TMM11

What's hidden in the Teacher's

contract is the Longevity benefit increase. While we might have read some amounts included in this contract they reached, no where is it mentioned the literal thousands of dollars this benefit alone will cost us taxpayers.
It's huge, let me put it that way.

By Help From On High