I have not entered the public discussion about the impending school tax referendum until now. I have tried to write my RedbankValley.org news articles with as much objectivity as I can muster. As a news writer, my role is to deliver facts, not to try to sway opinions. When writing news, I am just the story teller. As an essayist, my role is to entertain, share my point of view, and help to shape opinions. These are different roles and different functions within the community.
Let us be completely open before I go on – the opinions and ideas expressed in this essay are mine and mine alone. Neither RedbankValley.Org nor TechReady Professionals has any connection to this essay. Mayor Barrows has not read this and has no knowledge of what I intend to write. This NearCommonSense essay is mine and mine alone.
I have a lot of respect for many of the men and women on the Redbank Valley School Board. There are several that I consider to be friends. Similarly, I like many of the teachers and administrators that I have met over the years as my daughters and grand kids “did their time”. There are some marvelous teachers, good role models, and fine people within the staff and faculty. My thoughts about schools, taxes, referendums, and such are not intended to harm or hurt anyone. But, “tempus fugit”, “so let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.”
First, I simply don’t like government monopoly schools. I do not think that having given control of curricula and outcomes to State and Federal bureaucrats has worked well. I know that I was not as well prepared to go out into the world after finishing high school as my father was. And my grandfather was better educated after 8th grade than I was after 12th. I don’t see very many of today’s 18-year-olds being at all ready to be fully functioning adult citizens. This is not a criticism of Redbank Valley, but rather an indictment of the entire public-school model.
But it does bring the conversation around to the upcoming referendum on raising school taxes. As much as it pains me to have to say, I simply cannot support raising taxes for the schools. It is not that I don’t want kids to get an education – I don’t think that they are now through no fault of our school district itself – but rather, in 25 years of being part of this community, I never seen the Redbank Valley School Board be fiscally responsible and there is nothing in the referendum or proposed budget to suggest that they are going to start being so now.
Over the years, we have seen school board after school board ignore their budgets and spend money on virtually every request made of them. I cannot recall a time when any Board has refused to fund anything brought to them. And never once have I heard any director ask if this spending request is within this year’s budget. The Board approves every teacher’s meeting, conference, and travel request with no discussion regarding the budget allotment for such items. And while these individual items may be only a few hundred or a thousand dollars each, the cavalier disregard for fiscal accountability is staggering. Or to paraphrase the late Senator Everett Dirksen, “a billion here and a billion there; pretty soon you are talking real money.”
And there have also been some big expenses that the Board has approved with no consideration for financial responsibility. We really didn’t need a new gym at the high school. We really didn’t need an off budget renovation of the track for a cool half a million. Following the Parkland school shooting in find year, the Board jumped into a $100,000 per year over budget ongoing commitment for security personnel. It is fortuitous that Principal Amy Rupp has covered most of this with grants, but again, this is indicative of reactionary spending that speaks of a lack of responsibility.
As I wrote in a recent news analysis for RedbankValley.org, the state and federal bureaucracies mandate so much of the district spending. PDE doesn’t always adequately fund these mandates, shifting the burden to districts. But, PDE does not control the cost of labor in individual school districts. The Redbank Valley School District has created an extraordinarily voracious feeder in its labor practices.
The Board touts their efforts to “cut spending” by citing how many fewer teachers there are now than there were in the past. However, when you drill down into the numbers, a different story emerges.
Student and Staff numbers
2002-03 2007-08 2012-13 2016-17 2017-18
Student Enrollment 1450 1207 1146 1083 1116
Elementary Faculty 55 57 49 46 45.5
Secondary Faculty 52 49 46 42 38.5
Student: Faculty Ratio 13.6 to 1 11.4 to 1 12.1 to 1 12.3 to 1 13.3 to 1
Support Staff 67 66 58 59 57
Administration 8.5 8.5 7.5 7 7
Student: Administration Ratio 170 to 1 142 to 1 153 to 1 155 to 1 159 to 1
*Chart taken from Redbank Valley School District Press Release #6 September 2017.
This chart clearly shows that in school year 2002 – 2003 there were 107 teachers in the district. In 2017 – 2018 there were 84 teachers. Superficially, this is a decrease of 23 teachers; however, the student to teacher ratio decreased from 13.6 students per teacher to 13.3, in effect meaning there were actually more teachers in 2017 – 2018 than there were in 2002 – 2003. Similarly, the student per administration dropped from 170 to 1 to 159 to 1. Again, meaning more administrators per students than previously due to a decrease of 334 students over these 15 years.
It is all well and good to talk about paying enough to attract and retain good teachers. This goal must be tempered with the reality of monies available. Redbank Valley School District simply cannot afford to pay teachers as much as we currently are. The money simply is not there. This tax increase that voters will be voting on does nothing to address the current or future cost of labor in the district. According to “THE REDBANK REFERENDUM FACTUAL INFORMATION” published on the District’s website, ” If a majority of voters vote in favor of a referendum tax increase, the district budget will be balanced without the need for educational program cuts or staff furloughs. The total from the referendum increase plus the Act 1 Index plus the referendum exceptions and PDE adjustment will be enough to balance the 2020-21 budget.”
“Will be enough to balance the 2020-21 budget.” There isn’t much here to inspire hope.
At the present time, teachers are working without a contract. If past performance is the indicator of future actions, we can safely assume that the Union wants 2 – 3% guaranteed raises annually. Where will that money come from? The state increases in funding have amounted to less than 1% annually in the past few years with no promise of improvement. The proposed 2020 – 2021 district budget projects that labor will be about 65% of the district’s spending next year (without a new contract). A 1% increase in 100% of your spending will be more than consumed by even a 2% increase in 65% of your spending. (If you don’t understand the math, email me and I will explain it to you.)
The district simply must get control over salaries, wages, and benefits. The Board must demand that the Union present an immediate 5% decrease in salaries and benefits. This drawdown must be coupled with a contractual guarantee that all future changes in salaries and benefits will match (plus or minus) annual changes in state funding. The District must also lower starting salaries to be more in line with incomes within the district. It is unconscionable that a starting teacher should be paid more than the median household income in the area. It is even more egregious that the top salaried teachers can make 50% than that median household income. There can be no solution to the district’s finances with anything less.
If we lose teachers because of lower pay, then, so be it. At this point in time in our district we need teachers who have the calling, who love the area, and who want to help rebuild the community. Those teachers who would leave for a handful of dollars, may not be the best fit in our current situation. This may seem harsh, but the onus for saving the Redbank Valley School District is completely in the hands of the teacher’s union.
Without an ironclad guarantee of draw downs and raises tied to increases in state revenue, I cannot support the tax increase referendum.
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