1) I won a position - stayed a year then moved. Being on a school board is a complete waste of time. I have extensive knowledge of financial management. These people think it grows on trees.
2) Moved to South Carolina. Taxes and climate were the only motivating factors. My property taxes dropped by 75%. Had two kids in school - both ended up going to charter schools that are very common in South Carolina. Both ended up getting college degrees here.
3) Upstate NY has a cost of living like any rural area- it is cheap. Except for property taxes which are obscene.
4) School districts in NY act as independent empires. Each has a superintendent who gets as little as $150K a year to upwards of $300K. Insane.
5) Pension contributions in my district were 100% school paid for. No teacher participation at all. Try finding that in the private sector!
6) It's a piece of cake to get a capital bond passed in NY. Simple majority of those who actually vote.
7) NY school systems do not care about cost cutting, saving overhead, or containing salaries. They grow till they go bankrupt. Hopefully that happens this year since the state of NY will be running a $15 billion deficit. It already was $6+ billion before Covid.
2) Did your kids go to Clemson or USC?
3) Upstate New York would be a great place to live if it weren't for the taxes. NYC controls the whole state.
7) There are thousands of NY teachers (or maybe it was NJ) that sit around all day, drink coffee, read the paper and don't have any classes or students at all. There was a segment years ago on either 20/20 or 60 Minutes about this.
