7:21 again. I didn't make the link to social security. Someone else said we needed immigrants to pay for all our programs like social security. That's scary if the only way we can run everything is by asking new people to come in to pay for programs. We should be able to find a way to make our governments run without asking others to fund them. And it doesn't seem to be working to bring these new people in, because our budgets are going down, not up. The US is more in debt than ever and FCPS is running the biggest shortage in years. The two candidates for governor had large families so not every large family is an immigrant.

16:54 There are many people who provide worth to society, however it makes sense that a program would run out of money when a women working outside of the house paying into the program all those years gets the same amount back as a woman staying at home not paying into the program. You're supposed to get back what you put in, but these women or men who stay at home do not put any money into the program, therefore they shouldn't get anything back unless they are poor and can't take care of themselves. We know people who've retired with millions of dollars getting two social security checks back 20 years plus even though only one worked. This is just one of the problems with the program.

who said there was a baby boom? The fertility rate continues to decline, and nearly all increases are from immigration. There are exceptions to this rule, but on average, the people having multiple children are immigrants, mostly because many of them are strict catholics.

I'm not anti-immigrant, but anyone who has read a recent article on population growth an/or fertility rates knows this to be true.

There's a spousal claim which currently gives spouses who never paid into the system half the salary their working spouse gets even when their spouse is still alive as if that makes any sense.

Right, because people who spent their prime working years taking care of children surely haven't provided anything worthwhile to society!

Social Security problems have nothing to do with the birth rate and everything to do with a system that wasn't set up properly to begin with. It gave away money to people who didn't earn it and the government borrowed money from it. My grandparents did not pay enough into the system for the security checks they received and today many people receive checks who never worked in their life. There's a spousal claim which currently gives spouses who never paid into the system half the salary their working spouse gets even when their spouse is still alive as if that makes any sense. The system is broken. Bringing in more immigrants is not the solution to fixing social security. Generation Y is still larger than the baby boomers and baby boomers are dying off quicker than expected.

Anonymous wrote:Because teachers are in danger of not getting raises for a 4th year and other children aren't having enough resources given to them to help them learn. This area is very expensive. It makes little sense for people without a lot of means to come here when there are thousands of other towns in America where it would be cheaper living for them. I have not heard of the US having a baby shortage. We have one of the biggest baby booms in the world right now.

Smell the coffee:

Due to demographic changes, the U.S. Social Security system will face financial challenges in the near future. Declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancies are causing the U.S. population to age. Today 12 percent of the total population is aged 65 or older, but by 2080, it will be 23 percent. At the same time, the working-age population is shrinking from 60 percent today to a projected 54 percent in 2080. Consequently, the Social Security system is experiencing a declining worker-to-beneficiary ratio, which will fall from 3.3 in 2005 to 2.1 in 2040 (the year in which the Social Security trust fund is projected to be exhausted). This presents a significant challenge to policymakers.

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n4/v66n4p37.html

http://www.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/demographics/u-s-birth-rate-hits-record-low-20121129

Anonymous wrote:(However, I totally agree with your post. They should def. know English at this point. If they weren't catered to so much with everything written in Spanish, it might help. No one posted signs in Italian or German everywhere, to cater to my ancestors. And for that I'm proud; as well as the fact that they were legal immigrants.)

In cities with immigrant enclaves, there were areas where signs were in the heritage languages. Also, it was far easier to be a legal immigrant in the 1800's because there were no laws against immigration. Immigrants were treated badly for a generation or two, though. Usually, they were leaving such terrible conditions in their home countries that they were happy for even the menial jobs available here. Most Americans whose background is from Europe or the British Isles have at least one and usually more ancestors who came here to escape poverty and started out in America at the bottom of the employment ladder. Yes, circumstances are different today, but many of us have an immigration story in our family histories.

Because teachers are in danger of not getting raises for a 4th year and other children aren't having enough resources given to them to help them learn. This area is very expensive. It makes little sense for people without a lot of means to come here when there are thousands of other towns in America where it would be cheaper living for them. I have not heard of the US having a baby shortage. We have one of the biggest baby booms in the world right now.

Anonymous wrote:My bad, I guess there are 100 students instead of teachers. But either way, I don't understand the need to have them here in this County. There's a difference between educating people who speak a different language when they come to some degree verses advertising that "our county is the best at educating foreigners, so please everyone come to our county and we'll educate you even better than we educate our own citizens."

I said we NEED them in our COUNTRY -- not specifically in our county. Our COUNTRY needs more young workers to off-set the number of older people who are retiring and getting benefits. It's a demographic problem that immigration and Hispanic births are helping solve. Sure, everybody wants the cheapest solution to the aging population and that would be high-SES babies who speak English... but we don't have that. So, why not embrace the solutions that are presenting themselves and make sure these kids end up contributing to society and enriching it with their culture, rather than having them drop out, commit crimes to get income, and end up in jail. IF you marginalize people, they will end up costing you a lot more than a few ESOL teachers and reading specialists. I don't look at ESOL kids or immigrants as less valuable than English-speaking people.... they are just further behind but they have the potential to catch up and be part of OUR American dream. Someday YOU (or your kids) may need more services than I would prefer to pay for -- but that's o.k. Sometimes we are takers, sometimes we are givers. It's part of being in a community.

Anonymous wrote:I highly doubt many hispanics at the FCPS are immigrants, let alone illegal. 95% were probably born here. Their parents, on the other hand, are a different story. So assuming these children are US citizens, damn right they are entitled to a public school education regardless of their parents' choices.

You'd be surprised....especially at the high school level.

Anonymous wrote:I highly doubt many hispanics at the FCPS are immigrants, let alone illegal. 95% were probably born here. Their parents, on the other hand, are a different story. So assuming these children are US citizens, damn right they are entitled to a public school education regardless of their parents' choices.

Cry me a river. 140 mil in debt, and we have to educate anchor babies. Laws were made to be amended, and the anchor baby law needs to go.

(However, I totally agree with your post. They should def. know English at this point. If they weren't catered to so much with everything written in Spanish, it might help. No one posted signs in Italian or German everywhere, to cater to my ancestors. And for that I'm proud; as well as the fact that they were legal immigrants.)

Anonymous wrote:Whether these children are hear legally or not, they are taking a lot of resources. Why are there so many high school ESOL teachers in this county? If these children have been living here, shouldn't they know English by then? It typically takes a student 1-2 years to learn English.

Seems to be taking longer for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You Virginians are no better than Arizonans. You don't ask why construction on your McMansions is so cheap or why a sandwich costs $6 here, instead of what it costs in Europe. You are happy to pay these low prices that exist because there are people who will accept low wages. Then when the houses are all built, they suddenly are seen as a liability. You all go to church, but you don't have an ounce of Christian charity.

The fact that our house was (a) not cheap and (b) had severe enough electrical issues three times to cause sparks and smoke tells me that I am NOT grateful for those builders hire under the table. My husband was able to re-wire and fix all the problems, which were very simple fixes but VERY hazardous. He's always on the look-out for symptoms of other issues.

These people broke the law. Charity has nothing to do with it.

Exactly. I will not buy a crappy house built by crap people who are here because they broke our immigration laws.

This is why DD is in spanish immersion - el salvodorian spanish immersion. She won't be the lone idiot not able to speak spanish.