The second budget meeting was on February 4. I missed most of these meeting, so just have a few notes from this one. Click through for meager notes.
The second budget meeting was on February 4. I missed most of these meeting, so just have a few notes from this one. Click through for meager notes.
Salary Freeze and Cut in Health Insurance costs needed
The governor of Vermont stated this month that teachers should agree to a 3 percent pay cut as all public employees in Vermont have already agreed to. In Nevada, there are cries for a 4 percent teacher pay cut. I am sure other states are doing the same. The Empire Center for New York State Public Policy stated that New York state teachers take a two-year pay freeze. Even the New York State School Boards Association is urging local boards to look hard at salaries and benefits and limit them.
The NECSD pays a good salary that rises above what the average tax paying household makes. Blue color and professional families are dealing with layoffs and loss of income. Retirees have seen their savings and investments take a dive. My grandparents no longer get 4-5% interest on CD savings and are dipping into their savings to pay their taxes. Many of these people pay a good sum of their income or savings to maintain health insurance. So why is the NECSD continuing to offer pay raises and pay over 90% for outstanding medical coverage?
There will be screams of program cuts, personnel layoffs, larger class sizes, all resulting in lowering the quality of education. The board will tell us that the state has decreased their funding of districts. Yet at the very same time, this same board says yes to pay raises for all district employees, continues to fund medical benefits that make no sense to anyone in the private sector, and acts as though it is the best they can do; this illogical arguement is not acceptable any longer. It is no longer business as usual. The taxpayers cannot afford it. The state is broke and TAX INCREASES are UNACCEPTABLE!
All we ask is BOE and the teachers step up and take a two-year pay freeze, contribute 20-30% to a medical plan and that the board make other cuts in the non essential programs to bring in a budget with no tax increases.
PS please do not pull a "no tax increase budget" like last year that cost us 5-7% more in taxes. No more excuses.
Educators' salaries up 5 percent
Poughkeepsie article at http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100225/NEWS/2250334/Educato...
Highlights -
" Salaries for teachers and administrators in New York rose 5 percent in the 2008-09 school year from the previous year, including a 19 percent jump for employees making more than $100,000 a year, according to a report Wednesday from the conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy."
"It shows that, one, school districts are locked into expensive contracts, but it also shows that they really haven't done much to reduce their expenditures at a time when New York has plunged into a recession," said Lise Bang-Jensen, a senior policy analyst at the Empire Center."
"Carl Korn, a spokesman for the New York State United Teachers union, said the median salary for a teacher is about $62,000 a year."
"The Journal's Albany bureau reported this month that the number of state employees making more than $100,000 a year in 2009 grew to 23,685 workers, up 16 percent from 2008."
The database, along with other public-employee information, can be found at www.seethroughny.net
A $60K NSD teacher costs Taxpayers $121,000+ w/all the extras
Until the BOE and the public can get schools costs back in line, the kids will be the ones impacted, as programs are reduced and class sizes increased to offset the decreased aid; continued property taxe INCREASES will not be acceptable or sustainable anymore and school boards know that.
Consider the TOTAL COSTS of the $60M average teacher salary -that is $6M per month for 10 months or $72M on a 12 month basis.
Prorating a 6 hour day you get an hourly rate of $50/hr or $104M/yr..before benefits.
Add 95% taxpayer provided health insurance another $11M and
9% retirement contribution(another $6M)
and your Average $60M employee really is making, costing the NSD taxpayer $121,000. And that only assumes a 40 hr week
Add that does not include sick days off (sub pay), dental insurance, FICA, Medicare and such incidental costs
Union Contracts Need Trimming - MEMO to Public Employees
To All public; teachers, police, clerical.DPW, etc... employees
From The TaxPayers
Re Employment
You have a job. It pays well with benefits of all kinds. Sick pay, vacation pay, etc. Stop asking for more. Many of us do not have the same, many are hurting economically.
Your union leadership and union reps are leading you down the path of selfishness and greed. Stop and think..is this worth being labeled selfish weasles?
Well Said
"Finally, there were reminders from Bowles and Assistant Superintendent of Finance Pacella that the Board really needs to make decisions now in order to meet the expected requirement to accomplish cuts in the amount of $8m."
This is looking like 2009, a dysfunctional BOE unable to do their homework to seriously come to consensus about the absolute priorities and make the needed cuts. Listen to the taxpayers instead of the special interests and your egos. Put aside your ideaology and get real with the fact that Albany is broke. And don't look to the local property taxpayer to fork over any more dollars.
The money well is dry in Albany and at homes. You were lected to represent the taxpayer to do the best with what we can afford. Don't ask for more. Education doesn't need more dollars it needs more dedication and inspiration to do the same with less $$$ - just like we are doing at home.
The BOE needs to listen to Struggling Taxpayers FIRST
After reading about this site in the Mid Hudson Times I am happy to read there are others in the NECSD who are fed up with the rising taxes and increase spending in these very difficult times. I am tired of hearing school staff claiming that they need to tax us more for the sake of the students. I interrpret this as code for "save our jobs!" I am also fed up with board members, namely retired teachers and elite parents who expect me to fund their special interests. It is unfortunate most people do not vote or run for office and thus we get stuck with people who care little about the general public's present economic difficulties - loss of jobs, less income, and less savings.
Allow me to introduce my family's situation to put a human "face" on who is effected by thew BOE's rising property taxes -
My husband was laid off in early 2009. His unemployment extension will be cut off in May. When our two young kids are out of school my husband will have to stay at home and pass up even a minimum wage job.
School staffs and the BOE justify raising our taxes to pay raises, full health benefits and a pension because the teachers and administrators have degrees. I’m making just over $15.00 an hour working in an office, 52 weeks a year and I HAVE a degree! I also pay $4000 of my health insurance and can’t afford to fund a pension.
I am angry with the BOE for their lack of determination to cut $8MILLION from a $200+MILLION BUDGET (that's a 4% cut or 4 cents of every dollar). Enough with the argument “raise taxes for the kids.” My husband and I struggle feeding, clothing and housing our growing kids and pay the school taxes ON LESS and with more than a 4% cut in spending. Schools can educate my kids with less tax dollars by cutting and holding taxes to ZERO - How about it …”Cut the budget, keep taxes to zero increase and do it for the struggling homeowner, parents, grandparents, and businesses ”
Schools [Board] must brace for cuts -Poughkeepsie Jtnl Editorial
Excerpts -
"Really, all we can go on is the worst-case scenario," said Pine Plains school board President Helen McQuade.
"The districts are going to have to be aggressive about keeping spending down, about not filling some vacancies when they occur especially on the administrative level and about looking for ways to consolidate and merge services as much as possible. In that last regard, the culture of the education system has to improve, greatly."
"Most districts were receiving record levels of state-aid increases before the economy sputtered, and New York still ranks among the highest states in the nation in terms of spending per pupil.
Belt-tightening is necessary"
the entire editorial is found at - http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100225/OPINION01/2250306/10...
Cut administration too
Maybe it's time to look at how much cash this district is spending to pay for jobs for out of touch administrators and the relatives they've given employment to, as well as teachers who are not doing their jobs. We should also be asking how much this school district is paying for parents who are not meeting their responsibilities. Parents are talking about pulling their kids out of public school because of safety issues. Why should we be paying for the people who won't do their jobs as parents and then have to turn around and send our kids to private school to make sure they're safe? Then I hear how all of this is "exaggerated" and the truth is, if you have kids in the district, you know its not just by what they tell you about how their day went. My kids are always talking about this kid or that kid that is holding their whole classroom up because of problems they create, and my kids are not innocent, but when they cut up at school they sure hear about it at home. Other parents, they're threatening lawsuits if their kid gets into trouble. The halls and cafeterias and common areas are ridiculous. And don't get me started on the bus system. There are so many parents that won't even put their kids on the buses we're paying for anymore! We're busy "rehabilitating" without enough "face the consequences" discipline, the old fashioned kind, where kids actually had to respect the school and the principal. Principals are busy trying to appease parents when they should be setting an example for parents, as in, the adults are supposed to be the ones in charge. How much administrative time is spent having to handle this nonsense, and why aren't the administrators following through on the discipline end of it? This costs the district too. I'm not going to blame this on the teachers alone. My kids have had teachers of all sorts, the kind that give 150% and the kind that are just showing up to pick up a paycheck. In my mind, that kind of inconsistency is a reflection on administration more than anything else. Finally, the waste in this district is huge. The amount of paper that has come home in my kids' backpacks over the years is ridiculous. How many book changes get made? Does everyone realize changing textbooks costs mega cash? How many books just get dumped? And now they're talking about changing the math program and buying more books? I've had to hire tutors for my kids in math several times and there have been changes in the math program over and over. I don't think changing a book or the math program is going to fix it. The problem does not need more changes and more purchases. It doesn't need more people hired to sit around and look at "curriculum" and get special jobs to fix it. If we have good teachers, then the teachers should know how to teach math without throwing more money at it and I know some of my kids' best teachers just stuck with the old ways of teaching while the district "experimented". The teachers need to be able to teach though and not spend half the classtime trying to get their students under control. It needs people actually doing their job, from parents to teachers, to admininstrators to superintendents (how many assistant superintendents and specialists do we have now?) We need to look at ALL of the waste and then people might wonder just how serious Newburgh really is about cutting spending. Sitting around ranting about public service jobs is all well and good, but there are more fish to fry in this district.
All Costs Need Review, Salaries Make up 70-80% of those costs
The writer is correct that waste is huge. Freinds and family members are employed as a courtesy and many do nothing to the educational needs.
True, the many schools are infected with dysfunctional families and equally dysfunctional school personel - it is a zoo! Given the dysfunctional state of the welfare state known as the city of Newburgh, its city council and govt in general it is understandable that classrooms are held hostage by such dysfunctional behavior. The bottom line is that all of this craziness is costing all taxpayers millions of wasted tax dollars both in grants to church based and other social programs and public programs. After decades of tax dollars have made little, at best, in the quality of life for the city, its citizens and those attending the public schools. The district needs to take a firmer, no excuses upper hand if it is to gain any respect.
QUESTION - why do so many Newburgh staff send their children to Fostertown and Balmville schools? Check it out...
As for reducing the budget, and thus property taxes; cutting back on textbooks, paper and supplies will help, but not the same as personell cuts. As noted in another post staff - administrators, teachers, clerks and aides make up over 70% or 70 cents of every tax dollar. You can save a few hundred thousand with cuts in supplies, but will need to cut those 1600+ school family and freinds to save millions and thus reduce the property tax burden.