I accept your apology Joe, you do have me confused with someone else. I do not know what this other "dave" wrote in the past, but nowhere in my posts did i "bash" teachers. Where in the world do you come up with that nonsense. I criticized the union for making the claim that teacher pay is directly related to teacher quality. I posted recent evidence that helped to support that. That's not bashing teachers. I like the teachers and would never bash them.

As to the claim of police officers that Joe made, he is partly correct. The Pittsburgh police are one of the larger and more highly compensated departments in the area, so i used them as a point of comparison. Their starting salary is indeed higher than the SBCSD. However, the average pay for a Pittsburgh police officer is A litle over $48K, while a SBCSD average is over $51K. Both jobs are important. I think the teachers deserve a decent raise, and i support that. I do not support their fringe benefit demands however. Their medical contributions need to be brought more in line to the reality that those in the non public sector have to contend with. They should be contributing 10% of the premium, not $10.

Ed, the "tire salesman" you referred to. Does he own the business or is he an employee and work for someone else?

Merry Christmas to everyone!!