“At a special board meeting held on March 22, the Longmeadow Select Board approved a town budget of $51,389,100; a reduction of $385,775 from the current year’s spending level. This budget, which reflects a 4% decrease in state aid and the anticipated reduction of other local receipts, will be put before town residents at the Longmeadow Annual Town Meeting on May 11.” [press release, 3/23/10].
The FY11 budget process which has been followed on the Longmeadow Buzz since November when the Tri-Board (School Committee, Select Board and Finance Committee) met has been very difficult. Many budget cuts have been proposed and then restored by both the School Committee and Select Board after careful analysis and feedback from public forums. During this budget process a Select Board initiative toward creating a more sustainable budget was not very successful and next year’s budget will likely meet similar difficulties.
Below are a few short video clips (courtesy of LCTV) from last night’s special SB meeting which provide an overview of various SB member’s positions on the current budget.
The first video clip is Mark Gold explaining his proposal to balance the budget while maintaining as many important town services as possible. His long hours of work to “drill down” into the budget details with Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk, Town Manager Robin Crosbie and others were key to achieving the balanced budget that was approved at last night’s SB meeting.
The second clip is Rob Aseltine “thanking” Mark Gold for diligent work but stating he could not support the budget as proposed because there were insufficient cuts in town side headcount and services and that it did not meet what he felt was the desired sustainability requirement. Without additional town side cuts, the school dept would be severely impacted with their increasing technology and curriculum needs. In this video clip, Mr. Aseltine also suggested that after the June election when the “new board is constituted”, he will launch an important initiative to reduce the town side cost of doing business.
In the next clip Mark Gold provides some additional thoughts on the FY11 budget.
Robin Crosbie- Town Manager shares her thoughts on the issue of “comparable cuts” in budget items. Rob Aseltine had challenged the TM and the SB many times in the past few months suggested that there were insufficient town side headcount reductions as compared to the School Dept. proposal.
This next short clip is Paul Santaniello summarizing his thoughts on the FY11 budget.
The final video clip is that of SB Chair Bobby Barkett commenting on the FY11 budget and expressing some significant reservations that the desired “restructuring” of town government was not achieved and fearing that the state legislature may impart some mid-fiscal year cuts that could be very difficult for our town finances to absorb.
The final vote on the FY11 budget was 3-2 with Gold, Santaniello and Scibelli in favor and Aseltine and Barkett opposed.
Showing posts with label school budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school budget. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Some Tough Choices for our Schools
The Longmeadow School Department and School Committee face some difficult staffing and program decisions in order to meet the expected budget reductions requested by the Town Manager. I attended the Public Forum on the School Department budget that was held this past Monday (2/08/10) to gain a better understanding of the upcoming school budget and its consequences.
Jahn Hart, Longmeadow Superintendent of Schools presented the public forum with a detailed overview of the proposed FY11 school department budget.
Here is a link to the proposed FY11 school dept. budget.
Some of the highlights from this budget presentation included:
Jahn Hart, Longmeadow Superintendent of Schools presented the public forum with a detailed overview of the proposed FY11 school department budget.Here is a link to the proposed FY11 school dept. budget.
Some of the highlights from this budget presentation included:
- The proposed FY11 total school budget is $30.09 million which is a decrease of $1.55 million dollars from FY10. Because of reduced special revenues and mandated increases, total reductions to the school dept general fund were $1.86 million.
- A total of 35.35 positions would be eliminated which is a reduction is ~ 8% of the total staff.
One of the areas for reduction was the elimination of the “pull out” instrumental and choral music program at the elementary school level and elimination of the orchestra music instruction at the middle school level. There was also a reduction of music related staff at the high school which would decrease the number of course offerings. District-wide there would be a total reduction of 2.2 music related positions (out of a total music staff of 10.3).
Most of the public comments during this forum including impressive presentations by numerous middle and high school students as well as parents of music students centered upon the reduction in the music program and related staff. Suggestions by students and parents of a “fee based” music to allow its continuation were rejected by the School Dept since this portion of the music program (different from general music classes) is not allowed because it is a core offering. Obviously, eliminating instrumental and choral music programs elicits a strong emotional reaction.
Below is a video excerpt of the one of these comments that was representative of the objections voiced:
Perhaps, offering of such programs through the Longmeadow Parks and Rec dept as an after-school fee based programs could replace the “pull out” music and choral offerings. In this week’s Reminder, there was an advertisement for the following after school program. Perhaps, we could hold onto these important music related programs through “non-school dept” offerings.
I raised a question about prioritization of cuts and was told that the School Dept and School Committee had developed a priority list of cuts but was not going to make it public. Given that state aid to cities and towns is in flux and subject to change, I think that this information should be publicized so that the public could provide some input to the decision making process. Below is the related Q/A on this subject.
This is only the beginning of a long final budget formation process for FY11. Stay tuned to Longmeadow Buzz for the latest developments and insights.
[video clips provided courtesy of LCTV]
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Longmeadow Teachers Agree to 0% COLA
The Longmeadow School Committee and the Longmeadow Education Association have reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement that provides for a 0% COLA for FY2010 and FY2011. Below is the official press release....
"The Longmeadow School Committee and the Longmeadow Education Association are very pleased to announce that they have reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Association’s approximately 285 teachers, counselors, and specialists. During the negotiations that resulted in this agreement, the Committee and the Association recognized the extraordinary financial challenges facing the District. Although we are in difficult financial times, we all kept our “eyes on the child” and reached an agreement that does not further stress our financial resources. The agreement, which the LEA ratified last week and the School Committee approved this evening, provides for zero percent cost of living adjustments (COLAs) in FY 2010 and 2011, permits a temporary reduction in professional development days over the two-year period, and goes through August 31, 2011. The Committee and the Association are pleased that we have reached an agreement especially at this critical budget time."
Now that this contract has been settled... will the other town employee collective bargaining units without contracts for FY2010 and FY2011 do the same and accept a 0% COLA?
As summarized in a recent post (Tough Times Ahead for Longmeadow- Part IV, 1/10/10) achieving a balanced FY2011 budget will be very difficult with a current projected budget deficit of over $2 million. This agreement to a 0% COLA for FY2010 and FY2011 provides significant financial relief to the town of Longmeadow and allows our town leaders to create a balanced FY2011 budget without the uncertainty of a teachers union collective bargaining agreement.
A large thank you to Longmeadow teachers!
"The Longmeadow School Committee and the Longmeadow Education Association are very pleased to announce that they have reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Association’s approximately 285 teachers, counselors, and specialists. During the negotiations that resulted in this agreement, the Committee and the Association recognized the extraordinary financial challenges facing the District. Although we are in difficult financial times, we all kept our “eyes on the child” and reached an agreement that does not further stress our financial resources. The agreement, which the LEA ratified last week and the School Committee approved this evening, provides for zero percent cost of living adjustments (COLAs) in FY 2010 and 2011, permits a temporary reduction in professional development days over the two-year period, and goes through August 31, 2011. The Committee and the Association are pleased that we have reached an agreement especially at this critical budget time."
Now that this contract has been settled... will the other town employee collective bargaining units without contracts for FY2010 and FY2011 do the same and accept a 0% COLA?
As summarized in a recent post (Tough Times Ahead for Longmeadow- Part IV, 1/10/10) achieving a balanced FY2011 budget will be very difficult with a current projected budget deficit of over $2 million. This agreement to a 0% COLA for FY2010 and FY2011 provides significant financial relief to the town of Longmeadow and allows our town leaders to create a balanced FY2011 budget without the uncertainty of a teachers union collective bargaining agreement.
A large thank you to Longmeadow teachers!
Friday, May 15, 2009
It’s all about the money!
The following are excerpts from an April 30 Longmeadow School Committee PR.
“The Longmeadow School Committee and the Longmeadow Teachers Union have been engaged in “Interest Based Bargaining” since January. As of April 29, a settlement had not been reached and both negotiating teams have agreed to jointly file for mediation with the Division of Labor Relations for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The School Committee is hopeful that with the assistance of a state mediator, the parties will reach resolution on a successor agreement before the August 31 expiration of the current agreement.”
“The School Committee recognizes that the current financial climate makes collective bargaining extremely difficult for both management and the union. The School Department budget, recently approved at Town Meeting, included more than $200,000 in step increases imbedded in the current collective bargaining agreement for the teachers, but did not include additional funds for a cost of living adjustment (COLA). The Committee recognizes that there is a potential $600,000 deficit for the FY2010 budget and that such a deficit will place an even greater strain on the District’s limited resources. In the next two weeks, the School Committee will be taking the difficult action of reducing its workforce for the 2009/2010 school year.”
In the May 14 issue of the Springfield Republican, there was an article about the upcoming SC/ teacher’s union mediation process. Marcia Haar, president of the Longmeadow Education Association, was quoted “These difficult economic times require a level of creativity in negotiations that a mediator should be able to facilitate.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For anyone who has been reading my posts on LongmeadowBuzz, you will know that I believe we as a town need to be realistic as to what we can afford whether it comes to teacher (and other town employee) salaries, building a new high school or repairing our decaying town infrastructure (water/ sewer lines, DPW facility, etc.).
Longmeadow is certainly not isolated from the difficult economic times that the world is now experiencing. The town is receiving significantly less state aid than in previous years and our other revenue sources (auto excise taxes, interest on town deposits, etc.) are down sharply. At the same time some of our expenses, particularly those related to Special Education are escalating at a fast pace.
In the world around us, we are seeing skyrocketing unemployment/ job losses, business bankruptcies, crashing stock markets and collapse of some of our best know financial institutions. For even the most savvy people, financial survival is becoming more and more difficult with every passing day. No one knows for sure when this crisis will be over.
Now back to the subject at hand….Looking from the outside it would appear that one of the key obstacles in these SC/teacher union negotiations is likely related to cost of living adjustments (COLA) and other salary/ benefit considerations that need be factored into the new three year teachers contract.
In other words…. “it’s all about the money!”
From what I understand about the Longmeadow teacher’s contract there are at least three components that make up total teacher compensation. These components include step increases, education credit raises and a COLA.
According to my source the step salary schedule for the current contract ending August 31 provides for an average of ~2.8% for every year up to 15th year.
[It is interesting to note in the SC press release that $200,000 for step increases has been “allocated” in the FY2010 budget. However, at the April 27 Select Board meeting the Finance Committee chairman stated that the current teachers’ contract has ~ $350,000 for step increases. Does that mean that the FY2010 school dept budget as approved at Town Meeting does not include the full allocation of salary step increases and is $150,000 short? How about the allocation of funds for education credit raises in FY2010?]
The current contract provides for teacher advancement of their Masters Degree and education credit raises of ~ 1.5 - 2.7% for every 15 credit hours achieved. Obviously, this salary increase is not achieved every year.
For teachers who have been in the system longer than 15 years and who are approaching retirement there are longevity pay increments during the last three years of employment. The current increment is a $3000 increase for each of the last three years.
In today’s uncertain times, a “no cut” employment contract would appear to be a great job benefit. According to the current contract, notice of termination must be given to a teacher before June 15 otherwise employment is guaranteed until the end of the following school year. There are not many people employed in business today that have such an employment contract. Usually, it is 2 weeks notice or less.
Town Meeting passed the FY2010 budget without provisions for teacher or police/fire COLAs. Each 1% COLA that is agreed to will cost the town ~$300,000/year. Now that the teachers union and SC have initiated mediation, the police and fire unions will likely await the outcome and not be inclined to settle for anything less than what the teachers receive.
It is interesting to note that April Consumer Price Index (CPI) data reported today showed prices were unchanged from March and 0.7% lower than one year ago- the largest 12 month drop since 1955. If this is the case, why is there a need for a “cost of living adjustment”?
As reported at Town Meeting, the town has $2.1 million in its Operational Stabilization Fund (aka “rainy day” fund) which will likely be used to meet any contract financial obligations and to balance the FY2010 budget. Let’s be careful that we do not use all of this money too quickly or else we may find that it is still raining for the next two years or more and we have no easy remedy.
Let me repeat what I said three weeks ago in previous Buzz posting…
"I am hoping that the teachers and town employee unions will agree to a 0% COLA for at least one year. We need all of our town employees and teachers to help maintain the quality of life and education in our town. We also need to recognize the difficult financial circumstances that lie ahead and plan accordingly."
“The Longmeadow School Committee and the Longmeadow Teachers Union have been engaged in “Interest Based Bargaining” since January. As of April 29, a settlement had not been reached and both negotiating teams have agreed to jointly file for mediation with the Division of Labor Relations for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The School Committee is hopeful that with the assistance of a state mediator, the parties will reach resolution on a successor agreement before the August 31 expiration of the current agreement.”
“The School Committee recognizes that the current financial climate makes collective bargaining extremely difficult for both management and the union. The School Department budget, recently approved at Town Meeting, included more than $200,000 in step increases imbedded in the current collective bargaining agreement for the teachers, but did not include additional funds for a cost of living adjustment (COLA). The Committee recognizes that there is a potential $600,000 deficit for the FY2010 budget and that such a deficit will place an even greater strain on the District’s limited resources. In the next two weeks, the School Committee will be taking the difficult action of reducing its workforce for the 2009/2010 school year.”
In the May 14 issue of the Springfield Republican, there was an article about the upcoming SC/ teacher’s union mediation process. Marcia Haar, president of the Longmeadow Education Association, was quoted “These difficult economic times require a level of creativity in negotiations that a mediator should be able to facilitate.”--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For anyone who has been reading my posts on LongmeadowBuzz, you will know that I believe we as a town need to be realistic as to what we can afford whether it comes to teacher (and other town employee) salaries, building a new high school or repairing our decaying town infrastructure (water/ sewer lines, DPW facility, etc.).
Longmeadow is certainly not isolated from the difficult economic times that the world is now experiencing. The town is receiving significantly less state aid than in previous years and our other revenue sources (auto excise taxes, interest on town deposits, etc.) are down sharply. At the same time some of our expenses, particularly those related to Special Education are escalating at a fast pace.
In the world around us, we are seeing skyrocketing unemployment/ job losses, business bankruptcies, crashing stock markets and collapse of some of our best know financial institutions. For even the most savvy people, financial survival is becoming more and more difficult with every passing day. No one knows for sure when this crisis will be over.
Now back to the subject at hand….Looking from the outside it would appear that one of the key obstacles in these SC/teacher union negotiations is likely related to cost of living adjustments (COLA) and other salary/ benefit considerations that need be factored into the new three year teachers contract.
In other words…. “it’s all about the money!”
From what I understand about the Longmeadow teacher’s contract there are at least three components that make up total teacher compensation. These components include step increases, education credit raises and a COLA.
According to my source the step salary schedule for the current contract ending August 31 provides for an average of ~2.8% for every year up to 15th year.
[It is interesting to note in the SC press release that $200,000 for step increases has been “allocated” in the FY2010 budget. However, at the April 27 Select Board meeting the Finance Committee chairman stated that the current teachers’ contract has ~ $350,000 for step increases. Does that mean that the FY2010 school dept budget as approved at Town Meeting does not include the full allocation of salary step increases and is $150,000 short? How about the allocation of funds for education credit raises in FY2010?]
The current contract provides for teacher advancement of their Masters Degree and education credit raises of ~ 1.5 - 2.7% for every 15 credit hours achieved. Obviously, this salary increase is not achieved every year.
For teachers who have been in the system longer than 15 years and who are approaching retirement there are longevity pay increments during the last three years of employment. The current increment is a $3000 increase for each of the last three years.
In today’s uncertain times, a “no cut” employment contract would appear to be a great job benefit. According to the current contract, notice of termination must be given to a teacher before June 15 otherwise employment is guaranteed until the end of the following school year. There are not many people employed in business today that have such an employment contract. Usually, it is 2 weeks notice or less.
Town Meeting passed the FY2010 budget without provisions for teacher or police/fire COLAs. Each 1% COLA that is agreed to will cost the town ~$300,000/year. Now that the teachers union and SC have initiated mediation, the police and fire unions will likely await the outcome and not be inclined to settle for anything less than what the teachers receive.
It is interesting to note that April Consumer Price Index (CPI) data reported today showed prices were unchanged from March and 0.7% lower than one year ago- the largest 12 month drop since 1955. If this is the case, why is there a need for a “cost of living adjustment”?
As reported at Town Meeting, the town has $2.1 million in its Operational Stabilization Fund (aka “rainy day” fund) which will likely be used to meet any contract financial obligations and to balance the FY2010 budget. Let’s be careful that we do not use all of this money too quickly or else we may find that it is still raining for the next two years or more and we have no easy remedy.
Let me repeat what I said three weeks ago in previous Buzz posting…
"I am hoping that the teachers and town employee unions will agree to a 0% COLA for at least one year. We need all of our town employees and teachers to help maintain the quality of life and education in our town. We also need to recognize the difficult financial circumstances that lie ahead and plan accordingly."
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Finance Committee Public Forum
On April 7 I attended a Finance Committee Public Forum about the FY10 budget in order to get a better understanding of the financial difficulties that our town is facing. I was pretty disappointed with the poor attendance for this forum. In addition to the Finance Committee members and Rob Aseltine representing the School Committee, there was a total of two town residents including myself in attendance.
While there was not a formal presentation or overview of the FY10 budget, a number of specific subjects were discussed that provided me with a clearer picture of the financial issues facing the town of Longmeadow.
Below are some highlights from this meeting…
- One of the largest and fastest growing segments of the town budget is the money allocated to Special Education (SPED). According to Rob Aseltine, approximately $10 million out of a total FY2010 budget of ~ $52 million is spent on SPED services and these costs are escalating at a rate of ~ 8-10% year. This increase in SPED costs every year pretty much consumes the allowable 2½% increase in revenues from property taxes. For FY2010, increased property taxes (limited by Proposition 2½) amounted to ~ $1 million over FY2009 vs. $800,000 increase in SPED costs.
- Mr. Aseltine summarized the status of the federal stimulus money that was recently announced by Governor Patrick (see Springfield Republican article). The town of Longmeadow will be receiving approximately $418,000 for use with SPED. According to Mr. Aseltine, 50% of this money must be used for SPED program enhancements while the other 50% could be used for direct SPED costs. According to the news article, 50% of this money was to be disbursed to the towns by the end of April and other 50% in the Fall 2009.
- At this point in the meeting there was considerable debate led by Chair- Mark Barowsky suggesting that at least a portion of this federal grant be allocated to town services since a signficant portion of the SPED program is funded by money from the General Fund. Mr. Aseltine argued that a major portion of this money be “invested” to improve the efficiency of delivering SPED services through the implementation of a new program called “Response to Invention”. RTI is a method of academic intervention used in the United States designed to provide early, effective assistance to children who are having difficulty learning. The ultimate goal would be to at least significantly reduce the rate of change for delivering SPED services.
- It is interesting to note that Robin Crosbie, Town Manager made a similar recommendation about the cost of SPED services in a LongmeadowBuzz commentary last year and was soundly rebuked by members of the Longmeadow School Committee.
Here is an excerpt from her posting....
"Now that I am on the topic of special education, let me say that residents, including parents of special needs students, have expressed concerns to me about the effectiveness and costs of the special education program. No one doubts or disputes the intentions and commitment of the school department to serving these students and families. But it may be time for the town to fund an outside managment study of the organization and effectiveness of pupil services. System assessments, whether of human or capital infrastructure, can be very helpful in seeing the big picture, developing specific remedies and recommending long-term planning and funding.” Robin Crosbie, Town Manager - Combine the increase in SPED costs + the significant reduction in state aid for Longmeadow for both the current FY2009 as well as FY2010, there is no room for salary increases for the town’s 650 employees without a significant reduction in town services. With most of the town employee labor contracts still being negotiated, there is considerable uncertainty about the level of town services for FY2010.
There are no cost of living adjustments (school or town) included with the FY2010 budget to be voted on at next week’s Annual Town Meeting. With town employee and school department teachers contracts expiring in June and August, there is a potential increase in overall costs of $300,000 with every % increase in COLA.
The Longmeadow School Committee is meeting next Monday night (April 27) in executive session to discuss “strategy with respect to collective bargaining”. Is it possible that all or a portion of the $417,000 in federal stimulus money will be used by the School Committee will be used to provide a COLA adjustments to the teacher’s contract?
I am hoping that the teachers and town employee unions will agree to a 0% COLA for at least one year. We need our town employees and teachers to help maintain the quality of life and education in our town. We also need to recognize the difficult financial circumstances that lie ahead and plan accordingly.
Everyone should plan to attend the Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 PM in the Longmeadow HS gymnasium.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Reality Check
Below are some recent news headlines that paint a pretty dreary near term local economic future....
click here to read full story
click here to read full story online
Recent cutbacks in state aid by Governor Patrick (see previous LongmeadowBuzz blog postings) to Massachusetts cities and towns are strongly related to the worldwide recession and appear to be getting worse. In October, Gov. Patrick reduced FY09 spending by over 1 billion dollars and just recently announced additional large cutbacks in aid to cities and towns for both FY09 and FY10. My guess is that we haven't seen the whole story and more cuts should be anticipated.
Because of this trend in the global economy I believe that at least in the short term (next 1-2 years) the finances of Longmeadow will be stretched to the limit. Many of us have already reacted in our personal finances by significantly reducing spending and building contingency plans (increased savings, etc...) for financial survival.
This week's vote by the School Committee on the FY10 school budget ($31.2 million) and reported in this week's Longmeadow News highlighted the need for 11 staff layoffs in order to meet the FY10 budget guidelines set by the Select Board and the Town Manager.
I attended the recent public forum held by the School Committee at Longmeadow HS on the upcoming School Dept FY10 budget and was very impressed by the large amount of effort that was involved. The proposed budget included some difficult staffing reduction decisions in order to meet the budget guidelines. (The proposed FY10 budget is ~ $83,000 lower than FY09 budget.)
My concern is that the proposed budget did not include any allowance for "cost of living adjustments" (COLA) that might be involved with the upcoming teacher contract negotiations (the current contract expires at the end of this school year). In response to a question that I asked, Superintendent Hart indicated that she "hoped" that some agreeement could be reached before the Town Meeting in April to allow the budget process to be finalized.
(note: The last teacher's contract negotiation in Longmeadow extended more than one year past the prior contract expiration date and resulted in the need for a $2.1 million Proposition 2½ override .)
To put some economic prospective on this concern, professional salaries (I'm assuming mostly teachers) in the FY10 budget are $18.6 million dollars. (It should be noted that this number does not include health care and other related school dept employee benefits which according to the FY09 budget report was 3.8 million dollars) .
If a 2.5% COLA was negotiated it would add approximately $465,000 to the proposed FY10 budget. With current budget process, the likely way to achieve this savings would be through a reduction of teachers and/or other staff positions since salaries are ~75% of the total school budget. Obviously this approach would not be in the best interests of our schools or community.
While I do not know all of the specifics of the teacher salary structure, I do know that many teachers in our school system will receive "step increases" even if a 0% COLA was implemented.
If you have been following the budget process for the past couple of years, you will have become aware of the large impact of teacher and other town employees salaries on the budget of our town.
I believe that additional town employee contract negotiations are also underway which will put additional pressure on our FY10 budget.
Given the current economic conditions that surround us, I would like to propose a one year contract and freeze on salaries (that is, a 0% COLA for FY10) for both town and school employees so that we do not lose key people that are important to maintaining the quality of life in our town. Contracts for FY11 and FY12 can be negotiated once the economy stabilizes and future town revenues are more visible.
As a community we need to react in a prudent manner or else the future of our town may become very distressed caused by drastic cuts in town and school services dramatically affecting our quality of life.
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The LongmeadowBuzz blog invites both pro and con agruments to this proposal for posting. Comments are moderated but are more likely to appear if you add your name and address. Consider the posting of such comments on the LongmeadowBuzz blog as a Internet "letter to the editor".
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