Required Reading

Jay Gallagher, on how we all talk endlessly about property taxes but apparently don't really care enough to do anything about them.

DiNapoli's report pointed out that one reason school costs are escalating faster than hikes in the overall cost of living is because the price tag of fringe benefits for teachers and other school employees shot up an average of 12.2 percent a year from 2000 to 2005.

But who wants to force those workers to pay more for these benefits — chiefly health insurance and pensions — as many workers in the private sector have been forced to do?

Certainly not school boards, apparently, who have OK'd hundreds of contracts in the past seven years that don't address the issue.

And apparently not voters, who for the most part don't even vote in school elections. Those who do pass school budgets and select school board members who negotiate and approve the contracts.

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