At the October Newburgh School District BOE meeting last night
- There were several public comments on the basketball coach selection process and the Bunce suspension. Turnout was large, maybe 125+, YNN and THRecord were covering the meeting. There was also a protest going on just before the meeting at the parking lot which the BOE and administrators use.
- Matthew Brown was appointed boys varsity basketball coach.
- The BOE voted to hire a consultant for up to $10K to work on a search for an Executive Principal for NFA.
- Pay increases were approved for "central office administration" and "non-represented confidential/managerial staff."
- After an executive session four HR items that had been tabled during the meeting were approved. These included revision to the 2011-2012 Annual Professional Performance Review Plan and an addendum to the Superintendent's contract.
Thank you!
I would just like to thank everyone who stated how disgusted they are with the pay raises given to central office admin. Every comment mentions how important TA's are to the children and how if there were addt'l funds, TA's would be called back. As a TA that was let go, I really appreciated reading these comments knowing that we are missed.
Why the secret?
"Pay increases were approved for "central office administration" and "non-represented confidential/managerial staff."
C'mon BOE come clean, who are the specific individuals getting these raises and how much is each getting? Isn't there anyone on the board with the morals and ethics of public service to be transparent with how the public funds are being spent and for whom?
And why spend $10K for a consultant? for an "executive" principal? What is the superintendent's excuse? His inability to take the time to find and interview such a person? Or repeat what he learned from the last search - spread some money out to some consultant friends?
Salaries Yes, But what about Rising Benefit Costs
The budget problems and staff cutbacks are not just about how to fund pay raises, but also to pay for the rising costs of benefits.
When will all staff and retirees from the Super on down do the right thing and contribute 25% toward their health insurance premiums. That is one area that is costing taxpayers more and more each year. School district costs for a family plan are about $17,000 a year per employee. It does not take a CPA to figure that if all staff contributed 25% or about $4000 that would save taxpayers and still leave enough to higher back the TAs.
Currently staff are paying about 8-9% while the general public is contributing 25 - 50% toward their health insurance costs and taking no pay raises. Many residents have even taken a loss in salary, but still must pay increasing health insurance costs and school taxes.
Pension costs are set by the state, but all qualifying staff pay only 0-3.5% toward their pension. Again the general public contributes up to 50% toward their own pensions, mostly 401Ks or the like. Again this increasing cost, now about 12% for this year is adding to the continued rise in school taxes.
To summerize; The BOE fires TAs to fund health and pension benefits along with raises including the teachers in Jan 2012 and NECSD continues to remain on the DINI for close to ten years and getting worse.
the real problem?
Maybe the real problem isn't that teachers who are just getting by (not administrators or teachers at the top of the pay scale... most teachers are not making anything close to 6 figures) don't want to take a major pay cut to pay for skyrocketing health benefits but the fact that the cost of health benefits in this country are skyrocketing in the first place. Why is the cost of benefits skyrocketing at such a rapid rate? Isn't that the real problem? Some would just rather blame teachers for stuff they have no control over though
How Many? the real problem?
Regarding the statement, "most teachers are not making anything close to 6 figures) "
According to SeeThroughNy.com and a more recently released database of NYS teachers' salaries for the 20110-2011 school year - http://rocdocs.democratandchronicle.com/database/educator-salaries-new-y...
1.The number of NECSD teachers making $100,000 - $186,000 is about 225 teachers
2. The number of NECSD teachers making $90,000 - $186,000 is about 425 teachers
3. The number making more than $79,000 is about 725 teachers
4. The number making more than $75,000 is about 825 teachers
That is a lot of teachers making a salary "close to 6 figure figures" and a lot more making a 6 digit salary. Let's talk about raising those health contribution rates for all staff and retirees and help get back those TAs and save the taxpayers a few bucks!
re: How Many...
Your numbers are a bit off because the data includes many positions besides teachers. On the first page of the democratandchronicle output (125k-186k), nearly every entry is either an administrator, principal, AP, or director. Still, I think you have a point. (In ballpark numbers there are around 1100 teachers, 200 teaching assistants, 100 administrators, and 450 CSEA in the district.)
How Many Reply2
The list does include the staff as you describe. The website shows that many full time Newburgh school employees are getting a salary close to and including the six figure level. These salaries are typical for like-professionals and semi-professionals for this area according to the US Census. What is not typical today are the yearly raises, however they are given.
Getting health insurance is also not so typical today for professional and semi-professional employees. Nor is having the employer or taxpayer, pay over 90% of the premium in this area for employees and retirees.
According to the website, http://www.statehealthfacts.org/index.jsp , 60% of New York employers offer full health insurance to their employees. Nearly 50% of all New Yorkers receive employer provided health insurance. The average 2010 annual employee contribution in NY for single coverage is 21%; for family coverage the contribution is 25%. In the case of the NECSD employee the contribution is 8-9% for single or family coverage and none for retirees.
The bottom line made in some of these posts still appears valid. Pay raises, increasing pension costs and health benefits including the medicare disbursement for retirees are increasingly consuming too much of the overall budget and rising taxes. That leaves less monies to employ TAs and support needed materials and programs that prove to benefit so many failing students.
Smoke and mirrors is not an arguement, but a distraction.
Let's make this simple. Take two local families each earning a household income of $60,000 a year. One is a public employee, a NECSD teacher. The other works in the private sector. Both have been employed for over 10 years.
The NECSD teacher pays 10%(rounded up) for family health insurance premium costs or approx $1800
The private employee pays approx 25% for the same family health insurance premium or $4500
The NECSD teacher (Tier 1-4) pays 0% toward their NYSTR pension or $0 (None paid after 10 years of 3.0% contributions)
The private employee pays $2000 toward an employee/employer 401K retirement plan
The NECSD has a net income of $58,200 and the private employee has a net income of $53,500.
The NECSD teacher and other staff members and retirees are in a much better position to pay for all the other essentials thanks to the rising property taxes of their neighbors paying for their pension and health insurance premiums.
Now if you and the union want to find the means to lower health costs and insurance premiums you have many out here to support your efforts. But in the meantime let's be honest and admit that many public employees are getting pension and health benefits that are out of line with the current economic realities.
$10K for a one time hiring consultation?!?
They are putting up as much as $10,000 just to pay a consultant to help them hire a new principal?!? Is it April Fools Day?
I don't understand why they
I don't understand why they need $10,000 to hire a consultant. I hope this does not end up like the superident's search. Lets spend thousands of dollars to hire an consulant and in the end, we will just hire one our own. This makes no senses and is clearly a waste of money. This money should be towards bringing positions back that were cut fom the budget.
Is this the same consulting
Is this the same consulting company that recommended the district hire the person who already had the job for Superintendent. If so, let's save the money and time and hire...
re: is this the same...
This is a different consultant.
And there was never any indication that the consultant firm that worked on the superintendent search, School Leadership, LLC, made such a recommendation to the board.
Here's a link to posts on the superintendent search of 2011.
new math
A deficit of 15 million + a district in need of improvement + layoffs last year for Reading Teachers and TAs = raises for the people furthest away from the classroom.
Central Admin Pay raises
How can the Central Administration justify pay raises when Teachers and Teaching Assistants were layed off to reduce the annual budget. All but 3 schools in the district are on the state's SINI list which means we need staff who have direct pupil contact to make a difference for our students. Instead we now have kindergarten classrooms with 28 students and first grade classrooms with 1/2 time shared teaching assistants. How can student scores improve if class size increases and there is less help in the classroom? Research shows that class size has a large impact on student achievement, even beyond other intervention services. If there was not enough money in the budget to pay teaching assistants whose salaries are less than $30,000., how is there now enough money to increase the salary of those who have no pupil contact at all, and have salaries over $100,000. The Board of Education should have looked harder at this decision after making the cuts to the budget last year. The morale of staff in the district is faltering, as we are being asked to do more with less and more edicts are being given by Central Administration with little regard for the impact on staff and students.
Pay increase
I can't believe Central Adminstartion can give themselves raises and we contract to hold any steps until January. People were hired back, but as I recall Teaching Assistants were suppose to be the first thing replaced when they found money. Only two were hired back. When will the Board ever think about the students? They can blame only themselves for us being a "school in need of". These kids don't stand a chance in this district right now.
Central Office Administration Raises
I am astounded that a pay raise for administrators was approved. Exactly who is getting a raise? Many of the central office administrators are fairly new to the district. Didn't the teachers postpone the step increase until January 2012 and have no additional raise? You can be sure that my next vote for BOE members will be against all the present BOE members. It is hard to trust these people when classrooms are crowded, supplies limited, technology outdated but they vote to raise the salaries of some of our existing "top heavy" administrators.
Central Office Administration Raises
I am truly astounded that a raise was approved for the Central Office Administrators when CSEA has taken a zero raise for the past two years to avoid massive layoffs of our work force.
Where is the good faith in this school district??
When the lowest paid employees of the school district give up a raise to save jobs, the highest paid employees should at least do the same in good conscience.
I am truly disappointed.