Board should stand firm in negotiations

Dear School District 158:

As one overtaxed taxpayer living in Taxerville, I wanted to encourage you to hold firm in your negotiations with your teacher's union.

You see, even though I do not reside in your school district, your actions will certainly have a trickle-down effect throughout Chicagoland. That is because teacher unions are famous for highlighting the success of one school district in order to increase their negotiating leverage with another. It's all about keeping up with the Jones's, and it's a vicious cycle costing taxpayers and the Illinois pension system dearly.

Taxpayers are desperate for a school board to demonstrate the wisdom and backbone necessary to assert the size of a raise is not synonymous with level of respect. Taxpayers are sick and tired of teachers unions threatening to strike if they don't get 5 percent to 10 percent raises. Besides the fact there is absolutely no correlation between teacher pay and student performance, a 3 percent raise is a dignified raise by any measure and in any sector.

Take a leadership position District 158. Don't succumb to the tyranny of the teacher's union. Taxpayers are not ATM's.

Mike Davitt

Naperville