Superintendent salary increase?

Question: Guess I'm confused. I thought that I read in the newspaper that the Superintendent and Business manager had given up their pay increases this year since the school is having such financial difficulty. I know that, unfortunately, the teachers felt they should take their increases but I was happy that someone was looking out for our kids. My husband and I aren't getting increases this year, must be nice to have a union that only cares about themselves and not those they are suppose to be teaching. I am seriously thinking of changing my yes vote to a no vote. I am disappointed that the superintendent didn't stick to his word. Then again I was taught that you honor your word. I would have had more respect if he had just said he was taking it in the first place instead of making a statement saying he wasn't going to.

Answer: To the best of our knowledge, neither the superintendent nor the business administrator were ever knowingly quoted in the paper or in any school district publication saying they would be taking a pay freeze for the 2011-12 school year. However, information about previous freezes they have taken have been published.
-answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Questions about the superintendent's raise

Question: In follow up to our Superintendent being given a $10,000 salary increase within the 2011/2012 budget. There are always more than two ways of looking at things. Our Superintendent has publicized his pay freeze for the last two years, we appreciate his willingness to do so, but I can say that as a tax payer I did not agree to give our Superintendent a pay increase in the third year which is over the typical cost of living increase; more than double. In addition to that we cannot mislead tax payers by telling them our Superintendent is one of the lowest paid Superintendents in NY State. The average NY teacher and administrative salaries are averaged using all of NY State salaries, NY City salaries included, and upstate NY cannot compete with downstate salaries. In upstate NY a $100,000+ salary is an extremely handsome salary for a Superintendent, and with that our current Superintendent is fairly new to the position and school Superintendents do not come out of the gate making $200,000 per year. Lastly, one important point which continues to be missed. To live and work in upstate NY, especially being successfully employed in the township you were raised in, in beautiful/safe Broadalbin, this in and of itself is a benefit which is priceless. These are public funds being paid to our Superintendent and from this tax payer's perspective there is no rhyme or reason to how we are calculating pay increases for our Superintendent; a $10,000 number is thrown out there and our BOE accepts it. In the spirit of a democracy I would appreciate the other side of this story being posted on Plain Talk.


Answer: The increase in the Superintendent's salary was not a cost of living increase. It was an attempt to bring our superintendent into a position approaching parity with his peers.

In sharp contrast to a misleading statement, I can prove that our superintendent is one of the lowest paid in the state. Whether indexed by median household income, the percentage of families living in poverty, or by cost per pupil (salary/enrollment) B-P pays less than almost every district in NY. When these indexes are taken together, B-P gets a better bargain than 98 percent of all districts in the state and better than 94 percent of schools in our area.

All this and Broadalbin-Perth has the highest graduation rate of the HFM-BOCES districts.

Please come to the next BOE meeting April 25th at 6:45PM at the high school media center and I'll show you the data. If you'd like to have the data files themselves please contact the Board at bpboe@bpcsd.org and I will email them to you. If you have other measures which are more valid then please offer them and I'm certain the board would be interested.

Here are the sources for the data I used:

• From The National Center for Education Statistics School District Demographic System, "American Community Survey": http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sdds/acs09/acsdownload.aspx
• From The New York State Dept. of Education, "New York State School Administrator Salary Disclosure": http://www.p12.nysed.gov/mgtserv/admincomp/
• From The New York State Dept. of Education, "The New York State School Report Card": http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/reportcard/
• From The Empire Center for NY State Policy, "SeeThroughNY": http://www.seethroughny.net/BenchmarkingNY/tabid/98/Default.aspx

As for the intangible benefits of being employed in a position of prestige in the town of one's youth I submit to you that this is a subjective measure (one may plausibly argue that there are an equal number of disadvantages). In any case this is not something considered by the board as compensation during contract discussions.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Questions regarding the line-item budget and pay freezes

Question: I have followed the budget process and participated in community forums. More than once I have asked what administrators are doing to make sacrifices and cut costs. I asked again on the budget survey where it said these questions would be addressed in Plain Talk. However, I have yet to receive any form of acknowledgment. Now, after looking at the line item budget, I understand why my question has not been addressed. I hope the Board of Education will fulfill their roll by answering this time.

What are administrators doing to help save taxpayer money? Are salaries being frozen? Are positions being cut? It doesn't appear this way. In fact the superintendent is taking a $10,000 pay INCREASE at a time when the lowest paid employees, teacher aides and assistants, agree to a wage freeze. I cannot understand how this can be justified.

I have two additional inquiries regarding the line item budget. First, who is getting the $50,000 increase in the business office salaries? Second, where is the $76,000 increase in Director of Building and Grounds going to?

This community trusts that the Board of Education is making the best decisions they can on behalf of our children and taxpayers. In the spirit of good faith, I am respectfully asking that these issues be answered by the Board and not by the administration.


Answer: You ask a question that is substantially the same as another that the board has received. I’d like to take my answer to that person and repeat it to you.

First I'd like to thank you for writing to the Board to express your concerns. Altogether the process of forming a school budget is a turbulent and frustrating exercise. I'll attempt to answer the specific items you mentioned in your note. Please know that your opinion matters to us and that we desire more input from the residents of this district.

The Board shares your admiration of the members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) - these are our custodians, nurses, teacher assistants, secretaries, and food service workers. The leadership they have shown in their recently ratified contract is commendable and will, we hope, serve as an example to other bargaining units in upcoming negotiations. It is they, as you correctly point out, who have done a great deal to save jobs in the current budget year.

The increase of $76,765 that appears in one budget line-item is an increase in that payment code only, the net payment by the district for the management of the building, grounds, health, and safety functions will actually decrease $20,000 this year (at a minimum). This is because we have chosen to consolidate two management positions into one director of building, grounds, health, and safety. The savings from this consolidation over the next five years should be at least $200,000 in salary, healthcare, and pension costs.

Similarly, the increase in business office expenditure is more than balanced by reduction in the cost for a district treasurer and the abolishment of the Assistant Superintendent position. These roles have been consolidated in an attempt to streamline operations and save money. The net, one-time savings is $81,500.

This year we asked all employees to take a pay freeze (whether or not their contract was up for renegotiation) in order to reduce the effects of our tough financial situation. We were successful in securing a freeze from the CSEA during contract negotiations.

The Broadalbin-Perth Teachers Association (BPTA) will begin negotiating a new contract in the next school year. The administrator's contract will be negotiated the year after that.

The superintendent has taken a pay freeze two of the last three years. This year he offered to do so again if the other bargaining units would do the same. As things turned out he will take his increase and the Board supports this decision. Our superintendent is, by any comparative measure, one of the lowest paid in the state. If you'd like a detailed explanation of this assertion please come to the next Board of Education meeting on April 25th at the high school media center.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Comments regarding pay freeze

Question: I am very discouraged that our BOE would attempt to degrade a tax payer by calling the tax payer's opinions "emotional" and referring to them as seeking "retribution."

Many tax payers wish for our BOE representatives to press the BPTA for a 100% pay freeze for all of 2011/2012, and in addition to that if an ethical pay freeze such as mentioned above is not reached then many tax payers would accept additional teachers being eliminated - this is not retribution, it is an attempt to close the budget gap. As tax payers should we attempt to negotiate with teachers to save their jobs? Have the teachers considered our community's elderly and disabled who live on a fixed income and cannot support another tax increase, what about so many of the families in this community who are financially under water, have the teachers considered them? But as a community we should not share our honest opinions for fear it will be taken out on our children? The BOE wants us to focus our efforts on changing Taylor's Law; is the teacher's union attempting to change that law? Come on. Tax payers who speak up are not anti-teacher, we love our teachers, we love our school, and teaching is a very challenging job, we respect that, but we need to make some difficult decisions. Mr. Szumowski, in all fairness to tax payers, this submission should be posted, this is a forum for tax payers to communicate, with the District, with each other, and there is no more important time than now, for tax payers to contemplate all sides to this budget process.
-submitted by Kellie Whitman
 
Answer: Mrs Whitman, I have heard it said, and have since repeated, that communication is the hardest thing we do. This is a pitfall of forums such as Patriot Plain Talk - they're more suited to question-and-answer interactions than dialogue. No insult was intended in the response to your most recent post.

The point about children bearing the cost of decisions we make should be clear: fewer teachers and programs reduce the opportunities for learning and achievement.

The Board of Education negotiated formally with the BPTA (attorneys for both sides were present) and did not come to agreement. If agreement is not reached there is no alternative.

Details of formal negotiations are private under law.

Our desire to focus on reform of the law has two purposes: to produce tangible, meaningful results and elevate the conversation above the typical us-versus-them conflict. Without reform we will be forced to conduct business as usual.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Are pay freezes an option?

Question: It is a real eye opener that the cost savings from a pay freeze for all school personnel for the 2011/2012 school year would be $860,516.00. If things are so critical right now for BPCSD, why is this option not being placed in front of BP staff and tax payers?

Answer: Employees have been asked to take a pay freeze each of the past few years. Superintendent Tomlinson opted for a pay freeze two of the last three years (2008-2009 and 2010-2011). Mr. Zumbolo received no contractual increase for the year 2008-2009.

This is an obvious option for saving large sums of money and is always on the table as an offer. A formal request for this year has not yet been made to the bargaining units. According to NY law taxpayers are not able to vote for pay freezes.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Who determines staff raises?

Question: I have to say it was shocking to see that our district could save $800,000 if the teachers would agree to a pay freeze! In these tough economic times, when most of the private sector has had to forego raises or even agree to pay cuts, I think it is a legitimate request for the taxpayers to ask the teachers to do their part. That amount of money could fund athletics for several years! Who determines if and when the staff receives raises and how much they receive? Is this something that the district has control over or is it controlled by the state and the unions?

Answer: We must abide by all existing collective bargaining agreements.

Please note that Plain Talk previously said, "If the entire B-P Central School District staff (administrative, support and teaching) all agreed to NO pay increase in the coming 2011-12 school year, the cost savings would be $860,516."
-answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent