Watch Live: Second House Hearing on IRS Scandal

Education

Buffalo, NY Teachers Still Getting State-Funded Cosmetic Surgery — Why?

Jan. 18, 2012 12:35pm Christopher Santarelli

Buffalo Still Pays for Teachers Plastic Surgery

Sixteen-year-old boys may like it, but good luck finding someone else who can logically defend why Buffalo teachers are getting botox, hair removal, liposuction and other cosmetic surgery paid for by the public school system.

The perk has been in the Buffalo teachers’ contract for at least 30 years, making national news when it was revealed that the rider cost the district $9 million 2009. When the audacious benefits went public in October 2010 the president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation said that the union agreed to give up the benefit in the next contract.

“We’ve already told them we’re going to give [it] up in these negotiations,” Philip Rumore, president of the teacher union, told The Buffalo News. “We’ve told everybody it’s going to be gone in the next contract.”

That was over a year ago, and nothing has changed, with the benefit’s estimate current annual cost at $5.2 million.

The Atlantic’s Jordan Weissman explains that while the benefit was a public eyesore that most on both sides agreed had to go, it has survived thanks to New York’s broken collective bargaining system for government employees:

“When news of the doctors’ bills broke, there was, predictably, a public outcry. Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore, who did not return calls for comment, said then that his union would be happy to drop the rider during the next round of contract negotiations. But therein lay the problem.

Buffalo’s teachers haven’t had a new contract since the last one expired in 2004. That’s because they haven’t needed one, thanks to a 1982 state law known as the Triborough Amendment. Under the law, when a public employee’s contract expires, they are allowed to continue working under its terms until their union reaches a new agreement with the state. They get to keep all their benefits, along with any yearly salary increase built into the old deal. In the case of the Buffalo schools, teachers have been getting yearly 2.5% ‘step increases’ since 2007, when the state-imposed control board that oversees Buffalo’s municipal finances unfroze salaries.

As a result, there isn’t much incentive for the union to sit down and hash out a new contract. Not in these days of government austerity, and not when they might be asked to make additional concessions on fundamental issues such as teacher evaluations.

‘The urgency of negotiating a new contract isn’t really there,’ said Amber Dixon, interim-superintendant for Buffalo’s schools. ‘You get to keep your benefits. You get to keep your cosmetic rider. You get to keep your 2.5% step increase. It makes getting back to the table difficult.’”

The problem in Buffalo serves as an example of complications that can come from the kind of collective bargaining rights that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker looked to reform, which government employees protested leading to a million cheese-heads to now call for Walker’s head.

The interim-superintendant for Buffalo schools told Weissman that at one point the school board offered to avoid 100 layoffs if the union suspended the cosmetic surgery rider for a year. The offer was a means to at least save jobs while both sides appeared willing to stand their ground and continue to put off a comprehensive new contract agreement.

The union rejected the offer.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (62)

GaryInTheMiddle
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:12pm
Maybe they sooo ugly they need it.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Detroit paperboy
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:37pm
  Liberals were the homely children, who did’nt get pick for dodge ball… And now they’re angry and still homely adults, who would not last one week in the private sector… Thats why government employees are mostly all LIBTURDS…. Worthless sloths
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:02pm
  Feature the morons on the school board and mayor who signed such a contract. It may be outrageous to ask for, but it is down right stupid to agree to it.
  
  Report this comment
- smithclar3nc3
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:37pm
  This is why PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO UNIONIZE
  
  Report this comment
- CIAtroll
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:38pm
  New York City is largely a Second Amendment free zone. The city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has said that citizens “acting outside of any governmental military effort” should not be allowed to protect themselves with firearms. WHY ???
  
  “The NYPD and Department of Defense are working together testing Terahertz Imaging Detection, a new way to get concealed illegal weapons off the streets,” CBS reports. Terahertz Imaging Detection measures energy radiating from the body up to 16 feet away and can detect anything blocking it.
  
  The ACLU and civil libertarians oppose the effort to use the technology on the street. “It’s worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you’re doing nothing wrong,” the NYCLU’s Donna Lieberman said. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/01/17/nypd-testing-gun-scanning-technology/
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:54pm
  @Detroit paperboy Always nice to hear from a free thinking intellect. And people wonder why independents question candidates that appeal to individuals with such insight.
  
  Report this comment
mobynowak
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:04pm
Why? It’s for the children.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
mobynowak
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:04pm
Why? Because they are the “best” and the “brightest” in our society.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
mobynowak
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:03pm
Why? Who’s gonna stop them?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Detroit paperboy
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:03pm
Its for the children…. So sit down, shut up and dont you dare question a teacher’s motive….EVER !!!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
mobynowak
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:03pm
Why? Ask the hundreds of thousands who have fled that cr#p hole. Buffalo is so awful for business and the standard of living so far below the national average that the teacher’s union has decided to make up the difference by raping the citizens in order to fund what they could never earn on their own. It is a city so mired in its ineptitude and self-aggrandizing delusions that they destroy any opportunity for growth and development. The Peace Bridge expansion is a perfect example of how the city will strangle itself and squander any hope for a future. 20 years and still unbuilt.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Gonzo
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:44pm
Come on, have a heart. Have you ever seen the women in Buffalo?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
ThePostman
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:33pm
I wouldn’t want my kid’s teachers to be so vain and self-absorbed that they resort to cosmetic surgery.

Cosmetic surgery after things like mastectomy are already covered under existing policies.

I wonder how these teachers would feel if their next contract REQUIRES 36DD boobies or else they get an automatic pay cut of 20K per cup size?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Rowgue
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:30pm
Wow a state law that essentially makes a collective bargaining agreement permanent until the end of time as long as the union doesn’t negotiate a new one. I thought I had seen the depths of idiocy, until I read this article.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Gonzo
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:56pm
  LOL and the North still thinks they won the war. The North is a union wasteland.
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:57pm
  @Gonzo Good point in that the North wasn’t insightful enough to negotiate. We really only wanted the Florida beaches and New Orleans. Ok maybe some of the athletes from the SEC.
  
  Report this comment
lyingling
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:23pm
And there you have it in a nutshell! As Buffalonian, we have a lot to be proud of here. I have mine and you can’t take it away! This mentality has made us the number 2 poorest city in the country. Our schools are some of the lowest performance in the country. Governor Cuomo wants to give Buffalo a billion dollars. Think about the number of facelifts and breast enhancements that will pay for!! Buffalo will have the stupidest student, but will have the best looking teachers

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
KINGRUDDY
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:21pm
Nothing to be said but………..
WAKE UP AMERICA and BUFFALO, NY!!!!!
Maybe you could take the bull by the horns and FIRE ALL OF EM!!!!!
Listen to Ronald Reagan…”Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”
think about that one while you WAKE UP!!!!!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Tom K
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:28pm
  Whoever negotiated that contract needs to take the bull by the tail and face the situation. Beauty is skin deep but ugly goes right to the bone. Next thing you know the jazzed up teachers will be hitting on the students. . . . .
  
  Report this comment
TeaPartyPatriot
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:20pm
The three non-negotiable, absolute “rights” of a unionist teacher/socialist-indoctrinator:

1. humongous taxpayer-funded pension
2. automatic raises and no performance standards (like ANY government bureauweenie), and
3. students with “benefits”.

FYI: unionist “teachers” rank #1 in percentage being sex-starved predators and nymphomaniacs (who prey on their students). (TSA gropers are only #2.) So the unioinist socialist indoctrinators jokingly called “teacher” must be pretty so they can get all the “benefits” with their students that they can handle.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
TH30PH1LUS
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:16pm
This is simple. Females who subscribe to Communism are the ones who need plastic surgery the most. We have allowed Communists to take over the education of our children. Ergo, teachers need a nip/tuck.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
IMPEACHBHO
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:15pm
Our school district has no clue. They recently put in a 4 million dollar scoreboard (just a local High school) Surprise, property taxes went way up – again. The school districts have little to do with educating (unless it is social propaganda) – and we just keep signing blank checks for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kqVZUCRth0&t=16m7s

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
SmallGovBigGuns
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:02pm
but they are soooo under paid they teach our youth! blah give us vouchers before i start having kids!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Rickfromillinois
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:00pm
I don’t know why anyone would complain about the public paying for teachers getting their behinds liposuctioned on the taxpayer’s dime. Remember, it’s all for the children.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
BetterDays
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:58pm
They are streaching our nation thin, perhaps a Botox shot……….
Naw, perhaps a reality diet, America is broke and liberal women are ugly.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- db321
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:03pm
  A bath, bar of soap, and a ribbon – won’t make a Pig a Poodle. It is what is on the inside that makes a person attractive or not. If you want to Transformally Change America and demonize what is right about America – then your **** ugly.
  
  Report this comment
Stoic one
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:55pm
Let’s see… the politicians are paying the salaries, via taxpayers; to the unions which are ‘contributing’ to the politicians with taxpayer funded union salaries that are forced to pay union dues.
This parasitic relationship with the taxpayer is terminal…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
ares338
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:55pm
I guess no one wants **** ugly teachers!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Starkadder
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:51pm
This is casebook example of why public worker unions should not be allowed to make political contributions. The unions make huge “donations’ to campaigns then sit across the negotiating table from same politician they donated to. Hey, remember all those campaign dollars? yea, we do too so approve this contract or those donations go to your opponent next election cycle. The politician then rubber stamps it because its not his money that pays for these outragous benifits.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- IMPEACHBHO
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:56pm
  YES!! We have been against the very existence of public unions.
  
  Report this comment
- IMPEACHBHO
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:57pm
  Think about it. Using our tax dollars to insist on more of our tax dollars!
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:58pm
  There should not be public workers unions. The ones with whom they negotiate are the ones dependent upon them for their jobs. It’s lunacy and theft.
  
  Report this comment
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:03pm
  But, but, but it’s “for the children.” (tears starting to form)
  
  Report this comment
- tzion
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:25pm
  If a coal miner strikes, he doesn’t get paid while on strike. If teachers strike, they get to make up every missed day WITH PAY. It should be ILLEGAL for public workers to strike or else make it so that they have to make up those days WITHOUT PAY.
  
  Report this comment
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:50pm
.
Buffalo, NY Teachers Still Getting State-Funded Cosmetic Surgery — Why?

Have you ever seen a Buffalo Teacher? I’ve been told several use to shave their behinds and walk backwards, now with Taxpayer Funds; they all look like Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. And believe it or not that’s an improvement………..

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Starkadder
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:52pm
  Buffalo Teachers? lol What can you teacha buffalo?
  
  Report this comment
pamela kay
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:42pm
Seriously? This is another example of the union benefits that are breaking our country.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
The_Jerk
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:40pm
Teachers have become the leaches feeding off of the taxpayers labor.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
AJAYW
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:39pm
You have to keep in mind that teachers are a cut above the rest of us. They should only get the best.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 1:08pm
  That’s not what one hears when it comes time for teacher raises. They work HARD, stay after school, look after YOUR children, //said with sarcasm.
  I hope, when it comes time to re-negotiate the salaries of teachers in Wisconsin, they run commercials of the teachers standing with the union occupiers at the statehouse.
  
  Report this comment
I.Gaspar
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:39pm
They should send the money to michelle o.
$5.2 million would just about cover the wideload liposuction….

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- code green
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:55pm
  Michelle Antoinette “let them eat sugar and colosteral free cake”
  Her arrogance is only exceeded by the width of her b-tt
  
  Report this comment
- IMPEACHBHO
  Posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:58pm
  Our landfills have enough problems
  
  Report this comment

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.