Following the Numbers

Every tax is a pay cut. Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

Following the Numbers February 27, 2004

Harold J. Wolfe Metrowest Daily News

In response to "Framingham workers defend their salaries," dated Feb. 13, 2004, will someone please explain to me how it took us 296 years to reach the $100 million mark in the town's General Fund, and just eight years later (despite a recession), we stand at $164 million.
A few questions for the Framingham Teachers union president, Barbara Rooney Connery:
How is it that Framingham teachers (674 of them) are getting paid an average of $56,313 for a job that takes 9 months of the year and the the median household income in Framingham is close to $60,000 for people who work the entire year? If teachers worked the full year like everyone else, their average annual salary would be $75,000. I guess that's not enough for the union.
According to the October 2003 issue of Boston Magazine, how come the Framingham schools rank 11th highest in terms of cost per pupil, out of 147 school districts in the Boston metro area but, alas, we rank 86th in MCAS scores? Weston ranks 8th in cost but first in MCAS and SATs.
I have no idea how you compute class size, but I usually take the number of students (8,289) and divide by the number of teachers (674) = 12.3. How did you get 22 or 27? Show me the math. This year we have one adult for every 7.44 students in our school system. Is the goal one for one?
Our town manager then makes an assertion that the Consumer Price Index is a reflection of costs, not wages. Just what does he think town wages are to the taxpayer? You have to give him credit for attempted obfuscation but this attempt could be caught by a fourth grader.
Finally, I disagree with the assertion that people who work in municipal government aren't going to get rich. You ought to see how many police employees made over $100,000 last year. Perhaps Steven B. Carl would be helpful and show us in an editorial letter.
My web site http://www.abetterframingham.org has a large repository of information that the town doesn't want published.

Following the Numbers	February 27, 2004
Harold J. Wolfe	Metrowest Daily News
In response to "Framingham workers defend their salaries," dated Feb. 13, 2004, will someone please explain to me how it took us 296 years to reach the $100 million mark in the town's General Fund, and just eight years later (despite a recession), we stand at $164 million. A few questions for the Framingham Teachers union president, Barbara Rooney Connery: How is it that Framingham teachers (674 of them) are getting paid an average of $56,313 for a job that takes 9 months of the year and the the median household income in Framingham is close to $60,000 for people who work the entire year? If teachers worked the full year like everyone else, their average annual salary would be $75,000. I guess that's not enough for the union. According to the October 2003 issue of Boston Magazine, how come the Framingham schools rank 11th highest in terms of cost per pupil, out of 147 school districts in the Boston metro area but, alas, we rank 86th in MCAS scores? Weston ranks 8th in cost but first in MCAS and SATs. I have no idea how you compute class size, but I usually take the number of students (8,289) and divide by the number of teachers (674) = 12.3. How did you get 22 or 27? Show me the math. This year we have one adult for every 7.44 students in our school system. Is the goal one for one? Our town manager then makes an assertion that the Consumer Price Index is a reflection of costs, not wages. Just what does he think town wages are to the taxpayer? You have to give him credit for attempted obfuscation but this attempt could be caught by a fourth grader. Finally, I disagree with the assertion that people who work in municipal government aren't going to get rich. You ought to see how many police employees made over $100,000 last year. Perhaps Steven B. Carl would be helpful and show us in an editorial letter. My web site http://www.abetterframingham.org has a large repository of information that the town doesn't want published.

Send comments to: hjw2001@gmail.com