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Pay freeze could save Lakota schools $5 million next year

Community members: All must brace for district’s cuts

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By Lindsey Hilty, Staff Writer 5:04 PM Wednesday, March 10, 2010

LIBERTY TWP. — Lakota Local Schools officials may have avoided a teacher strike last year, but for some, memories of a chanting mob marching across a field into a school board meeting have not faded.

Whether voters decide to pass a May levy could depend on the outcome of contract negotiations from the district’s two unions, slated to begin in the next few weeks.

Community members who have spoken at recent board meetings are calling for district employees to take a pay freeze.

“I think our teachers are worth every penny we pay them and, in many cases, are probably worth more than we pay them,” said Nora Rubinoff, organizer of Lakota Bands United.

However, she said people are dealing with higher health care costs, pay cuts and job losses. If employees took a pay freeze, she said it will be a goodwill gesture to the community.

The board of education recently voted to slash the operating budget by nearly $6 million to close a $28 million projected deficit by 2012. Salaries and benefits make up 80 percent of the budget, and are predominantly negotiated items.

According to Treasurer Craig Jones, a freeze of step and cost of living raises for one year for teachers would save the district $5 million next year.

“Taking a pay freeze doesn’t mean that anybody loses money or loses benefits,” Rubinoff said. “It simply means they get to keep their jobs and make the same amount of money next year as they did this year. Employment beats unemployment every day.”

Parent John Trygier said along with state budget cuts and increased enrollment, contracts are a part of the cause of the district’s financial crisis.

“The increases in the raises in the past history just can’t be sustained anymore,” he said. “Nobody’s gotten that level of raise in the past year that I know of.”

Like many community members, he said the district must look at cuts in all areas. He suggested students walk farther to bus stops, parents pay more for extracurricular activities and teachers pay  10 percent more on healthcare.

“I think a lot of these things need to be looked at and be on the table for cuts before we start cutting programs and teachers and staff and increasing classroom size,” he said

Lakota District Parent Council speaks out

Members of Lakota’s District Parent Council are suggesting Lakota district employees take a pay freeze and keep bargaining out of the classroom.

These volunteers who represent each of Lakota’s 22 buildings say they work countless hours making photo copies, planning class parties, chaperoning field trips and organizing fundraisers without asking for anything in return.

But, in light of last year’s near teacher strike and a looming $28 million projected deficit, they said it is time to call in a favor.

“Flat funding is not working in Lakota,” DPC member Julie Leonard said of state funding. “Everyone knows that. And, this is the right thing for our teachers and our union to do.”

Not only would it help an immediate financial concern, she said, it would build bridges in the community and improve attitudes toward the union, which publicly battled the district last year for raises and low health care costs.

“To me, it’s just really important the teachers understand what they have here in Lakota is not just a good job and quality schools, but they have a community and parents that support them in a way that a lot of school districts don’t have,” Leonard said.

In return, parents expect excellence in the classroom, but also a connection with students and families — many of whom are hurting financially, she said. Without concessions, that goodwill, she said, would suffer. To ask for raises again would appear “short cited and selfish,”

“If the levy doesn’t pass because this creates ill will in the community, chances are there will be further cuts and even more job losses,” she said.

Learning from past negotiations

Last year’s negotiation experience, which Leonard said often carried over into the classroom, left a “sour taste” in her mouth and that of other parents. Some of the letters from DPC members commented on the discomfort teachers caused with their “Together We Can” shirts, prominent during the last negotiations.

“It feels like our children are being manipulated when the shirts are being worn months before negotiations are to begin,” one parent wrote. “These shirts may be spirit wear for your meetings, but they are not to many that visit your buildings while you are teaching their children. Just as parents should not burden children with adult problems of money, insurance and employment — neither should teachers. When you take away a child’s security, it changes who they are.”

DPC member Angie Fogarty, a nurse of 18 years, said she wrote a letter because she did not receive a raise this year and was asked to double her health insurance costs. The argument that teachers are underpaid doesn’t garner sympathy in this economy, she said.

“I think that they don’t realize what the rest of the world and the working force does and how unreasonable their thinking. Yes, they may not make more than a corporate CEO, but I have a Bachelor’s degree and make less than them and don’t get their retirement and benefits.”

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Cuts Q & A

Q: Why can’t Lakota officials make across-the-board cuts to salaries?

A: All salaries, benefits and time worked are contracted issues and must be negotiated, school officials said.

Q: How much has been cut from the budget?

A: Superintendent Mike Taylor said $11 million has been cut since 2008, including recent permanent cuts of $4.49 million and temporary cuts of $1.4 million

Q: If jobs are eliminated, which employees will be out of work?

A: The staff with least seniority are the first to be cut, and the ones in the cut positions will shift to other areas of employment, LEA President Judy Buschle said. So, 5.5 school nurse positions will be cut next year, but those with least seniority will be the ones to lose their jobs. Other positions cut include five literacy coaches, two k-1 gifted teachers, 1.25 elementary counselors, 18.5 elementary classroom teachers, 2.4 elementary band teachers, 5.3 kindergarten art/music teachers, 0.5 unified arts teachers, one junior school technology education teacher, two junior school media specialists, 1.6 junior band teachers, 0.4 junior school art teachers, two high school business education teachers, one high school counselor, one high school media specialist and eight high school classroom teachers.

Q: Will cafeteria aides now work as school nurse aides?

A: Non-instructional aides include media, cafeteria and clinic aides. 8.25 non-instructional aide positions were cut, so those with the least seniority will lose their jobs while those with the most seniority may be retrained for other positions within those three groups, Lakota Support Staff Association President Vanessa Reece said.

Q: What other staff cuts were made?

A: Board members approved the following cuts: 7 preschool instructional aides, 7.5 custodians, reduced contract days for secretaries, 23 assistant coaches, district athletic director and two assistant athletic directors.

»For more Q&A, visit PulseJournal.com

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