I read in the last Transcript that the Blue Ridge Final Budget of $17,685,063 was nearing completion. Of that total budget, it was stated that salaries and benefits account for a whopping 67% of the budget. How can it be necessary to spend almost $12,000,000 a year in salary and benefits to educate just over 1000 students? And how can the teachers union justify mandatory raises year after year for teachers in the name of "educating the children"?  Will giving raises to teachers improve the education the children receive? Can they quantify the improvements that children will experience by the taxpayers ponying up another 2% per year? When will taxpayers in this county and state finally deal with this elephant in the room?  How can our children's education improve when we are hamstrung by outsize expenditures for salaries and benefits at the expense of things like computers?

Let the teachers strike. Replace them with younger teachers at lower starting salaries. Increase the number of students per class and reduce the workforce. Let's get this outrageous expenditure under control and put a stop to the gravy train that public union workers have had the rest of us riding for years.

Sincerely,

Nancy E Nagle

Jackson, PA