(Editor's Note: The original article posted stated that there was one concession by the Miller Place Teacher's Association, but what was agreed upon is a retirement incentive. There has not been a concession agreed upon by the MPTA. We apologize for the miscommunication.)
When the Miller Place Board of Education , it was announced that some clubs and programs that were on the chopping block would be restored, but it wasn't known how many.
At Wednesday's meeting, Superintentent Susan Hodun presented the changes to the budget and announced that all co-curriculars and athletics that were in danger have been restored thanks to concessions and other factors. Certain classes and the positions associated with them were also restored.
At the , six clubs were restored and at the Middle School, one club and the entire athletic program will return for the 2012-13 school year. The total co-curricular and athletic reductions decreased from $262,477 to just $10,620 for athletic uniforms.
Regarding staffing reductions, the originally proposed 22.5 faculty position reductions fell to 16.7. This was highlighted by the return of two music positions with the restoration of the performance groups and high school jazz chorus and band. Also, High School elective course offerings in business, science and other fields were restored.
There were a few keys to making restorations possible, and those included concessions, retirements, clerical reductions and an increase in State Aid. Miller Place administrators will pay an extra $4,000 to $5,000 into their health benefits, and a full list of concessions will be in the minutes from Wednesday's meeting, which will be available later in the week. The Board also announced that it is still at the table with the Miller Place Teacher's Association, and it's possible more changes will be made.
An additional three clerical and support staff reductions were added, along with the elimination of one bus driver. The district announced that six teachers will be retiring this year as well. State Aid for the district was increased by four percent, and a change in the debt service figure increased the districts tax levy cap from 2.6 percent to 2.96 percent, a total allowable levy of $41,300,365.
After concessions were announced, a stream of residents flooded the microphone to voice their appreciation.
"I was up here a couple of times trying to get everyone to show leaders and take the first step and this truly is taking the first step," said Marc Bloom of the Athletic Booster club. "It really means a lot to us and it shows the first step towards righting the community."
The final budget hearing before the May 15 vote will be held May 8, and additional adjustments to the budget could be announced.
You have a wrong focus. The problem on LI is that the salaries and benefits in the schools are unaffordable and have grown out of proportion what the communities can support and afford. They are also out of proportion compared to what most in the community pay for their benefits or their incomes. No amount of school aid can compensate this. The BOEs who award those contracts do not plan how to pay for them. The time of passing the cost onto the taxpayer is over.
I suggest that we should not mix the concessions with the surprise of the increase in the tax levy from 2.61 to 2.96 percent, about which the community was neither told in a timely fashion, nor in the right way. I think that these two are independent events, which, because of their timing, are incorrectly being connected. The explanation that, at the BOE meeting on April 25th, was given to me regarding why the tax levy was increased was not sufficient; so, as you see, more of an explanation is needed. So this issue must be clarified so we all can know what happened and when it happened. The explanation given by MPmustChange in only one part of the story. I believe that thanking the administrators and those who made concessions so that programs for the children can be restored is appropriate, and so I did express my thanks to them at the last BOE meeting.
Actually it would help if you could support your comment with statistical information. Furthermore it is not only salaries, it is the compensation package as a whole that drives the cost of running the schools: the almost guaranteed 6 percent pay raises, the health care contributions that are below what others on LI pay, the fixed pension benefit, the retirement inducements that increase the value of the pension at the retirement time, which then become a long term liability for the school districts, the list goes on. Lats but not least, if the market place were to determine the compensation the cost would be much lower as there are many well qualified LI teachers who are teaching in NY City or are currently unemployed who would gladly accept the jobs in local school districts.
According to longislandindex.org they quantify the high cost of living to be 30 percent higher than the national average. also not to beat a dead horse, but whenever anyone states a teacher salary they never say how long that teacher has been working in that district. The higher salaries are usually for those that have been invested in their districts for 15 years up. And it is important for the public to know that all teachers must complete a masters and in some districts plus. In many companies that cost is often offset by tuition help as a benefit. Not so for teachers. That cost is out of pocket. Also, here is another statistic for you. NY state is paying Pearson publishing 32 million dollars to make the state assessments. That is crazy in light of all the errors. Why aren't you all screaming up at Cuomo to restore this money back to the kids?
Also Janet you live in a bubble because 0ver 74 percent of us companies give tuition reimbursement. http://www.compdatasurveys.com/2011/03/02/tuition-reimbursement-an-important-benefit-5/ And I always stand behind what I say... Yes I would pay more taxes to educate my children! I have taken a hard freeze on my pay since 2009.
There is no winning this discussion. We see things VERY DIFFERENTLY. But I will be darned if I will be forced to move from the home that I love and the friends that I love because I can't afford property taxes to pay for someone else's perks.
All could be avoided if MPTA agrees to make concessions that allow avoiding the layoffs and restoration of the programs, including business classes. As you can read in Scott Mandia's blog on the Patch the ball is in the MPTA's court now and the whole community waits to see if MPTA puts the children in the middle of the MPSD circle, the phrase used in the past to describe the importance of children's education. The discussion during the budget process clearly demonstrated that after years of supporting the budgets and the contracts almost unconditionally, the parents are concerned both about the education and affordable taxes. Now is the time for MPTA to reciprocate.
I differ with your take on the interest shown by the public. I have not seen the board meetings so well attended in many years. That, coupled with the active debate here on Patch and through the various organization's email listserves, has lead to the most thoroughly vetted budget process in a long time. Anyone who has been paying attention knows the rotten financial shape the state and national economies are in, and that all of the loose change in the couch cushions has been located. Compromise is the only solution.
Thank you for the politeness of your comment. I appreciate that even if one disagrees, one can to it in a civil manner. You probably know that I have been involved in the MPSD budget discussions for a long time. My position has been a support of Sound Academics Neighborhood Economics (SANE). Allow me few observations. The community is not putting sports and clubs ahead of education. However one needs to realize that sports and clubs have been cut in the past to preserve academic programs. All this while the MPSD community continued to support the teachers and their contracts, even if those unaffordable contracts meant cuts in AP classes and other programs you would consider purely academic. In order to do so the community absorbed tax hikes that over the years were many times of inflation. This was unsustainable and lead to what we are facing today. I am continuing below
So at this time we have community contributing by supporting a budget that will very likely result in the taxes growing by three to four percent, this should not be confused with the tax levy growth of 2.96 percent. The administrators gave back also. Hence the choices made by the BOE and the administration are based on what was mandatory in education and by what keeps the balance in MPSD. It is my opinion that preserving the programs and cutting all co-curicula activities would not be the right choice. It is not realistic to expect that concessions from the administrators would be used towards saving teachers jobs, while there are so many other needs. So the only way to preserve the educational programs and the jobs that go with them, which is what we all want, is for the Miller Place Teachers Association (MPTA) to give something as well. I am frankly puzzled that in this economy and given what I just wrote MPTA seems to be willing to do nothing.
You are correct....there is something extremely wrong with this economic picture. Please note that the Busness Dept is not a "mandated" class. Therefore if it cannot be afforded it must go. Sorry to say....but when you cant afford what you have you have to start cutting. All electives are extremely important....and every year another one is gone. This is what happens when the community has given and given over the past many years with a rubber stamp to all Union Contracts. A quick lesson is Business....if you couldnt afford last years budget, why would you give a raise based on the CPI and a contract extension to boot???? And knowing that you gave up all that...what on earth made you think you were going to be able to afford it this year???? Or did you just think that the tax payers were going to roll over and pierce the cap? The MPTA knew this was coming and laughed all the way to the bank. Seems that everyone involved needs a Business Dept! The disconnect in this community is clearly the MPTA or should I say the management of the MPTA. They have clearly lost a sense of reality!