Greetings from Brownbackistan, where drastic tax cuts for wealthy individuals and

[tblue37]

large corporations have so devastated our state finances that several school districts had to end the school year early.

But wait! There's more!


http://m.ljworld.com/news/2015/jun/03/ku-other-universities-warn-employees-possible-furl/?templates=mobile#nav

KU, other universities warn employees of possible furloughs

By Peter Hancock
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2015

As many as 70 percent of Kansas University's 13,751 employees will be furloughed after Saturday night if state lawmakers fail to pass a balanced budget before then, KU officials said Wednesday <emphasis added>.

"KU employees will be notified by Human Resources or by their supervisors or unit heads no later than noon on Friday about whether they would be furloughed," KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in an email to employees Wednesday.

The potential for furloughs is the result of a stalemate at the Kansas Legislature, where lawmakers have so far failed to pass a budget, or a tax plan to fund it, for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

(SNIP)

One of the factors complicating the selection process, he said, is that a number of faculty members are working on federally funded research grants, which typically require matching funds from the university. Furloughing those employees could jeopardize their federal grants, he said.

(SNIP)

[Font size ="+1"]That is 70% Of our universities' employees! The "job creators" and their minions strike again![/font]

[Takket]

1. no money? make them shut down the Jayhawks basketball program

that will make the people pay attention. they'll recall Brownback and the legislature so fast they'll heads will spin

and no, I'm not kidding. I'm dead serious.

[tblue37]

2. I don't doubt it. Though I teach at KU, I am not a sports fan--but I know that people would not

allow winning sports programs (here or elsewhere) to shut down, though they seem not to mind as much when schools are forced to do so.

[gratuitous]

3. But wait, even more!

In another year or two, those corporations who are enjoying the low tax rate will depart from Kansas because they can't find any qualified employees. Young people just out of school will be totally unprepared for the job market. And the Republicans will convince Kansans that it's all the Democrats' fault. And Kansans will believe it.

[tblue37]

4. And companies that need highly qualified employees won't want to locate here, despite

tax breaks, because their most qualified employees won't want to live in a state with schools that are so drastically underfunded that they can't even stay open or keep most of their employees working.

[SheilaT]

5. So what's going to happen to the summer session at these schools?

And will classes be cut 70% in the fall?

Wow.

[tblue37]

6. Instructors would only be paid for the days they actually are in the classroom,

and furloughed on other days. Of course, much of our most important work does not even take place in the classroom! For example, during a semester I teach 4 classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (MWF). That means I am scheduled for 4 hours a day, 3 days a week, plus one scheduled conference hour on each of those three days as well. That is just 15 hours of officially scheduled time.

But I also spend about 20 hours in individual conferences with students each week, and as much as 20-30 hours a week grading papers. Then, of course, there is the time spent preparing classes and course materials. Believe me, a 40-hour work week would feel like a vacation. I often even have conferences at night and on weekends, since so many students these days have such overloaded schedules because of work and extracurricular activities.

From the article:

Another complication is the fact that the summer semester has already begun for the law school, and summer classes for other schools begin next week. Caboni said the current plan calls for teaching faculty to be classified as essential on the days they teach classes, but they may have to take "furlough days" on days when they do not teach.

Most university classes meet either on MWF or else on Tuesday and Thursday (TR). Very few university classes meet every day.

That means that if the teacher teaches MWF classes, she would get paid for only 3 days a week; for TR classes, she would get paid for 2 days a week, even though TR classes are longer, so they take the same amount of time per week to teach, and the instructor also still has the same amount of other work outside of the classroom to do: preparing for class, grading papers, meeting students for conferences, etc.

As do K-!2 teachers, diligent university instructors typically spend a huge amount of time working beyond the hours that they spend in the classroom, so much so that for many of us our actual "hourly" compensation is below minimum wage. Obviously, simply not paying instructors for 2 or 3 days each week would be extraordinarily unfair.

[tblue37]

7. Nope--just as in every other business, the workers would be expected to do the

Last edited Thu Jun 4, 2015, 12:41 AM - Edit history (1)

same amount of work, but for much less money.

[SheilaT]

8. Perhaps those teachers will go on strike.

Either overtly, as with picket lines, or covertly. Don't work any more hours than you're being paid for. If that means tests don't get graded, then they don't get graded. If that means no conferences with students, then no conferences.

Except I do understand that most people who teach aren't going to do that. They care too much about the students.

But it outrages me that so many people work off the clock, so to speak.

[tblue37]

9. That's it exactly. We do care about our students. It would be hard enough to

knowingly do a bad job, no matter what the profession--but to do so when young people are counting on you for their education would be unconscionable. What they learn in our classes will become the foundational knowledge and skills for their further education.

Obviously, most teachers in this country do not go into teaching for money or prestige, but rather because we consider it our vocation--in the old-fashioned sense of the word, a calling. I have often said, only half-jokingly, that teaching is my religion.

A lot of people would be surprised at how many of us who become teachers are devoted to our work and to our students. (Consider the etymology of the word "devoted.&quot