Article Title: Vote Yes on Schools, But Efficiencies Crucial

Edition: May 2002
Category: ViewPoint
Author: David F. Kelley
Article:

Despite the fact that it will mean increased taxes and increased housing costs and rents, when our school budget comes up for a re-vote later in May I am going to vote yes and I would urge my neighbors to do the same. I am going to vote yes because I believe that, given the parameters of the current teacher contract, the Board has done as good a job as we can expect in cutting costs for this year.

That doesn't mean this is a great budget by a long shot. Having the highest property taxes in the state of Vermont is a dubious distinction at best. It erodes the strength of our commercial district, it pushes people on fixed incomes out of our housing market and eventually, if it isn't controlled, our tax rate will come back to haunt our schools themselves. With our current proposed budget the costs will still exceed $11,000 per student this coming year. To put that in perspective, the in-state tuition at the University of Vermont is $8,040 per student this year.

The protest has been registered and heard and it is time to move beyond the rancor of the last vote. What is important now is going into the future recognizing that Montpelier cannot continue to sustain double digit tax increases and that we need long term strategies to control costs if we are going to maintain a healthy economy.

Toward that end I hope the School Board will consider the following:

We need to revisit our student-teacher ratio. We have 131.7 teachers and 69 instructional assistants for 1,119 students which gives us a ratio of 5.5 to 1. Even looking at teachers alone the ratio is one teacher for every 8.5 students, one of the lowest ratios in the entire country.
Today seniority is the sole criterion for determining which teachers get laid off. That is just plain wrong. Competence and ability to teach should be the sole criterion, not years survived in the system.
The teachers health insurance package is our school district's second largest cost. The benefits far outstrip what is offered to most employees in the private sector. The private sector is creating new, innovative programs to help bring costs down. Please engage the private sector and re-examine this cost.
The teachers' contract should be printed and distributed as a single document,without separate side letters. Those letters are dangerously confusing.
The current contract contains a pay scale with automatic increases for simply showing up and breathing. It gives new meaning to the old adage that 90 percent of life is just showing up. Those increases, when combined with contractual negotiation increases can create a deceptive bargaining tool and should be eliminated. Pay increases should be based on merit, community standards and cost of living increases.
There is no reason why Montpelier's school district should have to negotiate with a statewide teachers' union all alone. We should join hands with other neighboring districts and negotiate collectively and share legal fees.
One superintendent's office could suffice for three or four school districts and would have more incentives for achieving economies of scale through group purchases and contracts.
A single superintendent's office covering Montpelier, Spaulding, Harwood and U-32 could also facilitate sharing programs and resources so as to enhance quality and reduce costs.
There is enormous talent and energy in this community. Most people care very deeply about our schools, even if they don't run for the school board. Reach out into the community and create study committees to help generate ideas for managing programs such as health insurance more effectively.
Prior to the next contract negotiation, bring key stakeholders together -- taxpayers, businesses, parents, teachers and students and ask the community how we can write a better budget. What we are doing is never good enough. We can always do better.

Almost every citizen of Montpelier understands that our future rests on the quality of our schools. But how we spend our money is just as important as how much we spend. There is a wealth of talent and resources in this community that would be of enormous help in shaping long term strategies. I urge you to put them to work.

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