posted by Tom Moertel at 10:22 PM /
Updated 2010-08-25 23:09: added link to announcement from school district.
Updated 2010-08-26 09:20: added link to the P-G's coverage.
Updated 2010-08-26 11:46: added link to school-board director James Fraasch's coverage.
Updated 2010-08-26 18:51: added link to the Trib's coverage.
School-board director Jo Posti is reporting on her blog that the school district has signed a 5-year contract with the teachers' union:
Read more:
Updated 2010-08-26 09:20: added link to the P-G's coverage.
Updated 2010-08-26 11:46: added link to school-board director James Fraasch's coverage.
Updated 2010-08-26 18:51: added link to the Trib's coverage.
School-board director Jo Posti is reporting on her blog that the school district has signed a 5-year contract with the teachers' union:
Tonight, the Board voted unanimously to approve a contract the MLEA ratified earlier this evening by its membership...I'm sure we'll be hearing more about the new contract in the coming days. For now, however, see Mrs. Posti's blog and the school district's announcement for an overview of the terms.
Teachers will work an additional 15 minutes per day and the school year will be extended to 184 days with teachers' total work years being extended from 194.5 to 197.5 work days...
Compensation will provide an average 4.15% salary increase with the first year's average being 3.57% which would not require any change to the budget we've already approved. This increase includes step increases, something to keep in mind when evaluating competitor districts' contracts, some of which are being reported in the news by salary increase only. This percentage includes both raises and step movement through the salary scale, with an average raise of $3,005 per year including step movement. We anticipate an average 1.44% annual savings due to the efficiencies detailed in the new contract, netting an overall average salary increase per year for all costs at 2.71%.
Read more:
- Mt. Lebanon Signs Five Year Teachers' Contract (Center Court, the blog of school-board director Jo Posti)
- School Board Approves New Teacher Contract (Mt. Lebanon School District)
- Teachers, Mt. Lebanon schools reach agreement (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- New Teacher Contract Approved (School-board director James Fraasch)
- Mt. Lebanon teachers will pay more for insurance, work longer (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Labels: mlea, mt lebanon school district, mt. lebanon school board, teachers union
22 Comments:
If you want to listen to tonight's meeting, go to
Podcast
Elaine Gillen
Note carefully the indication that the 3.57% average increase will reportedly not require any change in the now current 2010 - 2011 budget. How can this be, you might ask if you had been paying some degree of attention during during budget discussions in April & May....Jan Klein said the proposed budget was based on only a 2.5% increase for teachers salaries. A 1% difference amounts to almost $500,000...and just where is this extra money coming from ?
Here's how the *shell game* works in LeboSchools...Jan's 2.5% was Based on comparing budget year to budget year, as she always does....and she also always ends up with a budget surplus at year end....which she certainly did once again (will perhaps, she will say, subject to audit results in late October or so...when everyone will have forgotten about it).
For the year just ended 6/30/10, the actual salary line for teachers was underspent v. budget by almost $700,000. So, boys and girls, this is where Jan will have the cash to pay the 1% necessary adder to the alleged 2.5% budgeted cost so that it will not require a change in the budget...just roll it over, and she knew it & the SB was staring it in the face but choose not to see it even though reminded of it several times by a resident taxpayer.
The Audit & Finance Committee are now demanding estimates of yearend actuals each month, but still allowing Jan to present budget estimates on a budget-to-budget year basis, all the while staring estimated surpluses in the face.
And everyone was surprised by the unbudgeted *windfall* receipt of $2.3 million in liened/delinquint taxes from the sale of the Covenant several months ago, which we paying taxpayers had made up for and should have been returned to us in the form of a 1 mill reduction in RE taxes, but did not...it's going into the District piggybank to pay for some future things.
And we may have thought that was the last and final *windfall* to be had from the Covenant....but is it ? Well, welcome back to to the reconvened LeboSchool *shell game*. Did anyone notice the leading #1 delinquint/liened taxpayer of 2009 school taxes on the 7/10 list just released by LeboSchools ? Its the successor owner of the Covenant in arrears to the tune of about $750,000 ! This will likely be paid, or some negotiated reduction of it resulting from an assessment appeal, during this new school year. And this will again be a *windfall* surplus, in this new budget as well.
At some point in time, a SB majority may finally understand the budget game that is so well orchestrated and take control of it. One can only hope.
Bill Lewis
Where is the approved agreement?
Is it still being negotiated?
After eight months, why can't the district disclose the contract?
Why did they vote if they cannot produce the contract?
Is anything being negotiated after the contract vote?
David Huston
We are paying our teachers a premium wage increase for two extra teaching days when our attendance ranks number 60 in the State,
Could we have achieved the same academic results with two fewer workdays, better attendance in class, and a lower wage increase?
Dr. Sable thought attendance was important but she is no longer here.
I don't understand why so many of our students need remedial help and tutoring (mentioned by Dave Franklin with the writing help volunteers). If our teachers are being paid to be the best what's the problem - why aren't their teaching methods more effective?
Can anyone remember the last time the school board voted better professional development for teachers? Maybe they did in a Personnel Report but the Board hides that Report from public view. The names of the teachers we are hiring are none of the public’s business until after they are hired.
Mr. Kendrick: The Writing Lab that Mr. Franklin refers to is available to all students, and it is part of the regular curriculum and writing process. It is NOT remedial in nature.
More generally, it's easy to sit here and be against all spending, against a principal who supervises more than 100 employees being paid $110,000 a year (what would someone supervising that number of white collar employees get in the private sector?), etc., but even the ultimate fiscal conservative, Mr. Fraasch, when he had to vote on the real-world situation of the proposed teachers' contract, voted yes (though he said it was a close call).
--Neil Berch
Neil, - and your point is what?
My point is:
1. Your diatribe about how the need for Writing Lab volunteers shows that too many students need remedial work is nonsense.
2. It's hard to take people seriously when they're opposed to everything. Again, while you can sit at your keyboard and complain about everything the school board does, this decision was unanimous. The person who has the closest perspective to yours and who has far more knowledge of the details voted yes, and he explained why in very cogent fashion. Let me turn one of this blog's most popular questions on you: what in Mr. Fraasch's analysis of the teacher contract do you disagree with?
--Neil Berch
Neil,
I am sorry but I still don't see your point.
Neil,
When did I say that I was against the teachers contract?
When did I say that I wanted to eliminate ALL spending?
Actually Neil, I am NOT opposed to the new contract. I DON'T LIKE the new contract, but I am not opposed to it. I am not opposed to it for the simple reason that I am grateful that THIS BOARD got us out of it as cheaply (and I use that as a relative term) as they did. I was expecting something AWFUL from THIS BOARD - like a 15 or 20 year contract with 25% annual pay increases - so I was quite relieved when I read what they "settled on".
You should read my post concerning tax policy more carefully. I didn't say that I wanted to stop ALL spending. I simply said that the tax incidence needs to shift towards those who consume the products and services, after we prune the school district tree.
I'm not sure how Mr. Fraasch fits into your comments. Mr. Fraasch doesn't tell ME how to think or to run my life.
Mr. Kendrick:
1. Here's your quote from earlier in this thread:
"I don't understand why so many of our students need remedial help and tutoring (mentioned by Dave Franklin with the writing help volunteers). If our teachers are being paid to be the best what's the problem - why aren't their teaching methods more effective?"
You certainly seem to at least imply that you think we're not getting good value from the teachers. Did I misinterpret? Are you in favor of the teachers' contract?
2. Again (and you have yet to acknowledge this), your comment is based upon a faulty premise, because you sarcastically criticize a school program that you don't even understand.
3. While I might have engaged in slight hyperbole, your comments on other threads certainly have left me with the impression that you are against almost all public school spending (your proposed funding mechanisms certainly imply a much lower level of spending).
So are you in favor of the teachers' contract, or are you opposed? This thread was, to be blunt, about the teachers' contract.--Neil Berch
Neil,
Did you read my post? To be blunt, I thought that I made my position very clear.
What part of my comments didn't you understand?
Mr. Berch, cut and run while you can. Don't make the same mistake I did wasting 2 days trying to get a straight answer out of Mr. Kendrick. He's rubber and you're glue . . . and you're a Marxist.
And for the record, I don't know anything about the writing program. That wasn't my comment.
Mr. Franklin:
Sorry for attributing that comment to you. That's what I get for relying on memory.--Neil Berch
The comment on the Writing Lab program was mine - I am honored that Mr. Kendrick felt it worthy of Dave. And it is a program utilized by all middle school students and greatly appreciated by the students and teachers alike. I would be happy to go on, but I will leave that for another time. However, I would like to hear how we are to cut spending so much that anyone over the age of 65 would not have to pay property taxes at all as proposed on another thread. To do so would be kind, but I cannot see how it could ever be practical, or justified. Unless the idea is to transform Mt. Lebanon into a retirement community with property taxes only paid by business owners and landlords - that would be great for our schools and all other municipal services, wouldn't it?
Kim,
I posted additional details concerning my CREDIBLE proposal on another thread. Unfortunately, your assertions are not credible.
If you examine the last three budgets:
• The distribution of expenses and revenue are stable over the last three year period, so we can extrapolate one year forward with reasonable accuracy.
• Staff salaries and fringe benefits account for approximately 75% of the annual school district expenditures. The three year average for salaries is approximately $41MM and the three year average for Earned Income tax is approximately $14MM.
• The Real Estate Tax accounts for approximately 67% of the annual school district revenue. The three year average expenditure for The Real Estate Tax is approximately $50MM.
• The Earned Income Tax accounts for approximately 8% of the annual school district revenue. The three year average expenditure for The Real Estate Tax is approximately $6MM.
If we assume that 2/3 of the real estate tax revenue is lost by exempting any Mt Lebanon residential real estate owner over the age of 65 then the real estate tax revenue would be approximately $16.5MM after the tax relief is enacted, or a loss of $33.5MM
If we target a 50% staff reduction then the salaries and benefits following the enactment of my proposal would total approximately $20.5MM and $7MM respectively, for a savings of $27.5MM.
If we increase the earned income tax to cover the $6MM difference then the earned income tax rate would approximately double as the tax incidence shifts to a younger demographic.
The staff reductions would come from school consolidation and the elimination of programs:
• My vision is to have a single elementary school, a single Junior High School, and a single High School.
• I would close all of the existing elementary schools and use one either the Mellon School or the Jefferson School as "The Elementary School".
• I would use either the Mellon or the Jefferson School as "The Junior High School".
• The High School would remain where it is.
• I would sell any school that is not being used under my plan and use the proceeds from the sale to finance any changes that may be needed to the Mellon or Jefferson schools and then I'd use any remaining amounts to reduce the district's long-term debt.
• The program reductions would be determined by beginning with state mandated educational requirements and incrementally adding programs as the budget or private contributions allow, but always within the guiding principle of achieving the financial goals that I outlined above.
• I would employ service delivery using professional providers like Blackboard. The classroom presentations would be digitized and available "on-demand". These presentations could be shared or sold to other districts, and other districts could also contribute or sell their presentations into a collective pool that would be available to all Pennsylvania school students. This option would add additional academic programs at a lower cost per program .
• It is my belief that the quality of a digitized classroom presentation exceeds the quality of a traditional lecture, in part because:
o The lecturer is better prepared knowing that they are being recorded;
o The students can freely rewind the material and listen to the content when they have either missed the message or don't understand what is being communicated.
I do not have a specific list of programs that would be eliminated, but a program like the athletic program that is unable to provide the district with funding through private contribution, particularly when they have failed to fulfill their prior pledge, would be a candidate.
John, I am sorry that you do not see our neighborhood schools and walking district worthy of maintaining in any shape and form. Please add in the expenses for busing students to these centralized sites as well. Also, I would like to see the configuration of Mellon MS alone that will allow it to house twice the students currently being educated there. It would be interesting to see how marketable the schools are, I suppose. Half the teachers would certainly mean larger class sizes. You may lower the budget significantly, but how would you maintain the value of my home or attract new homeowners? Mt. Lebanon would quickly lose its unique character. And so much of the school budget debate has come back to: How do these decisions better test scores?
I knew I was opening myself up for ridicule by placing my posts, but I thank you for presenting your vision of Mt. Lebanon so clearly.
Mr Kendrick, thanks for taking the time to demonstrate that you have absolutely no understanding of the school district in which you live.
I echo Ms. Ressler's concerns.
Mr. Kendrick, if you can show how the educational quality of the district would not suffer from your proposal, that would say something.
Can you quantify that, and also quantify the budgetary impact of both proceeds of the restructure and ongoing expenses/revenue associated, such as the busing Ms. Ressler mentions, and the tax revenue from the sold schools?
I would also want to understand if you would propose the district sell only the buildings, but keep the greenspace, playgrounds, and attached sports courts and fields?
While I agree that centralized schooling would damage the "walking district" character of our community, eliminating those 6 parks and recreational facilities from the public infrastructure would devastate it.
Well said, Matt Wilson.
Lisa Brown
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