The author of the blog was recently laid off from Dartmouth. He writes:
He continues:
“Teachers are going to have a choice. They are going to either have to accept dramatic paycuts and reductions in benefits, or they are going to have to go on strike. THE MONEY JUST IS NOT GOING TO EXIST WITH WHICH TO PAY THEM AT CURRENT LEVELS. This is not an ideological position: it’s a monetary reality.”
He then writes that people cannot see past ideology.
“It is entirely fascinating how folks cannot see past the ideological, however, when trying to come to grips with reality.”
I see this all the time. I get accused of being a Republican on here at times because I believe that we cannot afford to pay city workers, firefighters, and various others what we want to pay them, what we are paying them, or maybe even what we SHOULD be paying them.
Three weeks ago I castigated the Republicans in the California Legislature because they did not get it. They needed to drop their ideology and accept the fact that we needed to balance the budget and the numbers weren’t there to do it without raising taxes. They weren’t. The Republican leadership understood that. The rank-and-file did not get the message. Nor did they get the message that if we did not pass a budget,(as bad a budget as it was from both a liberal and a conservative perspective), the outcome would be disastrous. As bad as things are now, they would have been far far worse.
This week we have to do the same to the DTA. When I criticize the DTA, I am not bashing teachers. I come from a family of teachers, I have been a teacher. I believe teachers ought to make as much as we currently pay firefighters. That is my ideological pre-disposition, but the world has changed. We do not have the money to pay those kinds of salaries. We may never have that kind of money.
We can no longer operate in the world today as though last year’s rules applied.
All across the state, employees unions are having to face a grim reality and make a bad choice. The choice is between jobs and salaries. Every week in this country more than half a million people are losing their jobs. Most of those people are not going to get another job for some time. That means that everyone needs to engage in a joint sacrifice.
And many have done that. State workers who make one half to a third of what teachers are making in Davis have accepted a 5% paycut which is in lieu of ten to twenty thousand of their co-workers losing their jobs. In the county of Yolo, workers have taken voluntary paycuts for a year hoping to forestall almost inevitable job losses. Even police in Sacramento have taken a paycut rather than see 70 of their colleagues lose their job.
On Tuesday night, the Davis Joint Unified School District vote to send out layoff notices to over 50 employees including nearly 40 teachers. At the meeting, several of the board members pleaded with the DTA to consider a paycut.
Did Board Members want to do this? No. Many of them were on the verge of tears. And it was genuine angst. Richard Harris who has at times put his foot in his mouth, told me a few weeks ago very somberly, “Where are these poor folks going to get a job if they lose theirs now?” And when? There are no jobs to be had. These people are looking at long unemployment. In another town my sistfer is one of them, her cobra payment just to have health insurance is ridiculous. Why would people do this when they have a choice?
I keep hearing, unless you are a teacher facing a paycut, you cannot understand it. Teachers are understandably concerned about their retirement. The district believes they can probably find a way around that problem if that is the hang up.
President Obama has called on this nation to sacrifice, engage in a joint sacrifice in order to get this country upon its feet. For those who criticized the prior administration for failing to make such as call when the the US was attacked on 9/11, it is music to our ear. But we must heed the call.
The call means we must give up a little so that our colleagues and brothers and sisters can get a paycheck and afford their health insurance.
The district estimates a four percent paycut is what is needed to assure that there is no layoffs. It may end up being less. That is less than state workers are taking. That is less than county workers are taking. And that is much less than the 100% paycut their unfortunate colleagues have to take.
But guess what folks, this is not just about teachers, it is about schools. It is about children. Each teacher cut is a one more class they do not offer. Not only is there a shared sacrifice needed to help their fellow teachers, but there is one needed to assure the kids get the best possible education. We are lucky in Davis for the most part, but these kids get one shot at education. This is their youth. And if we have to make cuts, they do not get this time back.
We all need to step up. But most of all we need to the leadership of the DTA to step up and explain to their colleagues who do not seem to understand that this is real. There are no other cuts to be made.
I got a call yesterday asking why the administrators are not being laid off. I said the reason is that they did their layoffs last year. The district cut one of its two associate superintendent positions last year. That means there is no associate superintendent of education. They have not filled their business services director position. They have not filled their risk manager position. They have cut various assistants in the administrative office. They have people there doing the work of several. They have made their cuts. And they have also stepped up to the table to offer to take a double cut to what the rank-and-file take.
The DTA has insisted that we can make cuts in other areas. They have done this at school board meetings. They did this on the radio with me. They have not to my knowledge shown up with concrete numbers. Instead we get questions on Tuesday as to why the school district is taking out a $10 million loan (they are not) and when they should spend down their reserve.
Let’s lay out the math here once again. The state requires a district to maintain a fund balance of 3% of its general fund in case of emergencies. How much is 3%? About half of the payroll for one month. Most districts average about 10% reserves. Right now the plan calls for this one to maintain a 6% reserve. How much is 6%? About one month’s worth of payroll.
A reserve is one-time money. That means once they spend it and do not replenish it through future savings it is gone. So yes, we could spend down that reserve, but it is not going to take us very far, and it is certainly not going to keep the district from laying off the employees.
The district made the difficult choice that it needed to deal with its structural deficit. They did so in order to best and most fiscally responsibly weather this storm. The fiscal expert they brought in, agrees with that approach. Who could not agree with that approach?
Again, it is a horrible thing to do. Board members were on the verge of tears when tjhey were being forced to lay off teachers and staff, but they did it. They had no other choice. The public has stepped up twice now to help the district. They did last year when they gave $1.7 million to the Davis Schools Foundation that enable no teachers to be fired last year. They did it again when they overwhelmingly voted for Measure W to give the district another $2.5. million That money is now preventing us from engaging in 114 layoffs rather than 50. There is nothing else the public can, will, or should be asked to do. Notice that the district is not asking. Neither really is the Davis Schools Foundation. There is nothing more that can be done.
But the amazing thing is that there is one group in this community that can step up, can sacrifice, can make this happen. It will cost them 4% of their salary to do it, but they can make sure none of their colleagues lose their job.
I am not anti-education. I think anyone who knows what I have done can attest to that. I am not anti-worker. I am simply laying out the truth. The reality of this situation. There is not enough money to pay every teacher what they are currently contracted to make. The choice is now theirs–they can take a paycut and save their colleagues or they can watch their youngest and most energetic teachers lose their jobs.
Cathy Haskell and Ingrid Salim, I like you a lot. I think you are good people. I am asking you on behalf of this community to stand up and do the right thing. Lay it on the line to your membership and ask them to take one for their team. This community will be forever in your debt if you do that.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I am not a teacher nor do I have kids in school. But how is asking people who make very little to begin with to give up even more “the right thing?”
It seems to me that the school board, the administration, and the community believe that the teachers should take one for the team in order to preserve the program. Don’t they “take one for the team” every day already with DJUSD’s lower pay scale and inadequate health benefits? Don’t they take one for the team every day in the classroom?
They do it because the standards of this community demand it. And now the situation is saying that we can no longer afford the program the way it currently is. But in order to preserve it, DJUSD and voices on this blog are saying that the teachers must step up and sacrifice 2.4 to 4 percent of their salary to save it.
I’m sorry but I thoroughly disagree with this point of view.
The program the teachers provide is for the benefit of the community. If the community wants it as it is, then they should give up 2.4 to 4 percent of THEIR salary. When I listen to school board members pressure the teachers to reduce their salary, they are essentially saying “You need to PAY in order to work here.”
If the community doesn’t want to see 40-something staff cut in a program that will impact their children, then let them pay for it. Asking the teachers to shoulder this burden is inherently wrong.
I have read messages on this board saying that the community has already stepped forward by donating $1.7 million and my passing Measure W. Don’t forget that many of those donations also came from the teachers who live in Davis. Now you are asking that same group of people to give more….on top of what they already give in the classroom everyday (which is already less than what comparable districts).
If DJUSD believes that they need to lay off 40-something teachers/staff and no one wants to see this happen, then there needs to be another solution to this than asking hardworking people to give up their salary. Teachers provide a service to the community and if it is a service that the community wants to preserve, then the community will need to answer. If the community feels that they have already ‘answered’ with the Save Our Schools effort and Measure W, then their voice has been heard. 40-something staff will need to be laid off if the program is to continue. But I believe that pressuring the teachers (which is what the school board, the district office, and this blog is now doing) is not ‘doing the right thing’.
First, the correct quote is
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
I think there needs to be a distinction made between short and long-term possibilities. I agree that in the short term there are budget realities that need to be faced. But as a community we should strive to connect the dots between huge defense spending and unregulated industries and the fix we are in now. As a society we are certainly capable of paying the salaries that teachers are getting now – just as we are capable of providing the necessity of healthcare for all. Our goal should be to allow a well informed citizenry to set priorities for a decent society. And to understand that growing inequality of wealth is destructive to a healthy, vibrant, free society.
Davis/DSF fundraising article in today’s Sac Bee:[url]http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1676788.html[/url]
Julian’s comments on right on the mark! I am thrilled to see someone in the Davis community thinking straight about this issue. It is about the community coming together and finding solutions to the problem rather than asking the teachers yet again to sacrifice for the greater good.
Roundup of Fairfield-Suisun, Vacaville, Travis, and Dixon USD’s:[url]http://www.thereporter.com/ci_11841689?source=most_viewed[/url]
“State workers who make one half to a third of what teachers are making in Davis has accepted a 5% paycut which is in lieu of ten to twenty thousand of their co-workers losing their jobs.”
I am a State worker that has taken 2 furlough days a month (not voluntarily), which results in a cut in pay of 9.2%. It should also be noted that 20,000 State employees received surplus notices (potential layoff notices) that may take effect if the budget does not pan out or the unions bargain for fewer furlough days. I am one of those people that has received a surplus notice because my seniority with the State is approximtely 8 years. I have made the sacrifice of a pay cut and yet I am still sweating the possibility of being laid off. So much for the promises of shared sacrifice…
Esparto USD (a smaller district in Yolo Co.): [url]http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_11851068[/url]
My family gave thousands of dollars last year to Davis schools and will do it again this year. We are big supporters of the system and feel very strongly that it is the parent’s responsibility to step in and cover any deficit, not lay it on the doorstep of the rest of the community. Digging deep is our shared responsibility as parents of students here.
The problem with the whole discussion of layoffs is that it is misdirected. Cutting 40 teacher positions could be done painlessly for the students. Allow the administrators to get rid of 40 bad teachers. Unless you really want to ignore reality- we have at least that many here. These are grumpy, past their prime, waiting for retirement in place, sick of students and just done with being here teachers- they are here. Ask ANY student… If the administrators were allowed to do their job- you could fix the budget in a long afternoon. The students would have a celebration, good teachers would fill their roles and life would go on for DJUSD without a blip… Oh wait, I forgot about Unions- the real problem with the budget.
The problem with unions is that it drags the entire discussion to the lowest common denominator. Rather than properly compensating exceptional teachers like the rockstars they really are; providing generously for the teachers that educate our children; for allowing the administrators to actually manage the teachers and advance the gifted and weed-out the weak, we are stuck with an endless battle to protect the marginal teachers with tenure…
All week this blog has been asking (really demanding) that the teachers do the right thing by taking this pay cut….did you ever figure that we have been taking pay cuts for years. This district never paid the full state COLA ….giving us one, two and one year a little over three percent cost of living (all the while the COLA being more and putting the balance of the money into more school programs all the while inflation was more, plus our health benefits have gone up every year.) You can give all the facts and figures you want, but being one of the teachers and working in the town for nearly ten years, I have seen my paycheck not keep up with my meager expenses. I can’t afford a house in this town – I commuted up until recently, and now I just got notification that my landlord is raising my rent 4.3% in September plus they are pressuring me to sign a lease NOW so they don’t rent my place from under me.
To say that administrators did their share….hum they did cut two associate positions only to replace them as assistant positions – plus giving them a five percent increase for the next three years. The teachers and classified employees see the waste and all we are asking is for the administration/Board to cut that before we take a pay cut. And yes, teachers and classified personnel have been making suggestions to those in the budget office.
During this week as we in the elementary schools have been working overtime to conference with parents, I’m finding some of these discussions demoralizing and degrading. Someone wrote earlier in the week the “young” teachers have more energy and should not be cut….I’m a better teacher now, with much more understanding and enthusiasm for the students and the curriculum than ten years ago when I was a “younger” person. This is a job that you do for the love of it, not to make a lot of money and to say that we are not doing enough….well maybe some of you need to volunteer in the schools, see how hard the teachers do work, all the levels we have to deal with and the demands that this community expects. See how the janitors and groundskeepers keep our schools clean and well maintained on their small budgets. Go and thank the secretaries, counselors, reading aids, who do a fantastic job every day working with the students, parents and administrators.
I do have faith in this community and I appreciate the above comments regarding this situation. Just about every day I hear the students in my classroom talk about the sacrifices their families are making, whether it is a lost job, cut in pay, and unfortunately, there will probably be more. For this school district, there will be hard cuts, and yes, probably a pay reduction (along with furlough days)….most teachers are willing to do that, but first program cuts (which might mean teacher cuts) have to be made. You stated that it is time to face reality; the reality is this district can not afford to keep all the programs that it has offered in the past.
[i]Julian’s comments on right on the mark! I am thrilled to see someone in the Davis community thinking straight about this issue. It is about the community coming together and finding solutions to the problem rather than asking the teachers yet again to sacrifice for the greater good.[/i]
I applaud that you mention solutions. What solutions would you propose? This blog is a good place to germinate those solutions.
[i]They do it because the standards of this community demand it. And now the situation is saying that we can no longer afford the program the way it currently is. But in order to preserve it, DJUSD and voices on this blog are saying that the teachers must step up and sacrifice 2.4 to 4 percent of their salary to save it.[/i]
It is valid that the teachers consider a pay cut. The classified staff appears to be accepting some kind of salary cut. The administration appears to be on record for potentially taking a cut. It will definitely look weird if the DTA did not acknowledge the issue.
I could also okay (but still a little bummed) if DTA flat out rejects a salary cut. But it would be very disappointing if the DTA leadership repeats the distracting false premises as reasons for rejecting a salary cut. They have lost the opportunity to have some clarity of discussion on the issue, and they may regret it.
It is not a $10 million load for the stadium, and the $4 million proposed loan will have no effect one way or another on next year’s salary budget. If Ms. Haskell can’t acknowledge that, then it is probably impossible to have that clarity.
Measures Q and W provide funding for many (probably most) of the extra courses at the high school. You can’t cut what the voters approved. If DJUSD has excess courses that are under-enrolled and are not funded by parcel taxes, then it’s important to be very specific and identify those course.
Making the assumption that the district will somehow come up with extra money at the end of the year to rescind pink slip notices like they did last year ignores important realities. Davis and DSF were lucky and fortunate to have raised $1.7 million. And the state and governor would have been more responsible in sticking to last January’s budget instead of a more optimistic May revise. It’s very hard to see how a lot of last minute money shows up this year.
I would respect the DTA a little more if they could acknowledge these realities and simply say, “Thank you, but we as teachers decided that we just can’t afford it.”
Instead there are insinuations that the school board and district are ignorant or hiding something. It’s tough to find a school district around here that isn’t issuing pink slips.
“And yes, teachers and classified personnel have been making suggestions to those in the budget office.”
DJUSD Teacher,
You are definitely appreciated.
But why not make those suggestions here as well?
“I could also okay (but still a little bummed) if DTA flat out rejects a salary cut. But it would be very disappointing if the DTA leadership repeats the distracting false premises as reasons for rejecting a salary cut. They have lost the opportunity to have some clarity of discussion on the issue, and they may regret it.”
I have always thought there is “pork” in our school system. Some of the programs/positions (e.g. Stage Technician) seem frivolous to me. However, teachers are insiders, and are more apt to know what classes are underenrolled, what classes do need the axe. Yet the best the teachers could come up with is “We shouldn’t be spending $10 millon on a stadium right now”, which has absolutely nothing to do with operating expenses and the whole teacher lay-off debacle.
If the teachers don’t want to be seen as unreasonable in refusing to take a pay cut, then their leadership should come up w a defined list of cuts that need to happen in their opinion, that would negate the necessity of instituting a pay cut. So far, teachers don’t seem to be coming up with anything other than irrelavancies or vague ideas. They really need to get their act together, and come up with some solid proposals. If not, then 40 teachers will be let go. And I as a citizen will accept the fact that the DJUSD identified the fat that needed to be trimmed. What else can citizens think?
DPD has it right in one sense. There is not as much money to go around now. So either the teachers have to take a pay cut, or programs have to be cut. Teachers apparently think the way to go is program cuts. I don’t necessarily disagree. But I would feel a whole lot more comfortable if there seemed to be a coherent plan for making the program cuts. It seems somewhat haphazard, and probably has more to do w seniority than substance.
And, I might add, Colby taking a 5% raise is despicable. There is no excuse for that, IMHO! Also, I am tired of the whining by the School Board about how terrible they feel about all of this. If you can’t take the heat, then get the heck out of the kitchen! We are not interested in hearing how sorry you are about making tough decisions. All we are interested in hearing is WHY you made the decisions you did.
[i]”On Tuesday night, the Davis Joint Unified School District vote to send out layoff notices to over 50 employees including nearly 40 teachers. At the meeting, several of the board members pleaded with the DTA to consider a paycut.”[/i]
I have a question for the teachers who are posting on this blog and who are active in the DTA: How much of a role is your parent organization, the CTA, playing in determining your defiant stance on taking “only” 96%?
I was informed (through an email I received last night from a member of the state assembly — not our member) that the CTA is now pressuring its local chapters (I’m not sure if “chapter” is the right term) to hold the line and not accept even small pay cuts.
Can you report on this blog if the CTA has been in touch with your leadership on this issue, too, and if the CTA has influenced your union’s contumacy?
[i]Some of the programs/positions (e.g. Stage Technician) seem frivolous to me.[/i]
The stage technician gets at least part of her salary from teaching the stage craft class. This is an ROP (Regional Occupation Program — a vocational-type program) offering which is funded by county money. It doesn’t come from the standard pot of money to fund teachers in the district, but can supplement some of the salary money.
For info on the program in Yolo Co., see this link:
[url]http://www.ycoe.org/depts/ssis/#YROP[/url]
Bob Dunning, excerpted from today’s (3/6/09)Enterprise:
[i]TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL – the headlines in The Davis Enterprise go right to the heart – ‘Board approves teacher layoffs.’ – can we really be serious? – Davis, it’s all about the schools – how many times have we heard that? – and the schools are all about our teachers – these are indeed grim times, but there has to be a better way – our teachers are our treasures – losing even one is one too many –
[/i]
State Worker,
I too am a state worker, so let me answer some of your questions or address your statements.
The furlough days were not voluntary. They were imposed on us by the governor. Once all state employees vote on the Tentavie Agreement between the union and the state (I have already voted have you? I voted YES by the way)then we will have 8 hours per month that we can use as we wish. This paycut will be 4.62% negotiated down by the union.
You said, “It should also be noted that 20,000 State employees received surplus notices (potential layoff notices) that may take effect if the budget does not pan out or the unions bargain for fewer furlough days.”
First, the budget has panned out. We have a budget. The union has bargained for 8 hours MapFlap (personal furlough day) per month to be used monthly, incrementaly, or saved and used before the end of the contract. Use it before your vacation time since you cannot cash it out and it has to be used before the end of the contract.
Surplus notices are not layoff notices. Layoff notices are SROA notices. Surplus notices are for department reductions. The union negotiated expanded layoff protections, so only if your department or program is shutting down will you potentially face layoffs.
Everyone is making sacrifices. I feel grateful to have a job because there are many who do not.
I have respect and appreciation for teachers and the work they do, but everyone is going to have to come together and work together to get through these tough economic times.
I would like to see more DJUSD administrators take more of a cut since they make more. The same goes for the heads of departments that work for the city and the city manager himself. It’s time to share the pain.
Can anyone answer a question for me, how many students are enrolled is some type of after school tutoring program? What is the pass/failure rate in the school district?
[b]Julian Anderson[/b]: [i]”I am not a teacher nor do I have kids in school. But how is asking people who make very little to begin with to give up even more ‘the right thing?'”[/i]
Very little? Teachers in California’s public schools are the highest paid teachers in the U.S. I don’t know what the average is in Davis, but the average in our state is $64,500 plus benefits and pension for a 184-day work year.
When you ask about ‘the right thing,’ you ignore what the DTA action of not accepting 96% of their current deal means to the 40 teachers (and 10 other employees) who will lose 100% of their salaries. I’m sure you don’t think that prospect is ‘the right thing.’ But to simply pretend that it won’t happen if the DTA does not budge is folly.
[i]”It seems to me that the school board, the administration, and the community believe that the teachers should take one for the team in order to preserve the program.”[/i]
The idea is that 100% of the teachers (and all non-teachers employed by the district) should take a small hit so that: a) no teachers or other critical employees have to be laid off; and b) so that the quality of education of the children is not harmed. We don’t have a public education system to make sure teachers and other school employees live a great lifestyle. We have public education in order that kids get the best education possible. That must always be the priority of the Board of Education.
Also, it is not the case that “others in the community” have not taken a hit. Unemployment is skyrocketting in our community. We are paying much more in taxes. Davis residents pay the highest school, parks, library and other taxes of any municipality in a 50 mile radius, not to mention our ghastly water, sewer and garbage bills (all far higher than others in our region). Our local businesses are suffering. Most are cutting back the hours of employees, if not firing people. I know a local businesswoman who will work 60 hours a week all this year in order to keep her doors open, without taking home any income for herself. To claim that others in the community are not taking a hit from the economic crisis is bosh.
[i]”Don’t they “take one for the team” every day already with DJUSD’s lower pay scale and inadequate health benefits? Don’t they take one for the team every day in the classroom?”[/i]
That’s all may be true, but it’s entirely beside the point. The question at this point in time is not whether we prefer to harm our children by firing 40 teachers or whether we prefer to keep all teachers and pay them 96%. Don’t pretend there is some other, better alternative right now.
[i]”The program the teachers provide is for the benefit of the community. If the community wants it as it is, then they should give up 2.4 to 4 percent of THEIR salary.”[/i]
You repeat that you believe no one else has it tough. That’s balderdash, Julian. And your proposed solution — the DTA solution — is not to preserve the income of the teachers. It is to fire 40 teachers so that the remaining teachers will keep their current salaries, which I might remind you increased from 2008-2008 at more than double the rate of inflation, according to the state standards for COLAs. If they take a 4% reduction, Davis teachers will still be making more in inflation adusted pay than they made two years ago.
[i]”When I listen to school board members pressure the teachers to reduce their salary, they are essentially saying ‘You need to PAY in order to work here.'”[/i]
Hopefully the Board is saying, our priority is the children and not your union. We prefer to allow all teachers to keep their jobs, and we don’t want to fire 40 teachers and 10 others, as the DTA would have us do.
[i]”If the community doesn’t want to see 40-something staff cut in a program that will impact their children, then let them pay for it.”[/i]
Again, you presume that this crisis is not affecting our community members who pay the taxes. This community is taxed up to its ears, and raising taxes again, when almost all of us are losing income and losing home value and so on is unreasonable and impractical.
[i]”Asking the teachers to shoulder this burden is inherently wrong.”[/i]
Even if it is ‘inherently wrong,’ the DTA offers no solution other than to make 40 teachers and 10 others take 100 percent of the hit. What you need to do is ask the DTA why those teachers (and the kids they are paid to serve) prefers that option?
[i]”I might remind you increased from 2008-2008 at more than double the rate of inflation.”[/i]
That should read: “I might remind you increased from 2000-2008 at more than double the rate of inflation.”
[i]Can anyone answer a question for me, how many students are enrolled is some type of after school tutoring program? What is the pass/failure rate in the school district?
[/i]
I can’t answer your questions completely, but I can tell you where to go. The Davis Bridge Foundation probably serves the most at-risk students in after school tutoring, and serves all grades, as far as I know.
Here is their website:
[url]http://www.davisbridge.org/home.html[/url]
The closest evidence I know to pass/fail data is dropout rate. If you are patient enough to dig around a little, check out this site:
[url]http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/[/url]
School board meetings may discuss pass/fail rates at some point, but I don’t know which meetings they’ve been discussed.
[i]”Also, it is not the case that “others in the community” have not taken a hit. Unemployment is skyrocketting in our community. We are paying much more in taxes.”[/i]
In case you did not see today’s Enterprise, Julian: “Things went from bad to worse between December and January as jobless numbers topped double digits in Yolo County and kept on going. Yolo saw unemployment spike nearly 2 percent to 11.6 percent, according to numbers released Thursday by the state’s Employment & Development Department. Statewide unemployment jumped 1.5 percent to 10.6 percent in the same period while the Sacramento metro area – El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties – saw a 1.6 percent rise to 10.4 percent.”
I’m not surprised to find a chain of blog postings from Mr. Rifkin trying to discredit my opinions. His postings in the past have a continual pattern of not supporting Davis teachers and their effectiveness. Good schools start with good teachers, despite Mr. Rifkin’s past claims to the opposite. We have good schools here in Davis but rather than support the teachers who help lead these good schools, his postings discredit the effectiveness of Davis teachers. As someone who has teacher friends and friends who have children in the Davis schools, I am familiar with the education scene here in Davis. Unlike Mr. Rifkin, I believe that protecting the local leaders in education is fundamental, rather than insinuating that they are overpaid and underworked.
I disagree that teachers’ salaries need to be reduced. Why not look at different options instead of pressuring hardworking teachers to give up what LITTLE they do make (and yes, they do make little despite Rifkin’s claims to the opposite).
Based upon conversations I have had with district teachers, it seems that there are indeed ways to run a more cost-effective program. First and foremost, the reduction of underenrolled and unnecessary courses offered at Davis Senior High School is something that should be addressed.
This board has been filled with discussion about the new offering of a Baroque Orchestra. In addition to that absurbdity, did you know that the Orchestra currently has TWO teachers for one course? The orchestra director has an assistant who is paid a .2 FTE for that class. Entirely unnecessary.
There are also sections of language classes that are under-enrolled. I have heard that there are some full-time teachers who have only 80 student contacts in their day. The average classload for a full-time teacher is 150-160.
Did you know that the board and members of the community recently pushed and mandated a PE course called “Independent Lifetime Sports and Strength & Conditioning”. What in the world is that? There’s another unnecessary .2 FTE that is being funded.
There are also a full slate of AP Art History classes that students say are a joke at DHS. Students do not take the AP exam and one of the teachers actively encourages his students not to take the exam, while they are watching movies and having parties. Why are we funding several sections of this?
The high school and the junior highs also offers ‘study skills’ classes known as AVID, but the students who come out of AVID do not demonstrate any improved skill difference or better learning strategies.
At the district office, there are positions that are not needed. Why are there two directors of special education? How about the recently created position of Coordinator of School Climate Activities? Friends of mine who work for DJUSD will tell you that they are unsure exactly what this position does. Sounds like another unnecessary salary. And why are there two directors for BTSA, the program for beginning teachers?
State workers have taken a reduction in salary but that was mandated by the governor – it wasn’t something that they volunteered to do. Police officers in Sacramento are giving up their ‘raises’, not reducing their salaries. And Hammond, Colby, French, and Bryant’s offer to take a 5 percent salary reduction is misleading. They wouldn’t be taking a salary reduction, they would be giving BACK their salary increase.
And salaries are a negotiable item for DTA, not something that is supposed to be pressured by board members in a public forum, which is essentially harrassing DTA to capitulate or look like the bad guy, despite their legal rights.
40 proposed layoffs do not need to happen, nor does a decrease of 2.5 or 4 percent. Trimming the excess should happen first.
A quality education lies in a quality program and in order to have a quality program you must have quality staff. Taking away salary, when other options could be explored, should be a last step instead of a publicly pressured strategic harassment.
Again, you presume that this crisis is not affecting our community members who pay the taxes. This community is taxed up to its ears, and raising taxes again, when almost all of us are losing income and losing home value and so on is unreasonable and impractical
Your same logic applies to the teachers of DJUSD who live in Davis (of which there is a majority). Those same teachers are already paying for Measure W, gave to the Save Our Schools foundation, have spouses who have lost income, and have seen their homes drop in value.
Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean that the district’s teachers have to do it too. Not when there could be another way.
And to Rich, you should not put words into my mouth. Refering to my thoughts as “balderdash”, unreasonable and impratical was unnecessary and quite condescending.
I never said that others in the community were not taking a hit, and I take offense at the way in which you manipulate my sentences to discredit a differing opinion.
My father had a saying “Nobody wants to P-ss backwards.” So asking DJUSD teachers to take a cut is a truly bitter pill to swallow.
Woodland, where teacher salaries and especially benefits never got as good for teachers as they did in Davis is having about the same number of layoffs as Davis. This despite having nothing like the Davis Schools Foundation or measure W and a larger student population.
So if Davis had never paid more it would be different than giving back. Not economically different but certainly psychologically.
Having said all this and with an understanding of the deep distress our economy is under I find it ironic that people have been so accepting of the failure of Sacramento to deal with the structural deficit. You can go all the way back to prop 13 on this but I would rather look at the effect on the state budget that the intransigence on taxes from the minority has had as well as the cutting of the car tax. These have been discussed at length but what has gone unnoticed is how the Governor spent the tax windfall from the stock boom of 2003- 2007 getting re-elected. When Bush cut capital gains taxes California did not follow, continuing to tax capital gains as ordinary income. California had no choice since prop 13 limited property taxes it was impossible to follow Bush on capital gains. When Google went public it resulted in a huge one time net tax increase for the state. The Governor facing resentment over his failed special election in 2005 spent every penny in the treasury pumping up public sector workers salaries.It worked and he got re-elected. Now the chickens have come home to roost on the economy and the Governor wants to take it back.
This brings me back to my father because nobody wants to p-ss backwards. Now blaming the teachers seems a little short sighted. They are not the ones who set the cola or held up the budget or refused to raise taxes. They negotiated a contract in good faith based on the numbers as they were presented.
The need for teacher cuts was cast in the Sacramento when the budget was passed. To say the teachers are responsible for the layoffs of others in their district misses the big picture. If California wanted to not have teacher layoffs it should have passed a budget that increased revenue enough to prevent them. How much more would each of us need to pay. Even if the entire 14 billion in cuts was from education that is less than $500 per resident. Now 4% of the $64,000 average teacher salary in Davis is $2560 cut per teacher. So it seems you are suggesting that teachers take a much bigger hit than the taxpayers in general or that somehow the layoffs dictated by Sacramento budgeting is the responsibility of the teachers in the classroom.