Opinion: The 2019 budget development is a dog and pony show

Dear Editor,

In December, the New York State Department of Education posted the 2017 data on the state’s public school teachers. Owego Apalachin School District posted the highest average salaries, $65,000, of the Southern Tier (57 Districts). We have been at the top at least since 2008. Our Board of Education has been aware of this for at least four years. 

Property taxes are important; however it’s the resources available to our children that matter. This excess has and continues to extract a hefty price; between 2011 and 2016 we lost a minimum of 50 teacher years to the Owego Apalachin Teachers Association (OATA) union’s overly generous compensation (salaries, incentives, perks, and pensions). Whether or not the reduced number of teachers was the direct cause, a real problem developed with 9th grade graduation.  

Should our District buy books for $700 per pound, State Aid does not share the cost for imprudence. OACSD’s preponderant cost, the teacher’s union contract, is far beyond all measures of reasonableness. All property tax increases of the past 10 years have gone exclusively to ever increasing union compensation. Simultaneously, this drew down OACSD’s very substantial savings. 

In comparison to peers, OACSD is tops. In comparison with prevailing local standards it is superior with consideration of benefits. The union pension is unequivocally the best and exempt from state income tax. Should you retire at 55, your 401(k) will be taxed by New York State and with an additional federal 10 percent early withdrawal penalty. The OATA’s average salary is $65,000. The OACSD average household income is $65,000. Private sector healthcare and pension benefits create a far larger gap.  

The excessive compensation is more expensive than one would assume. The OATA is a big tent. It includes part-time teachers, guidance counselors, special education teachers, speech therapists, school nurse teachers, school psychologists, librarians, instructional group advisors, teaching assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapist assistants, nurses, physical therapists and more.  

This is not a criticism of our teachers or District personnel. Academically you’re now beginning to get a bigger bang for the buck, thanks to District personnel. Attend a BOE meeting and see some of our teachers and their students. You’ll wish merit pay wasn’t union prohibited. 

On Feb. 11-12 you can join the teachers union in Albany for their 2018 Legislative Summit and Lobby Day. The Legislature needs to know their place. Funding the nation’s highest cost teachers and pensions always requires more money for “the children”. Fortunately, there are cases soon to go before the New York State Supreme Court challenging the Teachers Union’s detrimental effects on children. 

In 2014 our BOE were presented with the convoluted terms of a union contract, which were so rapidly increasing monetary compensation. For school years 2016 thru 2018 a new contract was negotiated. Despite BOE awareness of the financial impact, excessive compensation was accelerated. It is inconceivable how the interests of the most highly compensated union takes precedence over our children and taxpayers.  

Besides salaries, buried within the contract terms are financial and intangible benefits beyond those of other Districts. This can be tested by comparison of OACSD contracts with prior contracts and Districts. This giveaway is nearly impossible to see among gradual changes and convoluted terms. Some are incomprehensible. Try to untie the Gordian knot of provisions 1.1, 5 and 8.  It is a lot of work and headache. Contracts are available at http://seethroughny.net/ and http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/perbcontracts/1345/. SeeThruNY is a public watchdog group. Consider the fact that all, except the most trivial, all OACSD contract obligations are yours. 

Some provisions of the current contract are contradictory. There are incentives to stay and retire! This is the best of both worlds. In the last contract iteration a retirement incentive exclusive to teachers was expanded to cover all members under the big tent.  

Go figure, in years where District finances eliminated teachers we increased early retirement incentives! In the small print, union interests dominant. For example, in other school, town, police, etc. union contracts, the cost of dispute resolution is shared. Behind the smoke you bear the full cost of dispute resolution. This can be expensive. 

Little things add up. Go figure, we provide the very best compensation package and incrementally give away intangibles and tangible dollars, rather than nickels and dimes.  

In 2017 the BOE removed its fiduciary duty for stewardship of the public funds from its goals and objectives. The old OACSD Policy Manual states, “All district monies shall be expended in an efficient and judicious manner, bring the greatest benefit to the district,” and “A formal process shall be developed linking fiscal resources and program priorities to the budget.”  

According to New York State Education Department data, our BOE has done the contrary. Without adherence, the 2019 budget development is a dog and pony show. Let the BOE demonstrate this. The last of the BOE’s 14-point protocol is “Children’s interests come first. The board will represent the needs and interests of all the children in our district.”   

BOE priority allocation of resources to the union also fails here.  

Sincerely,

Haig McNamee

Owego, N.Y.