Help me understand this. How will school departments know how much money can be allocated to schools, which begin in September, if we don't enact our own local budgets until October? How can they hire teachers if towns don't know how much money they will have? How about instead the state commits to level fund from previous year and then lifts the cap imposed by 3050 so towns can raise their own taxes to levels that the community is willing to support?????

How about towns LOWER EXPENSES instead of raising taxes, 'Concerned Person'?

Another publicity stunt-it never ends with this governor! What happened to his promises of turning the state around? How about getting rid of all his cronies at the top?

What would filing of collective bargaining agreements do for the state. Do they plan on telling the towns and it's employees how to bargin and what should be in that agreement? I also wonder how towns are suppose to fund schools in Sept if we don't adopt a budget until Oct. TIt seems to me that maybe the state should look at changing it's fiscal year rather than 39 cities and towns changing theirs

While Gov Carcieri's plan is definitely a step in the right direction, why not do away with the town pensions and have the town and the employees contribute to a 401k plan like everyone else. That would save the state and towns billions. But in a state where the Democrats control everything and are in bed with the labor unions, nothing will change. I predict the leaches in the General Disassembly will not pass the Governor's plan.

To Concerned Person. Or should I say Concerned Teacher. The party is over. The taxpayers can no longer afford to pay top dollar for one of the worst educational systems in the country. A system that rewards teachers, school administrators and state employees with pay and benefits perhaps seen only in fantasyland, but not in the real world, and in the process robs our state's children of a good education. Forget 3050, I feel that it is time for something more drastic. Perhaps like Massachusetts proposition 2- 1/2, which helped that state to get their finances in order. The well is dry. If you don't like it, go teach elsewhere and see how green the grass is.

Can we please go back to the old system (I am dating myself) of the fiscal year matching the calendar year?

I like the idea of knowing how much aid towns will recieve. How can a town make out a sound budget without knowing? The teacher unions will go off the deep end if this goes through.

Yet another strike at teachers and municipal employees. Does the govenor have any other ideas that might be new for him? How about eliminating the new Department of Revenue? That should save some money. Govenor when your term is done will you ride off into the sunset and be cozy and well cared for? Of course you will. I hope one of your grandchildren has the urge to teach and you get to watch from a wheelchair or from the great beyond what they will suffer from your legislation. More sourballs rolling to you Govenor!

Why does there continue to be no talk in consolodiating local towns/cities, do we really need 39 or so sperate city and town: fire, police, school chiefs for a state this size.
And to you Governor/Legislator, are you ever going to challenge the Judical system and start having Judges and State Police start paying into their retirement system, and does the spouse of a judge that has passed on - really deserve to have their pension and also health benefits (how much would that save)?

I know this is a bit off topic but...

This is to all those who complain about the benefits that teachers get. Instead of whining about it, why not go and teach? That's what I did. I realized that the benefits are fantastic - so I left the private sector to go and teach. Now I'm looking at retiring in my early fifties with a pretty nice pension. You'll never hear me complain!

So instead of constantly complaining about it while you waste your life away just sitting at your desk surfing the Internet at your crappy job that you all seem to hate so much, why not go out and do something about it? Go back to school and get a teaching degree or certificate.

The only thing standing between you and a sweet pension is the copy machine...or maybe the water cooler (depending on where you slave your life away I guess).

So go for it I say!

Why wouldn't contracts be filed with the Dept of Labor if the state insists on creating more paperwork. I suppose that in the interests of transparency public contracts being collected and then what...put on the internet....? this might be called progress. Maybe. How about a list of private contractors numbered in the thousands over the last 16 years of Republican control, and their contributions to campaigns, how about this list collected and put on the internet? What about a list of all of the CEO's in companies that the state has pension money invested in? When is the governor going to complain about their salaries? How can the state get a fair return on their money when the fat cats keep getting their share even as their companies fail? The General treasuer also has an obligation to voice concern over the compensation of the CEO's and the self appointed boards that "control" them with a wink of the eye. While movie actors ham it up at the State House, the Projo itself reported some months ago on a story that indicated that the state is actually loosing money to the movie companies that sell Rhode Island tax credits to who else? CEO's of course. Rhode Island (and most states) may be in a mess and for that we only need look to where our money in Washington is going, billions spent and billions in debt and now we go begging to China! Meanwhile the Lt. Governor promotes stem cell research for Rhode Island on her web site, how about putting in some real teeth to promote this bio tech industry, like making stem cell research legal and then funding it! During the credit union crisis we added one cent to the sales tax, hello the bonds were paid off a long time ago, we still have the extra penny on the sales tax! Sell the lottery, the Pro Jo itself reported that gross sales were over a billion dollars while the state's take was a mere $3.5 million, this had to be a mistake right? Come on governor let's be less hostile, more creative and please demonstrate some leadership.

Whatever happend to the idea of eliminating the yearly property tax on vehicles? This would help most Rhode Islanders and perhaps jumpstart the economy. RI is somewhat of a dinosaur in this area and without some incentive we will continue to lose population as people cojtinue to leave this state as it is one of the highest taxed in the country.

What is he going to do tattle-tale on the cities or towns paying higher wages to teachers and municipal employees and payiing bettter benefits to them, too?

He wants to run the state like a business when it comes to "take-aways" but what about "make-evens".

When private industry employees at a big company do a good there is bonus (as in money) oer them.

Are the taxpayers (and the governor) willing to pay bonuses to state and local government workers and teachers or is it just expected?

Don't forget, many government workers,including teachers, took less than the going rate in private industry at the time in the past becaus ethey thought they had stable benefits.

If you want to attack their benfits it's only fair that they ask that their wages be brought UP TO THE PRIVATE INDUSTRY LEVEL of somebody with SIMILAR AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE.

October is the beginning of Federal fiscal year.

The state changed to it because budget anaylysts were having too hard of a time figuring out if the state would have money in some budgets (DOT, DHS, DCYF and MHRH come to mind immediately) and when the state's fiscal went from July to June or even based on the caledar year.

I know I don't want teachers in their late fifties, already grouchy because they stand to make a pittance when they're through getting paper thrown at them, taking out their frustrations on me and mine. Teachers do some of the hardest work around, they deal with your offspring, usually for more hours than you do. And to all the idiots who complain about the education system in RI- well, I'm one of those kids. Here's a newsflash: what you as a student put into it is what you as a student get out of it. With the new state requirements and what not, believe it, we are getting a better education than some private schools. And teachers make that happen. Cut something that won't make high school kids sit in a room with forty-two other kids like its a ridiculously huge college class. I like the education I'm getting so lay off teachers until you spend some time in a class with them.

Dear "A High School Kid",

Please look up "Brainwashing" and "Indoctrination" and get back to us.

Thanks,

The Taxpayers