By Bill Cirone, Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools
Newspaper Column
I have a deep and abiding admiration for
those who go into public service. It’s a given that they sacrificed much higher
pay and far better working conditions to make their communities better places. I’m
talking about people with high degrees of education and specialized training,
who had a variety of career options. I’m referring to teachers, firemen, nurses,
policemen, and all the lawyers and doctors and managers who chose to work in
government roles rather than private practice, to help make their neighborhoods
and communities safer places. I also include the janitors, road repair crews,
bus drivers, park rangers, and lower-paid government workers who toil every day
to help in their neighborhoods.
When on earth did these people become
the enemy?
It’s outrageous.
Wall Street imploded, and yet top
executives there continue to rake in bonuses with so many zeroes that two or
three of those bonuses could solve some state deficits. The financial industry
doled out high-risk, mortgage-backed securities that collapsed when the housing
bubble burst. These people still get their full pay, their full benefits, and
mind-boggling bonuses.
In defending those bonuses, some have
said that they are contractual obligations and must be paid. These same
commentators turn around and deny contract obligations to public employees,
each making the tiniest fraction of the Wall Street salaries. Plus, public
employees work toward the common good, and add benefit to our society. Wall
Street moguls nearly destroyed our economy for the sake of lining their own
pockets and those of their colleagues. Where is the outrage over that? Where is
the shared sacrifice?
When did the world go topsy-turvy to
make the working person, and particularly public servants, the target of scorn?
Those crafting that fiction must be chortling over those of us gullible enough
to buy the line of argument.
Take teachers. In many countries
teachers are revered and compensated highly. It is not a coincidence that those
countries tend to have the highest achieving students. Some say teachers have
it made in our country because they only work from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nonsense.
Teachers work till late hours, over weekends, holidays, and summers crafting
more relevant lesson plans, refining their professional abilities, evaluating
student work, and gathering materials.
Or take firefighters. After 9/11, and
after the multiple fires here in Santa Barbara, our first responders were
lionized, and appropriately so, for the heroic and brave work they do to keep
us all safe, especially in disasters. Yet recent letters to the editor in local
publications point to firefighters and other public safety workers as a huge
problem. What happened in such a short time to spin common sense on its head?
Critics point to short hours or short
careers for public servants, but the premise itself rings hollow because we all
know that our star athletes often have the shortest of seasons and work days,
and are among the highest paid. The same goes for our movie and TV stars.
People want to include the preparation time for athletes and entertainers, but
not for teachers or first responders. I do not begrudge these celebrities their
money. I just say shame on those who turn around and disparage teachers and
nurses and firemen and policemen and all those whose work is so vital to our community
and our nation, who struggle to get by on their full-time salaries.
Without teachers there would be no other
professions. Period.
Are there areas that need reform in the
public sector? Absolutely. Just as there are in the private sector. Let’s make
those needed reforms while remembering who the true heroes are among us.
Why have these hard-working, sacrificing
public employees become the target of scorn? Why indeed. Who gains from
pointing the finger at teachers and nurses and first responders? It seems clear
to me that the agenda has nothing to do with the details being argued and
everything to do with dismantling public institutions. If that’s what we want
to do, let’s have the courage to say so — and then figure out who will teach
our children, tend to the sick, keep our streets safe, and fight our fires.
Shame on all of us who scapegoat the
true heroes in our midst, or remain silent while others do so. They say this
country is angry. Let’s get angry about THAT.
