School Budget Voted Down By 1 Vote

[Watchman]

At a desk alone, a young boy is engrossed in “Math Ninja,” a game whose objective is to defend a treehouse using martial-arts weapons.

Walsh asks the boy what he likes about the game. “You get to viciously attack cats and dogs with throwing stars and swords,” the kid says with a perfectly straight face. To reach the next level, however, the player must answer basic math questions, such as 22 divided by 11.

“Not really rigorous learning,” Walsh says, “but if you’ve got downtime, there’s worse things you could be doing.”

Seventh grader Elizabeth Skerrett, the teacher’s daughter, is working on a script for a two-person movie she and a classmate are making about a job interview. They’re writing the script on the NotePad app, shooting it with the iPad’s camera and editing the final cut using iMovie.

In the old days, the girls would probably perform their skit live in front of their peers. But now, “If we mess up, we don’t have to worry about embarrassing ourselves in front of the class,” Skerrett says. “We can just reshoot it.”

Franklin Northwest dropped a chunk of change buying the iPads — around $125,000 for 200 tablets this year, or $500 apiece — and spent another $40,000 building a schoolwide Wi-Fi system. But the district did it without raising taxes by leaving vacant positions unfilled and making other cuts here and there, Kirsch says. Finding $125,000 every year — in order to bring additional grades online — will be harder.

The comments above are from an article in Seven Days from Oct. 26,2011
 
Notice the comments from the Superintendent stating, funding for the initiative comes from "leaving vacant positions unfilled" but future cuts will be harder.

Now ask yourself where have all the older veteran teachers have gone since 2011. The systematic purge of older teachers converts into $20,000 - $30,000 each for the "ipad initiative" Has that saving gone into reduced taxes? I believe the issue of teachers pay is a red herring. If teachers pay, and only teachers pay was broken out from instruction in the budget then citizens could make informed comparisons. Is the lack of specifics in the budget a new form of accounting by lumping or is purposeful in it's lack of specifics?
 

[nhibbard]

Budgets are hard because it's not always easy to break costs down and if you look at the line items they already have, it would only make things worse. But if voters are to make suggestions, we need to know those costs. Salaries cannot be adjusted in the current budget, that's apparently a fact. But the negotiation had better not be giving greater than CPI increases year over year for future tax years.

As to the instructional material around games, are parents even made aware of what games these kids are playing? I found out offhand that Minecraft is a reward game. It's not the most violent by a stretch but it's also no Math Blaster which does the same thing. Or what about Carmen SanDiego where you learn about time, geography and problem solving. We also get sent home forms to give blanket permissions with little detail at the beginning of the year for technology use, then are told it would be too hard to send home tailored lists of instruction. I looked at every program that was send home for a 1st/2nd grader at the beginning of the year and I'm not sure PowerPoint knockoffs or email are appropriate for children who can barely read or write.

[Barbara]

Come to tonight's school board meeting and give your thoughts and insights.   These five individuals who make up the board are our friends and neighbors.  They are doing their best at personal sacrifice and with little reward, to direct the small portion of education left in the community's control.   The board meets the second Monday of the month in the library, and tonight is this month's second Monday.   
 

[dvallett]

I have to believe that in a year when so many VT budgets were voted down this is about more than the relatively tiny cost of iPads, for goodness' sake. In a continuing uncertain economy with many taxpayers' incomes fixed or effectively frozen, for many voters it's about the continued, almost highest in the nation, unsustainable levels of spending. While Fairfax can't fix what is largely a broken state funding model, the local focus nonetheless has to be on the biggest short and long term levers - people and positions. Unfortunately easy to say but tough to do. You can get away with 5%+ budget increases for a few years but after awhile property taxes start to skyrocket and the bite becomes just too much to take. My two cents, anyway (well in the spirit of this coversation, four cents I suppose ...).

[nhibbard]

It is about much more than iPads. It's about long term thought of ongoing costs and sustainability. Yes iPads are a small part but the have an ongoing costs. If you keep stacking ongoing costs, they add up. No one is going to take a salary cut so we need to maintain salaries at an affordable levels. Not adding positions makes the most sense. New mandates are for more than just schools and new positions are not always added for those either. And funding isn't added either. Unfunded mandates are not new to anyone.

Also, if a budget is voted down by voters, that is a sign. Our board did not take that seriously. The position taken was that if they made a minor change, their supporters who did not voted would come out and support them. They need to wake up and put together program costs and suggest meaningful options. Cutting utility estimates and positions that weren't staffed anyway are not real cuts when you're adding a position the costs more than all the suggested cuts combined. It's not worth debating costs if they don't take a hard look at costs.

I know it's elected and they're not paid much for all the time they contributed, but that has nothing to do with budgeting in case that point comes up. Teachers jobs are hard, but so are others. Public jobs were known to have good benefits and decent pay. The contracts that unions are getting are not sustainable nor sensible. If the increases were tied to performance or additional duties that makes sense. But the largest chunk of the budget is salaries and benefits and if they don't decrease the inflation on salaries the cost of benefits should go up.

[vtmomx3]

I agree with Mr. Hibbard on this point:
"Also, if a budget is voted down by voters, that is a sign. Our board did not take that seriously. The position taken was that if they made a minor change, their supporters who did not voted would come out and support them. They need to wake up and put together program costs and suggest meaningful options. Cutting utility estimates and positions that weren't staffed anyway are not real cuts when you're adding a position the costs more than all the suggested cuts combined. It's not worth debating costs if they don't take a hard look at costs."

We just cannot cut salaries. As an educator, I am very good at my job, I treat the kids as if they are my own, I love them, I am on committees, stay late at work often, take work home with me often, work on the weekends, work every single summer, buy materials with my own money, take the required (and mandatory) professional development courses, have taken pay cuts and pay freezes, etc. On behalf of others like me, please do not lump all of us together in the 'hate' pile. Of course there are teachers who don't work as hard as others, it is the same in every single profession, every single job.
As far as merit pay, here are my thoughts:  I would never blame my mechanic if my car died (he told me to change the oil), I would never blame my dentist if I got a cavity (he told me to brush and floss), I would never blame the firefighters for not saving a house on fire (family was told to clean the chimney) so I am wondering why would people blame teachers if their child fails? Teachers cannot be held responsible for what happens once children leave the walls of the school. Are they getting a good night's sleep? Are they eating well? Are they doing their homework? Are the parents reading to them, asking questions, engaging them in social activities?  Not quite sure why we blame teachers all the time.

Before we revoted last Thursday I wondered if anyone else had questions about the proposed $85K position. I didn't read any comments about that so can only assume it is ok with the townspeople. It's not ok with me. Has anyone else looked at the FWSU budget? I was curious and saw that regarding the Business Office, salaries in 2012 were $120,586, in FY'15- $196,767.  Continuing Ed/Conf 2012-$928. FY'15-$3000. Mileage '12-$1528, FY'15 $2000, Conferences - '12-$136, FY'15-$3000 (how is this different than Cont Ed/Conf?) Mileage Reimbursement 2014-$2000. Supt. Office budget for Conferences Expenses- $3000. , Continuing Ed $2000. Membership Dues $5000. (would like more info on this), equipment/furniture $1250. (is it really that bad?), Student Support Services Dir - $2000 in mileage reimbursement, $2000 for conference expenses, Curriculum Coordinator- mileage reimbursement of almost $3000.
Just a reminder that  our tax money goes toward Central Office budget as well. Perhaps we could look there for cuts that could be made. School based positions that are not needed should be eliminated. More questions need to be asked.

[nhibbard]

Vtmom, it's not a hate/like issue on salaries. I worked late for years. Trained in my own time. Bought things that grew my skills. This is a job and continually paying increases above what many taxpayers get. Everyone has freezes or has to pay more for benefits. The only difference is the community votes on this budget and the major cost is all salaries. It doesn't mean teachers aren't appreciated. It's the economy and budgeting basics.

[mirjo]

There was a time when teachers didn't earn enough to get by on w/o, A. taking on that coaching job  B. working full time all summer, or C. having a part time job on weekends waiting tables or something. Especially new teachers. I don't think it's as bad now as it used to be. Many Years ago town reports printed individual salaries of the employees of the school districts (a highly transparent practice, but certainly invasive and likely not appreciated!) Anyway, it was easy to see that veteran teachers earned a decent wage (although everyone has their own interpretation of what that is) and a two teacher household was by no means starving or going without basic necessities and amenities (or at least shouldn't have been).

I think pay has become somewhat better for teachers over time and the fact that in the last 7 years most in the private sector have gone without pay raises, while teachers (in general) have continued to contract for raises (always "locked in") and would appear to have no qualms in doing so--even though they are all part of the communities in which they teach, friends and neighbors to those who are not seeing pay raises. So I must ask, with no disrespect for them or their job, because, I know it's not easy: Why are they entitled to pay raises that others aren't?

I've only seen one strike here, many years ago & I don't recall the issue, but I think teachers out there need to weigh in on this and explain why they are entitled to a yearly increase when no one else is. If it's because of the CE mandates, then perhaps that's something that needs to be addressed at the state level. Did I read something here about teachers being expected to obtain a Masters degree? Is that really necessary at this level?

I do think teachers are at a huge disadvantage, because we're in the middle of a paradigm shift from the way we've always done things pre-internet, to the great unknown of the digital age. There is an overload of information now that no one knows what to do with that has descended upon us at warp speed. We're caught--trapped in this space of not knowing which way to turn.

It's alarming though to see our kids come out of school not knowing basic things we think they should (how to write their signature) and be told there isn't enough time to teach everything (it's even more shocking when they don't seem to know other basic things that you know you learned in 4th or 5th grade). Then you wonder if it's really necessary to commit all that stuff to memory when it can be "found" so easily in seconds.

The answer, I think, is no. Technology is here to stay and I admittedly have been stubborn about accepting it and justifiably so. I just don't feel it has been utilized well by the school and has been embraced at the exclusion of things that everyone needs to know--maybe not in some ill defined future, but certainly the here & now. I think all the tablets/phones/etc out there are fabulous tools for learning & information & certainly great adjuncts for education.

The world is available to students now, where it wasn't before; however, there is nothing wrong with old school paper/pencil. In fact, I would call it survivalist. Electricity goes out, computers crash, batteries die. If you can't function w/o an electronic device--you will not function! It's a fact, not a lofty idea. Ever been at a business with a crashed computer? And everyone looks confused until someone decides to just "write at receipt, if that's ok?" Like it's a new concept and not a time honored practice.

We're growing a generation of people who won't be able to just write a receipt or make change or leave a note for someone or entertain themselves without a fully charged electronic device. We also have a generation of people who have a world of knowledge available like never before, but do not know anything historical--and sadly don't seem to care. Maybe if we kept teachers in class and out of meetings there would be more time to teach and the teachers wouldn't feel so overwhelmed.

What affect does the SU have on each districts' budget? The legislature is going to make some drastic cuts to the number of SUs in the state, which will be a huge painful change for small rural schools, but is likely the only way to reign in the cost of education. We can't have it both ways--keep things small/local & costs under control. Salaries do drive the budget and people do need to be compensated. I will say, things in Fairfax have been far less transparent since the current SI has been at the helm and  the SU has taken over a lot. Just my observation--have lived here a long time. 

A few years ago, the school board was so tight lipped about the budget, it was scary. Although, it is public knowledge, not one of them wanted to say a word about it and referred everything to the SI. It was creepy. Just saying. 

[Counselor]

I agree with Mr. Hibbard on this point:
"Also, if a budget is voted down by voters, that is a sign. Our board did not take that seriously. The position taken was that if they made a minor change, their supporters who did not voted would come out and support them. They need to wake up and put together program costs and suggest meaningful options. Cutting utility estimates and positions that weren't staffed anyway are not real cuts when you're adding a position the costs more than all the suggested cuts combined. It's not worth debating costs if they don't take a hard look at costs."

We just cannot cut salaries. As an educator, I am very good at my job, I treat the kids as if they are my own, I love them, I am on committees, stay late at work often, take work home with me often, work on the weekends, work every single summer, buy materials with my own money, take the required (and mandatory) professional development courses, have taken pay cuts and pay freezes, etc. On behalf of others like me, please do not lump all of us together in the 'hate' pile. Of course there are teachers who don't work as hard as others, it is the same in every single profession, every single job.
As far as merit pay, here are my thoughts:  I would never blame my mechanic if my car died (he told me to change the oil), I would never blame my dentist if I got a cavity (he told me to brush and floss), I would never blame the firefighters for not saving a house on fire (family was told to clean the chimney) so I am wondering why would people blame teachers if their child fails? Teachers cannot be held responsible for what happens once children leave the walls of the school. Are they getting a good night's sleep? Are they eating well? Are they doing their homework? Are the parents reading to them, asking questions, engaging them in social activities?  Not quite sure why we blame teachers all the time.

Before we revoted last Thursday I wondered if anyone else had questions about the proposed $85K position. I didn't read any comments about that so can only assume it is ok with the townspeople. It's not ok with me. Has anyone else looked at the FWSU budget? I was curious and saw that regarding the Business Office, salaries in 2012 were $120,586, in FY'15- $196,767.  Continuing Ed/Conf 2012-$928. FY'15-$3000. Mileage '12-$1528, FY'15 $2000, Conferences - '12-$136, FY'15-$3000 (how is this different than Cont Ed/Conf?) Mileage Reimbursement 2014-$2000. Supt. Office budget for Conferences Expenses- $3000. , Continuing Ed $2000. Membership Dues $5000. (would like more info on this), equipment/furniture $1250. (is it really that bad?), Student Support Services Dir - $2000 in mileage reimbursement, $2000 for conference expenses, Curriculum Coordinator- mileage reimbursement of almost $3000.
Just a reminder that  our tax money goes toward Central Office budget as well. Perhaps we could look there for cuts that could be made. School based positions that are not needed should be eliminated. More questions need to be asked.

In a district with a supervisory union, the issue of District Office expenses is a WAY more valid argument at THIS time than teacher salaries. Special Education costs are also a HUGE portion of any school budget.  As is pointed out here, there are significant savings to be found with in the SU budget w/o solely looking at salaries. Most of your teachers here in Fairfax, live in fairfax and essentially pay portions of their own salaries.  Those of you who have not had significant pay raises, do you get paid, only to have to pay taxes in order to pay your salary? The issue of a separate line item for the purchase of a school bus has not come up at all now that is has been lumped into the overall  school budget. If this is eliminated and voters allowed to choose to support this expense separately, I would imagine significant savings would be realized. Blindly looking for the easy answer (salaries) is ... well ... easy. Most of us are fans of some sports team, are we walking away from those allegiances when an athlete who plays A GAME is paid nearly 300 MILLION dollars? Education is essential to our nations continued progress.  A game ... not so much.  Do we need to find alternatives and have difficult conversations about finding, Yup.  Is this the time to point to just salaries? I do not believe so.  Don't take the easy path and point fingers.  Stand up, participate, assist in working to find solutions ... did not a teacher teach you, that change can happen even if it is difficult?

Just my .02...

[nhibbard]

Special education is a huge portion but how is that manageable? You have to pay for special education unless we're doing it and it's not required. The SU found just as much in savings as the school offered and they were real savings. The school offered lower utility estimates (why weren't they that low to begin with) and not funding a position for Freshman sports that hadn't been filled anyway as well as other small items.

Whether or not a teacher pays taxes in town that also support their wages is not a valid argument. Every service member does the same thing. I pay part of my own salary. It has no basis on a budget. If they lived in another town, they would have to pay taxes there and get paid here. It has no bearing or merit.

If you put the bus as a separate line item, you do several things. You make sure it becomes an unanticipated cost in the future that we cannot plan for. You have the possibility of safety and maintenance concerns by using older infrastructure to transport children. I'm not saying it's not an option if staff can reasonably say we can safely get another year out of it. If you don't plan for infrastructure if gets left behind and then when you do have to replace it, people complain and ask why this was not done in a more timely manner. This topic came up just last night at the meeting from another community member who supports the bus be has the same rational argument about leaving it to the voters. The only issue is if this is an informed vote based on the actual condition of the bus that is going to be replaced. If you eliminate this now, it will have to be included in the future anyway, so just kicking the can either way. You can't save on infrastructure, once you have it, you have to maintain it. The flip side is to contract buses, hope the drivers get hired elsewhere, be at the mercy of a 3rd party for long term costs and pay extra for field trips. Having our own buses also aids in emergencies to move a significant number of people in a short time.

Salaries is not the easy answer. They're not even a current answer. They are the long term answer. Every year you give a raise, the long term viability of that position needs to be evaluated. If a contract were to offer 3% year over year, a worker at $30,000 with no other changes would take 10 years to make $40,000. A worker at $60,000 would make $80,000 at the same rate of increase. If you offer this level of continuing increase and you retain staff, this creates an unaffordable base budget. Not all of this is funded from local tax payers, our school gets state funding as well so we create a larger cost for local and state tax payers. The only offset to salaries is to the discuss employees covering more of their benefit costs which goes over about as well as a pay freeze. Increased pay rates also increase payroll taxes on the employer in the long term and contributions to retirement. If you think this is the easy solution, them I question how you would ever balance a budget giving continual raises above the rate that the people paying into those salaries are getting.

Sports teams are another non-issue. Outside of the public investment that is returned through sales taxes, additional property values that lead to higher tax revenues and overall increase in local market spending, this is not a cost born by taxpayers. If I don't go to a game or watch it, I don't pay for it. Yes, the cost of ESPN is built into my cable regardless of if I watch it, but then again I don't have to pay for cable. I do have to pay my taxes.

Whether or not I received an education has nothing to do with the budget. This is to create a long term sustainable starting point to provide a decent affordable education. If salaries aren't managed more closely, there will be problems. You cannot cheap out on infrastructure because the buildings will deteriorate and you'll be forced into unbudgeted but known expenses. No one pointed fingers. It's crystal clear that over 60% of the budget is salaries. If you don't maintain that, you'll force a base 60% and only be able to manage 40%. Of that 40% there are many mandatory items and not you make the amount you can manage even smaller. Then we're taking out speaker systems, estimated utility costs and a position that wasn't going to be filled anyway. I've participated every step of the way and offered many opinions at many places. If you can offer solutions that are more creative than the bus, ipads, a new admin coordinator and salaries I"m all ears. But those 4 are what we know we can address. If the Board can offer any other large savings we can discuss, that would be helpful.

I love this debate by the way. Everyone brings up very clear opinions that I hope the Board evaluates before we see another draft of the budget. Please make sure to let everyone know to come out and vote their opinion for or against the budget. The last vote was somewhat disheartening for such an important topic. Not in the opinion but in the actual turnout.

[7F24]

How many supervisory unions are there in VT?  What is the possibility of combining some of them?

[trussell]

Consolidating supervisory unions has been talked about at the state level and it sounds like it's (thankfully) inevitable.  The City of Los Angeles has a single school district and services nearly 700,000 students and 84,000 staff- so it certainly can be done!

[mkr]

Nicely put Nick and I agree with Trevor. There is no reason for the # of Administrations. I did see the State was talking about that.

[ohhman]

A couple years ago, we dropped one administrator as we were told the position could be handled well by shuffling others around.  I think it could/should stay this way.  A few years ago, we had custodians, coaches & the sports team out putting up the fence & working on the fields; this year there was the athletic director/ administrative assistant/soccer coach (all 1 person!) out there quite awhile on own during school hours getting this done. Maybe some delegating to others would free up this time for other responsibilities before we burn out this person.  I heard there was an across the board raise on custodian pay; yes surely there are those deserving, but my trips to school often see dirt piles & not so clean as other schools.  ( 1 dirt pile was in entrance as we went in for a re-vote)   Consolidating supervisory unions may be something to look into UNLESS we over compensate that salary or if many assistants will be needed to help, & in that case there won't be much savings.  I think many are in the same boat with pay: their never seems to be enough as we all get hit with rising costs of every day necessities.  Is it still that teachers get an automatic pay raise AND raise on merits/reviews? I remember years ago a teacher was saying they were maximized out at what they could earn... it was about 40k  that was all of 20 years ago. Some of us don't make that amount today. Ideas for cuts?  NOT the buses for sure as having our own is the way to go to keep a handle on what that cost is, NOT the kids (although we can tell kids NO sometimes)...... has anyone thought of the future in getting a hold on what staff pays for insurance? Years ago that was a big issue.  Raises should be done on review/merit :earn it & you get it.  Lastly, it was commendable that administrators gave up 1% of their raise; just keep in mind 1% off 80k, 100k or whatever they get maybe easier to swallow for them than those that earn 30k having to give up 1%.  Thanks for this forum for sure, so we all get to voice our opinions, hopefully kindly & still be friends & neighbors in our community.

[Watchman]

The person working on the fields was the assistant principal. The very person who replaced the administrator that was dropped, except that no administrator was dropped. Now the assistant principal is paid to be outside working on fields, funding raising for her teams, coaching 2 teams after school and meeting with team members during the day. That's why there is a need for another administrator in the proposed budget.