re: #399 Rev_Arthur_Icantbreatheing

The weirdest part is that when I was growing up (30 years ago), teachers were respected. My parents were No Questions Asked about them.

That was before the relentless drumbeat of school failure stories caused the public to lose faith in teachers. It was also early on in the sequence of events that produced Illinois’ present budget crisis. Back then governor James “Big Jim” Thompson still had enough budgetary room to maneuver to make concessions when needed on salaries. It wasn’t till his successor Jim Edgar that the disastrous policy of using pension increases as a substitute for salary increase was begun.

And that’s what I’ve got time for, because I really need to get going. I just wanted to leave having posted something substantive.