Who deserves more money? Amazon or Virginia’s teachers and children?
In Virginia, many students are learning in trailers while the state offers Amazon a huge tax break.
The Guardian reports that teachers are about to strike sue to low salaries and a huge underinvestment in facilities over the years.
“Due to overcrowding, more than 22,000 students in Fairfax county receive their education in cheaply constructed plywood trailers, often with visible signs of green mold, like those parked next to the baseball fields next to McClean high school.
“Those trailers, the poor state of school funding in general, low teacher pay and now the huge tax breaks the state is giving to lure in Amazon have led the teachers to strike on Monday, the start of the latest in a series of strikes by educators across the US.
“In Fairfax county, the third richest county in America, there are over 800 trailers serving as temporary classrooms because the school district cannot afford to build new classrooms….
”Throughout Virginia, school districts own thousands of cheaply constructed trailers that present health and safety risks. The trailers are often poorly heated, their plywood construction makes them susceptible to mold, and in some schools, students have even reported accidentally falling through their floors.”
The Governor Ralph Northam supports education, but is not offering the schools as much as Amazon.
”While Virginia’s Democratic governor Ralph Northam is proposing to increase education funding by $269m, he has proposed to spend nearly three times as much, $750m, to lure Amazon to northern Virginia. The offer was made to secure Amazon’s “HQ2” – the tech company’s second headquarters which it split between Virginia and a second – equally controversial – site in Long Island City, New York.
“Teachers are pushing back and now are going out in the first statewide teachers’ strikes in Virginia’s history.
“Inspired by a wave of #RedforEd strikes that have swept the nation, teachers in Virginia, who make $9,000 less than the national average, are calling on Northam to nix the tax cuts and instead invest the money into eliminating trailer parks outside of so many of Virginia’s schools.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh come on, how can anyone forget that Greed is God?
I mean, geeze, the elite and most of our elected leaders have worshiped at this altar of avarice since President Teflon Ray-Gun. Get with the plan and let the elite rob the working class until we are all literally deaf, dumb and blind — starving and homeless too without medical care.
Most of the elected leaders of the United States are still Milton Friedman acolytes that believe in Greed is God and Greed is Great and Greed is Good, and everyone below them is just a number to be fed into the profit machine that churns out wealth for the few, the wealthiest 1 percent.
In fact, I think Milton Friedman has replaced the Bible’s God as the new age god, because the Bible doesn’t support greed at all.
Timothy 6:10
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
There are ninety-nine more passages in the Bible about how evil greed is:
https://www.openbible.info/topics/greed
Trump, his corrupt family, Pence and all the Evangelicals need to read about how evil greed is. No honest Christian would worship the Orange Moron.
Fairfax County. Is that where George Mason U. Is? Home to the original Koch Bros Economic Department. If so, how fitting.
I believe GMU has the largest chapter of “De-Koch my campus”
sorry…it’s Un-Koch my campus
The war on public education has resulted in the disinvestment in public education in many states across the nation. Aging facilities and physical plants have been held together with duct tape and quick, cheap fixes long enough. Mold and aging asbestos are carcinogens. States are responsible for ensuring that the physical plants of schools are safe and free of biohazards. Parents and concerned citizens need to force the state to look out for the health and well-being of public school students and staff members.
I live in Fairfax County VA. I have been watching this story unfold, mostly in the Richmond VA papers. (It is not getting much coverage locally, on the WashDC TV stations).
So far, the picketing has been “informational”, and although there are rumors of a possible strike, an actual strike by Virginia teachers anytime soon, seems remote. (It could change).
Virginia supports public schools very well (In some areas). There are only 8 (eight) charter schools in the entire Commonwealth, and no new charters are planned. The current governor will never permit any plan of school choice/vouchers to see the light of day.
The quality of public schools in Virginia varies. Fairfax/Loudoun counties have some excellent public schools. Lee county has terrible public schools. 20% of the state lives in Fairfax, and the political “muscle” downstate, cannot match it.
Sorry you didn’t read the article Charles.
Many children in affluent Fairfax County attend school in moldy plywood trailers
I did read the article. You did not read my posting. I said Fairfax/Loudoun have SOME excellent public schools. I have seen the trailers at SOME public schools here. I live near Hayfield High School. That school is modern, and has no portable classrooms.
If you want to see some really terrible schools, check out Lee County and Botetourt counties.
I have lived all over Virginia, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Arilington/Fairfax. The quality of public education in this state varies wildly.
This just devastated me: ”While Virginia’s Democratic governor Ralph Northam is proposing to increase education funding by $269m, he has proposed to spend nearly three times as much, $750m, to lure Amazon to northern Virginia.” As if Amazon needs the money. As if Amazon will treat employees in Virginia justly. As if Amazon and Bezos should be so close to Capitol Hill. As if children should study in dilapidated trailers while Bezos wines and dines government officials in mansions.
I am glad Northam is governor, but he can do better.
Many states were offering incentives to get the Amazon sub-headquarters and the 25,000 jobs. Virginia made Amazon an “offer that they couldn’t refuse”. The $750 million dollar package, is an obvious bargain, and a very smart investment for the people of Virginia.
Obviously, the tax revenues and job creation that Virginia will receive will far exceed the incentives and benefits that the Commonwealth offered.
There is no reason to believe that Amazon will not treat their employees “justly”. Already, the vo-tech schools, and universities here in Northern Virginia, are gearing up to teach the courses, that will assist Virginians in landing the new jobs at Amazon.
Unemployment in Metro DC is very low. People from all over the USA, will be applying for the 25,000 new jobs at Arlington. These people will not be moving here, to be treated “unjustly”.
The location of the sub-headquarters was NOT placed in Arlington to be close to WashDC. The decision was based on the excellent air service, (three airports), and access to Interstate 95. Amazon already has a battalion of lobbyists engaged in WashDC.
Northam is about the most pro-public education governor that you are going to get in Virginia. I have spoken with this man, and he will NEVER agree to school choice/vouchers. Virginia is a charter-school desert, only 8 (eight) operating charter schools in the entire Commonwealth.
Oh Charles…you and your Fox News, Libertarian views! You claim to be a smart person, but you can’t seem to “connect the dots” very well and that is something that is taught in elementary school. Just dig just a tad bit deeper and see what happened in Washington State when Jeff Bezos came to town.
Lisa, anyone can claim to be smart or think they are smart. Charles is just taking his cue from that stable genius and super successful businessman that never lies, so says Donald Trump.
What has bothered me about the coverage of these strikes is that the media reports on them as isolated, independent, mutually-exclusive events. There comes a point when one of them has to realize that this is a national—and as Pasi Sahlberg has taught us, an international—movement. Imagine if the reporting on the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s had been reported as Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, etc., issues? If anyone out there is writing letters to the editor or other commentaries, please remember that these are not isolated state issues. This is a national/international issue.
As you recall, Fairfax County public schools, decided to rename JEB Stuart High School to Justice High School. see
https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2018/08/29/ex-j-e-b-stuart-h-s-fairfax-ditches-confederate-name-becomes-justice-h-s/1130893002/
The cost of the renaming is estimated to be $1 million dollars. ONE MILLION dollars.
The county will be spending this money, while students have to attend school in moldy plywood trailers.
Would someone please explain this absurdity to me, like I am a two-year old?
GOOD. Next, teachers need to vote and get people in the legislature who recognize the importance of education and pass legislation, not just talk about how great they are doing. Who knows, Indiana may be the next red state where teachers have had enough.
…………………………..
Indiana teachers planning action in March, keeping pressure on lawmakers
Arika Herron, Indianapolis Star Published 2:50 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2019 | Updated 4:34 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2019
The Indiana State Teachers Association will invite public education supporters to Indianapolis on a Saturday in March for a “day of action.”
The state’s largest teacher’s union is planning a day of action, looking to keep up the pressure on lawmakers currently considering education funding and teacher pay proposals.
The event that wouldn’t disrupt classesis being planned for a Saturday, likely in March, and organizers say they hope it will be a positive event.
But an actual walkout, on a school day, isn’t off the table, said Teresa Meredith, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
“I have members wanting to be more cautious and I have members ready to walk,” Meredith said. “At some point, if lawmakers don’t give us any choice, … I don’t know.”
Meredith said her group is, on the whole, cautiously optimistic right now. Gov. Eric Holcomb has proposed a 2 percent increase in K-12 education funding each of the next two years, and lawmakers are considering several proposals to raise pay for teachers. Indiana lags behind its neighbors in its average teacher salary, and many teachers have gone years without a meaningful raise.
Check out this story on IndyStar.com: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/30/indiana-teachers-planning-action-march-keeping-pressure-lawmakers/2723194002/