Budget deficit looms, but teachers not interested in giving up plastic surgery

Teachers in Buffalo are able to get free plastic surgery – there is no co-pay, and it ends up costing the Buffalo School District $5.9 million each year. (AP Photo/File)

Teachers in Buffalo have great benefits thanks to their union, but Dori thinks there are concessions these teachers should make outright.

Namely, plastic surgery. Teachers in Buffalo are able to get free plastic surgery – there is no co-pay, and it ends up costing the Buffalo School District $5.9 million each year.

The president of Buffalo’s school board told Today’s THV that if they could spend that $5.9 million somewhere else, he would hire 240 more teachers.

“It’s baffling to me that people say we don’t pay enough in taxes, when you hear about stuff like this,” said 97.3 KIRO FM’s Dori Monson. “Across the country, teachers are getting laid off, but in Buffalo, NY, they get anything they want – on the taxpayer.”

What qualifies as “anything?” – any plastic surgery procedure, mostly cosmetic, including hair removal, liposuction, breast augmentations, and botox.

Buffalo must have either the ugliest teachers or, now, the most gorgeous teachers, thought Dori. According to Jake, who had watched a report featuring teachers that made use of their plastic surgery benefits, the teachers of Buffalo weren’t gorgeous, even post-surgery, they weren’t gorgeous.

The Buffalo School District is now facing a $42 million budget deficit and the teachers union has said it would be willing to give up the plastic surgery benefits, but that will likely come with its own price. It will need to be a part of contract negotiations, a representative of the teachers union said, and they’re not willing to give up plastic surgery benefits “unilaterally.”

So Dori tried his best to sympathize with the teachers. “These poor, hairy teachers in Buffalo.”

By ALYSSA KLEVEN, MyNorthwest.com Editor