Schools

Community Members Speak Out About Tentative Budget, Teachers' Contract

Hundreds attended the special meeting Monday night.

Hundreds of parents, teachers and community members came out Monday night to voice their opinions on the terms of the tentative 2010-2011 school district budget and the proposed teachers' contract.

Tensions were high at the special meeting, which was scheduled late last week after the district learned that Gov. Chris Christie's state aid cuts would leave them with a $3.4 million deficit in the budget. School board members spent the weekend working to try to alter the budget to make up for that loss.

The proposed teachers' contract was agreed upon in late February, prior to the state aid loss, but after many months of negotiations between the school board and teachers' union. The main factors of the proposal included a 3.9 percent increase for union salaries in 2009-2010 and a 3.5 percent increase for 2010-2011; all employees contributing $250 toward their health care premium; the elimination of the Etna HMO health care option; additional lunchtime supervision; and a reduction of daytime teacher conferences to three days from four.

The evening was supposed to start with the Board of Education's vote on that proposed contract. But after Fanwood School Board candidate Michael Lewis argued that it was difficult for the public to know whether the contract was fair when they hadn't yet seen how it would impact the tentative budget, the school board decided to go into executive session for 15 minutes, then came back and upheld a tabling of the vote until after the budget presentation.

Claps filled the room from some of the parents and community members in attendance.

The tentative budget, as presented by Business Administrator Anthony Del Sordi, would make up for the $3.4 million deficit by spreading the burden three ways — a third to taxpayers, a third toward reducing operational costs and a third toward additional staff reductions. About $1 million of that would be passed on to taxpayers, and the other $2.3 million would be accounted for through budget reductions. On Monday night, Del Sordi laid out a guide for where about half of those reductions would come from, including 10 expected layoffs, but noted that the other $1.2 million would likely come through other salary and benefit reductions. If all of that was met through additional layoffs, he said, it would be the equivalent of a loss of 25 teachers. The tentative budget presented was created with the terms of the proposed teachers' contract in mind.

Armed with that information, some community members said they felt the board should go back to the negotiating table with the teachers' union rather than pass a contract that, while fair to those who agreed upon it, would lead to layoffs of some of those workers.

"I haven't had a raise in four years," one woman said. "I'd rather not have as many state employees be given the choice to get a raise and have several people get laid off."

"To get a 3.9 percent raise this year and pay only $250 a year for health benefits is totally unacceptable," another woman said. "While this was wonderful on February whatever (the date the terms were negotiated), it's not so wonderful now. You're asking us to pay more in taxes and they're paying $250 a year for health insurance? Let's make this a compromise for everybody."

Others voiced support of the teachers' contracts, stating that it was only fair to grant the teachers what had been agreed upon after months of negotiations, even if the terms did come prior to the district's significant loss in state aid.

"I think it's a shame that every three years the board and the teachers have this fight," one Fanwood woman said. "It's the governor's fault this is happening, not our teachers."

"You and the teachers negotiated in good faith," another said. "Do you really want to go back and create a conflict?"

A lot of the discussion Monday night had community members comparing the teachers' demands to the realities of the corporate sector, with parents pointing out that they're paying several hundred dollars a month for health insurance and receiving no pay raises.

"Does this mean when the economy gets better and you all get raises you're going to say 'all you teachers should get more money?'" McGinn teacher Donna Bachi asked later in the meeting. "None of us think we get paid what we should, corporate or not."

Concerns also centered on the potential for class size increases, cuts to special education and other direct impacts to the learning environment for the children.

Board members noted that it's always been their priority to make sure their decisions touch the classrooms last.

A local resident who also works as a Westfield teacher said he felt the real need was for reform on both sides.

"My fear is that this will be the end result when it needs to be the beginning," he said. "I'm calling out for change on both sides. I say to my union friends, 'something has to change.'"

The man went on to say the real "virus" is a state aid system that allows school districts like Elizabeth's to receive significantly more state funding, at the expense of district's like Scotch Plains-Fanwood's.

While board members Betty Anne Woerner, Nancy Bauer and Donald Parisi were required to vote yes on the contract since they signed off on it as members of the negotiations team, they still stated Monday that they felt it was the right thing to do.

"I want to make sure everybody understands that we have a lot to be proud of," Parisi said. "Before we had the opportunity to ratify this, we had a state aid earthquake. Things have changed, but when this was negotiated it was the right thing to do, so I'm going to vote yes for this."

Claps filled the room from the teachers in attendance.

Fanwood Board Member Rob O'Connor, who was the only board member to publicly state why he was voting against the teachers' contract, said he could not in good conscience vote for something that could possibly lead to such layoffs. The vote ultimately came down to him, Board President Trip Whitehouse and members Amy Winkler and Karen Kulikowski voting against it, while David Gorbunoff, Donald Parisi, Nancy Bauer and Betty Anne Woerner voted for it.

The teachers have been working under the terms of their old contract since it expired last June 30, and both sides acknowledged Monday night that the agreements reached on the proposal were a big step forward in the work of both parties.

Prior to the vote, the Scotch Plains Fanwood Education Association President, Dominick Giordano, said: "Recognize that we're all on a path going in the same direction. That's never happened here in negotiations. It's our challenge, but we have to be realistic, we have to be better, not bitter, and acknowledge the growth we've made. I bet my savings that if this contract is voted down, everyone in this room's taxes are still going to go up."

The budget, as proposed, had taxes increases by $295 in Scotch Plains and $440 in Fanwood. In total, taxpayer dollars made up $74,967,662 of the $80,958,048 budget.

While one parent in attendance questioned why the district didn't feel empowered to ask for a bigger tax increase, President Whitehouse said the board recognized the people were hurting and that a significant increase had the potential to be voted down in the April 20 election and vetoed by the county superintendent.

Del Sordi noted that negotiations are still ongoing with unions for principals, supervisors and custodial maintenance staff. Now that the teachers' union must go back to the table with the board, he said, any changes could potentially impact how many teachers get laid off.


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