I am sitting at the budget meeting. I will have a more comprehensive post concerning the budget forum but since I have nothing else to do, I thought I would make a quick post.
I was the first to comment. I had printed out the fourteen questions that I sent on Friday and had a copy for the board members, Jan Klein, and Tim Steinhauer. I asked if the board members could each take a question and answer only nine of the fourteen questions. Mary Birks immediately mumbled, "No way!"
Since I would publish the answers here, Elaine Cappucci was not interested in writing for my blog. She was not willing to provide any answers. All have been discussed at the meetings, she claimed. Mrs. Posti clarified that Jan Klein did not receive a 6.9% increase as was reported in the Post Gazette. She said that the PG printed a correction and that it was 3%. I have not been able to find that. Jan Klein thought that the second bond would possibly be in the fall.
One more resident spoke, as well as two staff members.
Now, the board is going through the motions of looking at cuts. No cuts yet. Everything is being taken off the table. Looks like we're going to be hit with a big tax increase. Wait, now we're talking about fees. Larry Lebowitz listened to Bill Matthews say that they had to do something. Looks like fees are going up so that there are no education cuts. This falls under revenue generating, according to Larry.
Update 11:19 PM Bill Matthews presentation to the School Board
Podcast to tonight's budget forum
Update April 4, 2013 4:15 PM Pittsburgh Business Times published their slideshow, School budgets: 5 years ago to now
19 comments:
Rifle range has to be brought up to OSHA standards which will cost $500,000. There is an interested team in using our rifle range, regardless of the condition. They are not going to cut the rifle program. It has been taken off the table.
Now we're going to talk about the unions and if they are willing to make some concessions. Dr. Tim will talk with the unions. Instead of getting a 3% raise, would they consider a 1.5%, was the recommendation.
Elaine
I believe the teachers contract calls for an average 4.15% increase each year of the contract thanks to the majority of this board, and the retirement benefits that go along with it !
I updated this post with the presentation made by Bill Matthews. You should listen to the podcast while looking at Bill's presentation. I provided a link to the podcast in the update.
No one should be treated the way Bill and I were treated tonight by the school board.
Elaine
Looks like Mrs. Capucci said plenty tonight on your Blog, Ms. Gillen.
Would Dr. Steinhauer be willing to make some concessions ?
I took down the poll about the board's four options concerning the budget. Elaine Cappucci spilled the beans right off the bat when she talked about the .55 millage increase. Dale Ostergaard brought up how that was never decided. Some wanted .55, others wanted less or no increases.
Folks, we are screwed. The board is not interested in joining the conversation, unless it is less than four minutes, and even then, there is no desire to answer questions or share information. Enough with the charades, Elaine.
Elaine
Cappucci spilled the beans a couple of years ago when she responded to the CAC's study of the renovation plans that she had no intention of revisiting building C.
But, even with that example in hand, residents like those in the VOICE, BOSN, PTA will keep electing people like her, Birks, Remely, Lebowitz and Cooper.
Then one day they wake up and find there are no librarians, counselors and it'll cost their kid $500 to drive to school.
Posti wants to eliminate gym classes for student athletes, want a warning of the next step... any kid engaged in a sport will be required to pay a student athlete fee for the privilege of participating in a sport.
At first it will be minor and the lemming parents will say, eh it's only $25. But once they get parents on board it will double to $50.
That day is here. Timmy reported that the students had no objections to the $50 parking fee. Now they want to double it. No mention of staff paying for parking.
The system is broken. Why should a resident dread going to a school board meeting, knowing how they will be mistreated? Or have second thoughts about attending a public session like a sports advisory board meeting, which btw, is on Thursday? We have bullies running the joint. I think it might be time to hang it up.
Elaine
There you go, Dr. Steinhauer knows the students have no objection to a $50 parking fee.
But ask him about whether he and his staff have any objection to paying $50 to park and see what he says!
Hell, the teachers that managed to go from substitutes to full time teachers aren't happy to get full time jobs. They want even more!
Fire them, there are plenty of experienced teachers laid off in the rescission that'll happily take their spots.
8:15, you would think the District should have learned its lesson and made it policy not to hire permanent substitute teachers as full-time contract teachers.
Instead, the practice continues, making the the problem worse and increasing the settlement payout if the District loses the grievance.
9:25 sorry I have to disagree with you on this. A stable classroom is essential especially for kids in the early years.
Plus Mt. Lebanon is a premier district and can pretty much set its terms for employment. It is not like we don't take care of our teachers or provide them with a great working environment.
So here's how I'd handle the long term sub issue.
Each and every sub is handed a contract before getting on the sublist. One of the provisions of that contract should be...
if they are offered a long-term sub position, it will be only as a long term sub.. The time will not be applied to their full time emploment should they at some point be hired full time!
The only benefit of being a full time sub is that if they perform up to the expectations of a MTL teacher they are candidate #1 for the position when it becomes open for a full time teacher.
If they don't agree to that condition then they don't get offered a full time sub position...period.
There are plenty of qualified, laid-off teachers in the market that would jump at a chance to be a MTL teacher.
The only instance for a long term sub to file a grievence would be if the received excellent evaluations and someone was hired for the full time position they were filling, over them. That would be the only guarantee.
If they don't like it, they are free to apply at Bethel, Duquesne or Chester in Philadelphia. They'd be glad to have them.
I believe the average daily absentee rate for MTLSD teachers overall is at or close to 10%. I know a former "permanent sub" who was on the daily call list, and most of the sub days she covered were for class subject matter she was not and had not been certified to teach.
Both of these points represent absurd conditions not well known to parents and taxpayers !
The attitude that comes through loud and clear in 11:20 AM's post is exactly what's wrong here....we're a premier school district...we offer a great working environment....people jump at the chance to live and work here.
It's precisely this stupid cock-of-the attitude that makes us reviled and ridiculous.
We are going downhill fast, and the tax structure is only going to hasten that. Things are far from perfect here.
11:20, you pointed out the grievance:
"if the received excellent evaluations and someone was hired for the full time position they were filling, over them. That would be the only guarantee"
Hence, the change in policy 9:25 proposed.
We WERE a premier district. There is a reason why Mt. Lebanon wasn't one of the 21 municipalities.
"These 21 municipalities really have set a standard of how local government should function, and should be commended for the work that they do for their residents.”
If only being belligerant to constituents was part of the methodology. We would have been number one. I see that Collier is one of the banner communities. They have Nevillewood and are still cautious with their dollars and treat their residents with respect.
Elaine
1:06 I did not say loud and clear that MTLSD is the best, #1, the most glorious or whatever you think I said.
There are a great number of problems here and I agree the district may be going downhill fast.
But, by all measures I can find, the district is still rather high in all benchmarks such as graduation rates, test scores, teacher compensation and so on and so forth.
MTLSD isn't Duquesne or Pittsburgh Public Schools.
How long it will stay closer to USC rather than move down closer to Duquesne is anyone's guess.
Holy Cow, Elaine ! You can hear Cappucci smacking her lips when she is serving your head on a platter ! She really enjoyed it !
The PBT says the 2012-13 budget is $80,585,500 yet the MTLSD says the total budget revenue for 2012-13 is $83,152,480.
http://www.mtlsd.org/district/stuff/budget_2012-2013.pdf document page 50, pdf page 56.
It's also fascinating to see state subsidies continue to rise every year (see same page 2 lines up) in the face of declining enrollment, yet Birks and the board keep bashing Corbett.
Birks lost my vote at Tuesday's meeting, she won't make tough decisions.
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