Champaign council backs summer jobs program
CHAMPAIGN — The city council on Tuesday supported a partnership with the Champaign school district to establish a $195,000 summer jobs program for students ages 14 to 19.
Assuming the program receives formal council approval next week, the city and the school district would start accepting up to 150 students to be placed in jobs between June 13 and July 29.
Organizers are targeting students with low socioeconomic status for the program — to be accepted, applicants must qualify for free or reduced lunches.
The program is modeled after a successful pilot from last summer, said Orlando Thomas, director of achievement and pupil services for Unit 4. Last summer's program accepted 38 students who had problems with grades, low attendance, multiple suspensions or negative contact with law enforcement.
At the end of the summer, 31 students had finished the program. During the past school year, the attendance of those 31 students had risen from 85 percent to 90 percent. Their collective grade point average is up from 1.7 to 2.2. Those students received 13 suspensions during this school year compared to 32 from the previous year, and discipline referrals have decreased by about 65 percent.
"This program will positively affect the lives of students that are at risk," Thomas said.
The students will receive a wage for their work, and at the end of the summer they will have earned about $1,000.
But "it's not about putting a few extra dollars in kid's pockets, or even keeping them off the street necessarily," said Mayor Don Gerard. Rather, the jobs program will give students an opportunity to mentor their peers.
"That's how I see this program succeeding," Gerard said. "It's not about the $8.25 an hour."
Organizers expect a high level of interest in the program, and it is likely that some applicants will be rejected. Council member Tom Bruno said he was concerned that, because the Unit 4 district reaches into the village of Savoy, some Champaign residents might get turned away even though it is a city-funded program. He requested that the city of residence be considered among the selection criteria as organizers begin reviewing applications.
"If we turn away 50 people, I would be a little distressed if we turned away a Champaign resident and funded a Savoy resident," Bruno said.
First, the program sounds normal enough. Yet, there are posters on an article about the liquor tax crying about the "necessary services" about to be cut at the police department for the three secretaries making $210,000. While many debate the merits of secretaries making $70,000 each -- something wholly unheard of in the private sector -- most everyone agrees that the police must be able to do their job. And that costs $$$$, hence why many were upset that one could even question the liquor tax because the city had no other choice [well, the other choice, to many, was to put the police in harms way]. We are led to believe that if the liquor tax is not passed, all police will suffer irreparable harm. Then Champaign announces that they have $195,000 for a summer work program. This is fantastic, but stop acting like Champaign is broke. Rather, Champaign has different priorities and can find the money to do what it wants. Apparently the secretaries are apart of a sick political game. Despicable and dishonest!
I won't even explain the disturbing rationale to openly discriminate against citizens based off of their parents' income. I guess some discrimination and prejudice is wholly acceptable and goes without saying. Why not treat everyone based off of the content of their character? Maybe even give the job to the kids with the most potential? [I reluctantly add this last paragraph, as it allows some to miss the first paragraph and go off on wild tangents. To stop certain o'posters, I will go on record to say that I want to help all children.]
Where are you getting your information? I'm getting mine from the NEWS-GAZETTE! They reported on 05/18/2011: "During the past six months, city budgeters suggested those positions — two front desk staffers and one records specialist — be eliminated to save $212,000 as they realized that expenditures would outpace revenues before the end of the fiscal year this July." [Please see the liquor tax article.] So, I will concede to you that the cost per employee is not $70,000 each but $70,666.67. To act like the "front desk staff" and "records specialists" are not secretaries is a farce. Call around to any company (or public entity like schools) and ask them the pay scale for these types of jobs. But if that is inconvenient, hey, I understand. To make that kind of money is unheard of in the private sector. Even compared to the U of I police lieutenants, who make $84k per year, this sounds ridiculous. Again, this is the NG's math -- not mine. Complain to them, because I did not independently verify this.
The real point of my comment, which you did not acknowledge, is that in the same liquor tax article, the $170,000 per year city manager stated that without new revenue streams, the city could NOT afford the price for the front office. While that makes the police's front office sound disposable, it is now seen as a flat out lie because the city in the same breath spends $195,000 to hire 150 part-time employees. Apparently they don't have $212,000 for necessary services but they have in the same night $195,000 for a new program. I wish I was that cash strapped.
I looked at the other article. I don't know how the city determines 'cost per employee', but it is much more than salary. The $212,000 figure would include employer taxes such at medicare, social security, unemployment, other costs such as heath insurance, etc. But apparently some of the commentators simply divided the number by three and got $70k salaries, which is, as you said, ridiculous.
Simply dividing by three seems logical because that does give costs of employment. Is that all salary? Certainly not, but to anyone who has ever budgeted money, total costs, not some piecemeal approach, is what matters. Well, lets compare this with the ridiculous. One poster claimed the real salaries are "$31,836.48 - $38,755.81." Yet, the total package is $70,000 each. Maybe Champaign really pays $38,163.52 in benefits? WOW! That would be a whole new scandal titled: Champaign Benefits Cost Twice As Much As Salary. Again, find any company or other public entity that would make such a claim. I beg you. Ridiculous is a good word. Mark my words: Champaign will not back up your argument, but they certainly like people like you with blinders on that twist numbers until they sound good.
Dividing by three is the only way to figure costs; picking out select costs makes a picture that is distorted. Heck, why not go off of hourly wages to make it look like a bargain? Then we could use the $31,836.48 number to say that it only costs $15.90 (and then mumble "per hour minus twice as much in benefits"). In the end, that $15.90/hour = $212,000. Again, the real point is that Champaign acts like they don't have the $212,000 but in the same breath find $195,000 for a summer youth program. This is very dishonest.
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