Teachers Pinched at the Table (NY)
March 30, 2011
SCHENECTADY — The teachers union is consideri ng concessions as part of its contract negotiations to avoid massive layoffs that could be part of the city district’s 2011-12 budget.
Interim Superintendent John Yagelski is not disclosing budget details until Wednesday, when a draft plan will be presented to the Board of Education.
State aid cuts and a reduced tax base alone account for a $9 million hole, and that does not include spending increases for state pensions and health care on top of the end of federal stimulus dollars, Schenectady Federation of Teachers President Juliet Benaquisto said.
"It’s so severe here that just our union won’t be able to make up this difference," Benaquisto said. The teachers’ four-year contract expires in August. "All the people who have been on the chopping block in the past are worried."
Other districts around the Capital Region and statewide have already dropped budget bombs that include layoffs, cuts in arts and athletic programs, and school closings.
Schenectady school board President Cathy Lewis declined to reveal budget details, but she was adamant that any plans for 2011-12 do not include closing buildings. She said Yagelski is taking his time crafting a budget in part because finances were so disorganized after Superintendent Eric Ely resigned June 30.
Last year, after voters rejected the budget twice, about 30 teacher and 30 paraprofessional positions were eliminated as the district adopted a $160.7 million contingency budget. But in the end there were few layoffs because some staff members retired and others left at the end of their one-year contracts to manage the district’s increasing enrollment.
Also, assistant superintendent positions — f or curriculum and instruction, and operations — will be eliminated at the end of the school year. One administrator will lose his job in that cutback.
Benaquisto said she already has sat down with Yagelski about next year’s fiscal challenges and that the union has expressed willingness to work on solutions during upcoming negotiations. She said there will probably not be any step increases for the 900 teachers and 345 paraprofessionals and that union leaders are looking at health care changes to save money, but she stopped short of saying the union will agree to a pay freeze. On average, Schenectady teachers received a 4 percent raise this school year.
"(Yagelski) asked us to think creatively, and we’ve been trying to do that. But it’s hard when you’re facing those kind of numbers," said Benaquisto, who is a special education teacher at Mont Pleasant Middle School.
Albany’s Board of Education recently passed a motion asking all district employees to accept a pay freeze to help close a $10 million budget gap. The Albany Public School Teachers’ Association, whose contract also expires this year, said such requests typically are done in private, but the union is working on a cost-cutting plan that could include deferred raises.
Diane Herrmann, a Schenectady school board member, said with some unions statewide seeking better benefits as the fiscal crunch tightens, "It is refreshing that teachers are working with us to solve our fiscal problems."