There Will Like Be No Last Second DSF Miracle –
There Will Like Be No Last Second DSF Miracle – As Superintendent Hammond opined on Thursday, every time the district gets out of the budget hole, the hole gets deeper from the state. The state is facing another $8 billion hole which could grow to $14 billion if the propositions fail in May, as they are going down right now in the polls.
DSF wants to do something about those cuts. They are looking to raise money once again for the school district. On Thursday the school district all but said no. They believe along with the Superintendent and Associate Superintendent Bruce Colby that staffing cuts are inevitable.
They feel like they have very carefully planned the current cuts that will minimize the impact on the education the district allows, preventing entire programs from disappearing.
Some members of the board expressed in public, what they have been telling me in private for at least a month, probably longer. They would prefer any money to be raised to be general so that the school board would have the flexibility in allocating the way they sought fit without public expectations.
Nope, those who think that the DSF is going to come in and prevent staffing cuts are not listening very carefully at this point. The school board said loud and clear that this is not what is going to happen. Board member Sheila Allen flat out out told everyone that we need to stick with these cuts for now. And that the only way that we can avoid cuts is for the DTA and CSEA to consider pay cuts.
From DSF’s perspective this must be frustrating. They know that the way to raise money is to have a specific mission that they can rally the public around. I certainly have a large amount of gratitude toward the DSF and what they did for this community and our schools last year.
I wish things were different, but I think the board understands a few things in the bigger picture here that changes the scenario.
First, the DSF raised $1.8 million last year. It was a very specific mission and the economy at that time was far better. Moreover, the district believed that if they could weather that storm, that was in part a local financing problem, that they could pass a parcel tax longer term to weather the state funding problem. Thus they could afford to take a risk with one-time money.
The situation is very different this time around. The district is actually in good shape fiscally right now. That parcel tax money covered the loss of COLA from the state. There is no declining enrollment. And the district has cut enough overhead that the only deficit now is coming from declining money from Sacramento, not from local funding or spending issues.
The district is facing another round of cutbacks in June. The district is facing an uncertain fiscal picture for 2010-11 and beyond. And the district is not going to ask the voters to pass another parcel tax.
Thus any money they get from DSF is one-time. They have made the determination, and people can argue with them, but they made the determination that they are not going to use one-time money to finance on-going structural deficits. And so they are biting the bullet and dealing with the structural deficit now even though it means staffing cuts.
I have said this before and two teachers have jumped on my throat, the way out of this is for the DTA and CSEA to do what unions across the state are doing, take a pay cut. Times are rough, now one can afford to take a pay cut, even a 4% one, but that is what we need right now.
The alternative is that we are going to get staffing cuts this year. That is 50 people losing their job during a time when they are not going to find work again for probably two years and they face an uncertain situation with unemployment and as the relative of a teacher who has lost their job, COBRA is a bear to have to purchase to be covered health wise.
And as an addendum to that, if the district has to cut another $3 million this summer, that is going to be dozens more of personnel costs. As I explained last week, there are provisions within the Ed Code to allow for another round of layoffs in June if there is a passed budget that comes in with negative money. The district will likely cut other services to the bone as well, but the bottom line is that there is not that much to cut, we have to cut teachers which make up two-thirds of the district’s operating budget.
I want to say this here. What is happening to public education in California is downright criminal. Students in Davis are going to largely be okay no matter what happens given the level of parental involvement and the relative prosperity that they live in. But across the state, the level of education cuts is tragic. We are facing the real prospect that we have an entire generation of lost youth, under-educated, the most vulnerable harmed, and we have no idea what the consequences of that will be.
As the slogan goes, you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Try to see how much it costs to deal with a rising crime rate because we did not have the preventative measures to help the at-risk kids. Try to see how much it costs to deal with lost and declining productivity because the next generation of kids who graduated were less productive due to missing out on huge chunks of education previous generations got.
We like to think in terms of short-term impacts of cuts to the budget. That’s how this society works. But what we are doing right now is penny-wise for the very short-term and pound foolish in the big scheme of things. Education is a commitment, it is an investment in the future. Much of the other spending is a band aid on the present, but education is really forward looking and when you cut sizably from your investment, you will face ramifications that will be far larger than anything you can imagine.
Sadly there is not much we can do locally to change that. The DTA and CSEA can of course step up to minimize the impacts. But the DSF, and we love what they have done, unfortunately are not going to save us this time. We need the Governor and the Legislature to do that. We need to the taxpayers of California to do that. We need someone to do it, before it is too late.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
First and foremost, I agree w you DPD that teachers need to step up to the plate and take a paycut. As I said before, the same teachers that are willing to have newer teachers laid off, may find themselves getting pink-slipped. We need to keep people employed. The more layoffs, the more mortgages cannot be paid, the more foreclosures, the more the value of homes plummets, the less tax revenue for the state/education. Lay-offs create a vicious cycle.
However, if teachers take a paycut, then administrators need to take a double paycut. The pay raise given to Bruce Colby during an economic crisis still rankles, and was inexcusable.
That said, I do think at some time the schools need to look at what they do, cut some unnecessary boutique programs – BUT NOT NOW UNDER THE GUN. It needs to be done in a measured way, w some thought, and time for readmustment rather than w massive layoffs.
On another point, I just noticed the DHS Stadium upgrade will include a new scoreboard, new lights. How is that really necessary? This is the sort of thing which is just a shameful waste of money, IMHO. Oh – and the reason given for the upgrades? Bc some visiting schools refuse to play on our fields! Where are our priorities here?
“On another point, I just noticed the DHS Stadium upgrade will include a new scoreboard, new lights. How is that really necessary?”
The way I read it, the score board is meant to serve the stadium and the adjacent field, which currently doesn’t have a scoreboard. I would be interested to know what the contribution of the B&W Foundation will be; projected goal of $1.5 million.
I strongly believe that all California teachers should go on strike. Their strike should coincide with the STAR testing window. There has to be a consequence to the ridiculous manner that the State is trying to balance the budget on the backs of children (education cuts and future indebtedness). At some point, all California residents have to step up and pay, i.e. increases in taxes. This is the only way that the State can maintain its services based upon it’s fiscal mess. The only other option is to live with programmatic cuts. We cannot always demand that the teachers provide more with less. This is not only unreasonable but untenable over time. The UC and CSU systems are also looking into furloughs and wage cuts which may ultimately lead to an exodus of our best professors to universities outside of California (and lets not forget the grant money that they will be taking with them). In the end, by making wage cut demands we end up being penny-wise and pound foolish which will cost the State more in the long-term.
Strike,
Good, go on strike and show us dear teachers how you really care about children. Demanding more money for yourselves only shows just how selfish teachers are. You don’t care about the kids. you care about your bottom line. Take a 5% paycut across the board just as everyone else is having to do so and this will save education and kids. It might not save your personal bank account mr. teacher, but everyone is suffering. why should you get a raise when everyone else is suffering including the kids. Go on strike, that’s fine, it’s not like the kids will suffer any more than they are already being failed by schools and teachers.
please go ahead. go on strike. it will be very interesting.
btw, as far as taxes are concerned, there is a new 1% increase in sales tax. EVERYONE is paying more taxes and poor people are paying more percentage wise in relation to their pay. why should the tax payers continue to pay more so that teachers can make 77k / year and get 3 months off a year with no accountability from the teachers union or schools. Are you kidding me? didn’t we go through this before? We aren’t suppposed to be rewarding failure. Teachers are a failure for the most part and are showing their true colors by demanding tax payers to pay more money into their salaries and pensions while the tax payers are the ones that are suffering.
you teachers are begginning to disgust me
“Teachers are a failure for the most part and are showing their true colors by demanding tax payers to pay more”
That is a terrible comment, as far as I am concerned just a display of ignorance. The teachers are not at fault and they are underpaid. It is really too bad we have to ask them to sacrifice at this time. Both the State and Davis need to find better ways to fund education.
Oh just go on strike or unilaterally impose contracts or take a four percent cut to save someone else’s job. Its so easy to tell others what they should do. What is hard is to put your hand into your own pocket and pay up. This is what is so annoying to me as a teacher, people just throw this stuff out there as if it should be taken seriously when they have no skin in the game. Beyond this teachers can’t just go on strike for any reason just as the district can’t just impose a contract many of you need a diet rich in reality to overcome your obvious deficiencies.
You are demanding that people should dig into their pockets and pay up so you can get more money. Why don’t you reach into your own pocket and pay up? How dare you expect the majority of tax payers who don’t make much money, not as much as teachers do, to pay more money for you when they can’t even pay their own rents?
The governor has increased taxes for everyone except the rich. You should be asking for higher taxes for the rich in this state and not for the hard working, unemployed, underemployed people whose children are having to suffer because of your incompetencies. As a teacher, you sit there and talk about being underpaid. I want to see just exactly what you describe as underpaid? If you were making 10 dollars an hour then yes that would be under paid, but starting pay is at 34k/year, you get guaranteed raises, holiday pay, you get to go home before 5pm. you have no accountability. when children fail, you blame it on the children or the families that are struggling to make ends meet, and then you have the nerve to turn around and tell a struggling parent who makes less than 20k/year to dig down into their pockets and pay UP!!
How insolent. How disgusting. It’s an attitude of greed and entitlement and shows just how far from reality the teacher’s unions are. In Davis teachers might be underpaid because there are alot of people who are used to making more than 100k/year, but to the rest of the state and workers (minimum wage earners and the like) teachers are over paid. I’d like to see the actual numbers and statistics as to how much money the district spends on teachers guaranteed wages and raises, and benefits and paid holidays etc etc etc etc.
How dare you demand more money for yourselves when everyone else is suffering. how dare you
WHY DON”T YOU PAY UP FOR ONCE? Dig into your own pockets and make that sacrifice like everyone else is.
What I don’t understand is why are we spending money 10 million on a stadium erstwhile cutting Davis programs. Sounds like a severe set of screwed up priorities. It’s sounds exactly like the kind of behavior we hate in homeless people who ask for money for food and then turn around and buy alcohol or drugs. Why are we spending 10 mill on a stadium with pretty lights when we should be preserving teachers positions and desperately needed programs?
“What I don’t understand is why are we spending money 10 million on a stadium erstwhile cutting Davis programs.”
You post here all the time and you don’t understand the difference in facility money vs. classroom money? Do you not read?
shoes,
Teachers don’t get vacation pay, they get paid at an hourly rate amoritized over the year so they get a check during summer.
My understanding is that it’s a salary (rather than an hourly pay) that is dispersed over the year at the option of the individual. (PS, let’s not call people stupid, that certainly is not going to educate them).
Shoes,
I am no more responsible for other people losing their job than anyone else. Why should I be expected to pay more to retain teachers than anyone else? My point was that all of these posters are willing to put their hand in my pocket instead of their own. If they want teachers to pay they should be willing to pay as much. If not they should keep it to themselves. Teachers may need to take pay cuts but if we do we need to get there on our own not get berated by a bunch of teacher haters who haven’t received the therapy they need to get over their own educational trauma. At least Sheila Allen leads by example, having taken a pay cut at her day job. I can stomach hearing it from her because she knows how it feels but its different hearing it from a bunch of bloggers who are so insensitive to how what they advocate sounds to those who pockets they want to put their hand into.
“My understanding is that it’s a salary (rather than an hourly pay) that is dispersed over the year at the option of the individual.”
It is a salary that is proportional to the number of classes you teach. 1.0 FTE is considered full time. You could pretend that it is hourly, but in reality teachers are expected to do everything professionally required to make those hours of class time productive. Teacher pay is intended to cover costs of grading papers and preparing for classes, for instance.
“What I don’t understand is why are we spending money 10 million on a stadium erstwhile cutting Davis programs.”
The district is committing to borrow ~$4 million on the stadium using money that can’t be spent on salaries, but can only be spent on facilities, to repay the loan.
I am appalled by the blatant hatred and animosity Madame Shoes throws towards teachers. I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion, but those opinions could at least be supported by some rational common sense and decent facts.
What pay raise are teachers getting in this environment? Madame Shoes keeps reiterating this claim in her various postings (on this thread and others). DTA is not wanting to take a 4% paycut, but they are not asking for a raise. I don’t know where you are getting this from.
In fact, the ‘state raises’ (COLA) have not been given to the teachers for the past several years. The district has continually taken the COLA and not passed it on to the teachers (unlike state workers and other unions who annually received their COLAs)
Also, arguing that teachers need to step forward and take a pay cut like everyone else is not accurate. Many groups are giving up pay raises and COLAs, but they are NOT taking actual pay cuts. This is a widely-spread misconception that is being used to push Davis teachers to “do the right thing” and take a pay cut to save jobs. Sheila Allen’s board meeting ‘plea’ for teachers and CSEA to take pay cuts was, in fact, inappropriate public pressure since this is a negotiated item and should not be taking place in a public forum. She and Richard Harris, who has done the same thing at previous meetings, are, if nothing else, acting in bad faith and abusing their public position.
Madame Shoes, your attitude is horrible. You act like teachers are enjoying a free ride. Teachers go home before 5pm? They take their work with them too – grading, planning, reviewing, preparing, contacting parents. Teachers get paid over vacation? No – they are paid a salary that is spread out over 12 months. Teachers pass the blame when students fail? I fail to see how that is. Teachers make $77,000 a year??? The average teacher’s salary in Davis is $53,000 a year. While not poverty-level by any stretch, it’s not rolling in the dough either.
I don’t know where you have the idea that teachers are asking for more money. They are asking to keep what they already have. And as far as claiming that they “need to dig into their own pockets and sacrifice like everyone else”, they already have:
Davis teachers who are Davis residents voted for Measure Q and Measure W – they are paying the same higher taxes that everyone else is. Davis teachers across the board also contributed to the SOS campaign for DSF.
And when you factor in the reality that teachers pay for their own classroom supplies, work beyond the school day, they contribute MORE than they take.
I don’t know which teachers you are referring to, but the ones that I know work very very very hard because first and foremost, they care about the students.
You obviously hate teachers, so arguing with you is probably useless. But to let your hate-filled rants go unchallenged would be wrong.
I completely understand DSF not wanting to raise money for general purposes for the Board to spend. (To me, it sounds arrogant of the Board to even suggest that. Don’t they get what people are so angry about, locally and nationally??) However, I’m sure that DSF can sit down with teachers and administrators and come up with other areas where monetary contributions would help our schools. Saving teachers’ jobs is not the only worthwhile purpose of donor money.
I was going to suggest forming a reliable volunteer network to help out with the shortages caused by the positions that will be pink-slipped. There are out-of-work professionals in Davis who might welcome the chance to help out. But then I thought of all the red tape that would be involved, and I realized that this is probably not workable in a school district, no matter how good the intentions.
“In fact, the ‘state raises’ (COLA) have not been given to the teachers for the past several years. The district has continually taken the COLA and not passed it on to the teachers (unlike state workers and other unions who annually received their COLAs)”
I concede that I may be ignorant, here, but I think I perceive two different meanings of the concept of COLA as used by the DJUSD admin (and perhaps state government) and the teachers.
Most teachers in Davis regularly receive annual improvements in their salaries based on experience — referred to as step and column.
See [url]http://www.djusd.net/employment/certificated[/url] where you can see a salary range of ~$35K – ~$78K, depending on experience and education.
Mr. Colby and colleagues specifically refer to COLA’s as covering the yearly increase in cost of business of the district, including the increased budget burden when a large chunk of staff get increased salaries because of step and column movement. The teachers seem to refer to COLAs as the expected improvements to step and column salary numbers, that is apparently supposed to reflect increased personal expenses (more for housing, food, gas, etc.)
Just wondering if anyone legitimately understands and can offer clarity, here.
I think the teachers were given a 1% “COLA” salary improvement for this year, approved by this school board back in January 2007. Before that, someone else posted that the teachers received a similar salary improvement 2-3 years earlier. I haven’t had time to verify that.
“And when you factor in the reality that teachers pay for their own classroom supplies, work beyond the school day, they contribute MORE than they take.”
Measure Q has a component that is supposed to fund classroom supplies (up to a certain amount, at least). Does anyone know how that gets distributed? Does each individual teacher get a certain amount to spend? or does the site buy a bunch of supplies in bulk that then get distributed according to needs?
When I advocated teachers to agree to a paycut, it was NOT BECAUSE I THINK TEACHERS ARE OVERPAID OR ARE LOUSY AT THEIR JOBS. I am advocating the teachers step up to the plate and take a paycut (provided administrators take a double paycut) so that fewer teachers are laid off. That reason, and only that reason. An increase in taxes at this time is not feasible, as the average taxpayer’s pocket has been picked clean.
If teachers refuse to take a paycut, which is their prerogative, then programs will be cut – which means teachers will be axed anyway. But if teachers agreed to take a paycut, then far fewer teachers would have to be laid off. The paycut could be temporary, contingent on the economy, the issue to be revisited yearly. If you talk to young teachers who have gotten pink-slipped, they are angry at the unions who are refusing to talk about paycuts to save teachers’ jobs.
Additionally, if another round of teacher lay-offs happens, that is more folks unable to pay bills, like thier mortgage bill. If a family cannot make mortgage payments, then foreclosure happens. That devalues the price of homes overall, w a glut of foreclosed houses on the market w no one to buy them. The devaluation of homes means less tax revenue coming in to the state – which will lead to more teacher layoffs. It is a vicious circle. If someone sees the flaw in my argument, please point it out to me! TEACHERS, YOU NEED TO THINK LONG TERM – DON’T BE SHORTSIGHTED! Take a temporary paycut (make sure administrators take a much bigger one) w certain terms (be tough), to stop the vicious cycle of layoffs.
By the way, I am a former teacher. Salaries are yearly, not hourly. Teachers put in many, many hours beyond the usual work day to: grade papers, adminstrative work such as giving grades, reading and grading projects or essays, assisting students after school, creating bulletin boards, and the list goes on and on. Madam Shoes, walk in a teachers shoes for just one day before you offer criticism. A teacher’s day is long, w no bathroom breaks, no coffee breaks, often no lunch break. It’s a tough job. Some are better at it than others, but that is true in any job. Teachers are not paid well, but adequately, if they were getting decent health coverage, which Davis teachers are NOT. So IMHO, teachers in Davis are getting woefully underpaid.
By the way, Madam Shoes – teachers must now obtain a Master’s Degree in Education to get a teaching credential. Being a teacher is tough work…
Kurt said “In fact, the ‘state raises’ (COLA) have not been given to the teachers for the past several years.”
Actually, based on DJUSD figures, they have been given some years and not others.
With a slight decrease in enrollment 2007/2002, certificated salaries increased 20%.
The number of teachers, after dropping slightly from 2002 to 2003, remained nearly constant, at least through 2006.
Teacher pay increases in 2005 and 2006 made up for increases in the previous two years that were well below inflation. But the 6% increase in the 2007 (projected) budget was a pay increase well above the rate of inflation through 2007. 2008 saw no increase. So teacher at this point is probably either just about or slightly lower than the rate of inflation over the last few years.
Let’s try that last sentence again.
So teacher pay at this point has probably stayed just about, or slightly lower than, the rate of inflation over the last few years.
When I worked in another district it was broken down by the hour although it was a fixed amount of time so you can view it as salary if you want but teachers get paid for the hours they are required to be there during the school day.
If a district isn’t growing over time new hires will equal retires so salary and step increases will equal no net change in the budget and are not addressed by cola.
“When I worked in another district it was broken down by the hour although it was a fixed amount of time so you can view it as salary if you want but teachers get paid for the hours they are required to be there during the school day.”
It doesn’t matter if “it” is broken down by the hour. I assure you, teachers are expected to grade papers, do admin work, tutor after school, etc. on their own time if they cannot get it done w/n the allotted time. For all practical purposes, teachers get a yearly salary, in which they work far more than the 7 hour work day allotted “by the hour”.
Let me give you some examples of what was expected when I was a teacher.
1) I was allotted 25 min for lunch. But that was 25 min. to: wait until all the children were out of the classroom, hike from my portable classroom to the lunchroom, wait in line for my hot lunch, eat lunch, go to the bathroom, and hike back to the classroom before my students got there. It was a virtual impossibility to achieve all this in 25 min, so I brown bagged it and ate in the classroom, and held on to go to the bathroom until the end of the day.
2) I taught junior high math and science, w 7 periods. One period of 50 min. was for planning the next day’s lessons, which included not only my core course, but I also was expected to teach two classes, each different, and outside my field. For instance, I taught stock investing, art, and the like.
3) There were no bathroom breaks, no coffee breaks. A teacher was expected to be in the classroom at all times.
4) I often stayed after school to tutor students who were having difficulties w my class.
5) Administrative work is either done during the lesson planning period or taken home to be done, which includes grading tests and quizzes, running off copies of worksheets/tests/quizzes/other material, grading essays and projects (e.g. science lab projects). Since it is almost impossible to plan lessons, grade papers, and finish administrative work all in one hour, a teacher is expected to take this work home. My system was to come in one hour early, and stay an hour late every day. Whatever I did not get done in my 9 hour work day w 15 min for lunch, I completed on weekends.
6) I was also expected to perform hall duty every other day.
7) Student discipline was always an issue. I took a knife off a male student, broke up a lunch money extortion ring, had an incorrigible expelled from school, etc. Often there was little administration back-up for discipline problems. These days, it is much worse, w drugs rampant on most school campuses, and gang problems.
8) Good teaching is not rewarded. Fellow teachers not as effective are jealous and will try and undermine the efforts of stellar teachers. The administration could care less about the quality of teaching.
9) I was instructed to inflate my grades or be fired, bc too many of my students had failing grades. All I required to get a D in my class was to show up, and give it a try by making at least some attempt to do the work. Passing on failing students is a common practice.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this. Teachers put in many more hours than the hours paid for. I don’t want them to have their pay decreased, but if it means saving jobs for as many teachers as possible, then I think teachers need to make that sacrifice in the short term – provided administrators take no less than double the cut of teachers salaries. And it also assumes the issue of salary is revisited every year.