Layoffs? Or pay cuts?

Florida's school districts face some tough choices as money gets tight. They face the first year-to-year decline in spending money for the first time in about three decades, if lawmakers stick to their budget plan. As a result, leaders have begun talking about eliminating field trips, increasing meal prices, scaling back sports.

But everybody recognizes that the 800-pound gorilla is employee salaries and benefits. They make up about 85 percent of spending in most districts, as superintendents regularly point out. So while trims in transportation might make up some financial ground, the districts increasingly find themselves needing to cut pay or cut positions.

Manatee County officials like the former better than the latter, and they've proposed slashing salaries by about 5 percent for teachers (and 7.5 percent for administrators) rather than laying off more than 400 employees that key leaders estimate would have to go to balance the budget.

"Our attitude was, everybody gives a little so nobody has to give everything," School Board member Jane Pfeilsticker told the Bradenton Herald.

But will teachers take it? Unlike parents, who have only PTAs and SACs to wield some influence, or kids, who have just student government, teachers have legally enforced collective bargaining on their side. And they can fight. (Look no farther than the Collier teachers and their yearlong battle over a 1 percent bonus. Or consider Pasco teachers' rejection of a proposal to delay their step increases for next year.)

So while families watch their programs get cut without much say, teachers actually might be able to choose whether they like less pay for all, or no pay for some. Wonder which one looks better (especially to the ones getting pink slips).

Comments

Why can't Medicaid doctors providing dialysis just take half pay for their services instead of letting people die? Or, why can't the Legislature just fund the level of service that they think is justified. Why should teachers take a pay cut to balance the state budget? Give parents what the Legisalture paid for and let the parents decide whether the legislators or the teachers are to blame for the budget meltdown.

[dixi.teacher]

How can you expect teacher's to accept a pay increase when the cost of living is increasing daily? People are all concerned about the quality of the education and teachers, but they refuse to pay for it. Remember, you buy cheap -- you get cheap.

[Concerned]

Charlie Crist needs to make good on his promise to hold education harmless. Veto this budget!!!

Dear Concerned,

Charlie said that the Legislature should avoid mid-year cuts to education in October; he was ignored by the Legislature. Charlie said that mid-year cuts to education were unnecessary in March; he was ignored. In February, he said that funding for the public schools should grow by $1 billion from about $19 billion to about $20 billion. The Legislature has responded by cutting education by about $600 million to a $18.4 billion budget instead. This is over a $1.5 billion difference. At the end of the day, Charlie will roll over and sign the budget just as he did the first two times.

[Dave]

Gas prices are going to be raised nearly every day...that alone has increased by 26% at this point. This will impact every other area of our lives, yet we are expected to take a cut or lose our jobs...well my job already got cut!
And I can tell you if the teachers were to flood the private realm, most would succeed as well or better then in education. Many have Master's degrees, and there are probably more doctorates in education then any other field! But we chose to make a difference in the lives of kids, and young adults!
And there are still less then .05% of teachers who are a negative on the profession.

I agree, Dave, and if the Legislature doesn't want to provide enough money to keep these good teachers in the classroom, they will leave for other opportunities. The losers will be the children and the taxpayers. Eventually, the leadership of the legislature needs to pay for their failed policies.

[Tony]

Where\who do you people think this money is coming from? Property values are dropping, sales tax revenue is dropping. That means budgets must drop as well. Do you want to pay more taxes? Everybody that does want to pay more, just write a check to your school board.
Dave if teachers joined private industry this country would grind to a halt in no time. Private employers demand a full day, 12 months a yr. Being a teacher is like being the highest paid part time work in the world. How many days a year does a teacher work? 185? 190? Private industry works more than 240 days a year, eight hours a day. We don't get paid more just because we got a masters; we actually need to be able to do more to get paid more. We work on merit, we don't perform we are out of there. No teachers union to cry that it is our clients parents fault we can't do our job.
No I am not bitter, holding onto religion and guns, but tired of seeing my tax dollars go to people who do nothing but complain about the job they are already getting overpaid to do.
Teachers, please if you truly feel that you are not happy or getting what is due you, get a job in the private sector and report back in a year about how great it is. Tell us how you did not get a raise when you finished your master, or because fuel went up and profits are down.

[Chris W]

Tony, please try to think before you type. It will make you sound a lot less like a clueless pinhead than you just did.

Teachers earn every penny they get paid and then some. They work more than an eight hour day; they have to, to get everything done that's asked of them. Or do you think they all speed-read a hundred and fifty homework assignments during the one planning period a day they get, on top of actually planning their lessons or talking to students? And that's on top of bus duty, parent conferences, open houses, committee meetings, staff meetings, and a host of other things they're asked to do around their core mission of educating children. Oh, and there's FCAT prep so their schools do well on the one flawed measure of school performance.

And as for summer vacation, lots of teachers teach summer school. Lots of others have summer jobs to augment their school salaries so they can afford to live above the blue-collar line.

As for getting paid more because you have a master's degree, what do you call making more $$$ because you have an MBA? That's Master's in Business Administration in case you're not familiar with the initials.

Try making sure your brain is engaged before you put your fingers in gear next time.

[out of here]

I started teaching after working in the private sector, and now after teaching for a handful of years I plan on going back. As soon as I can.

I never worked this hard in the private sector. I understood it was going to be a pay cut, I didn't expect to have to swallow my dignity too. As a professional in the private sector I would never be expected to put up with the type of environment that has been allowed to fester in public schools. Yet I'm expected to go to work listen to constant cussing, put my personal safety at risk, constantly dip into my own pocket because there is no more money for supplies. I've had good successes in my classroom, my students have consistently improved every year, but in the face of all of the other negative aspects of this job - I just can't do it any more.

So I'm happily job hunting. I'm looking forward to doubling my salary, working less total hours over the course of a year, having time to actually eat a lunch, having more than 5 minutes to go to the bathroom, not having to hear the f-bomb being dropped every 10 seconds, being recognized for a job well done, and so much more.

It is easy to sit on one side of the fence or the other and poke sticks - but having been on both sides I can say that until you have done this job you really have no idea.

[Stacey]

Anyone who says that teachers should be paid less, or that teaching is an easy job..... Have you ever volunteered in a classroom? Have you ever volunteered for lunchroom duty?

All educational funding should remain the same or increase. These kids are our future.

I don't understand why property tax revenues are going DOWN where there are so many new, expensive condos and housing developments appearing everywhere?????

[nomorefreebies]

If salary cuts are coming don't expect any more than an 8 hour day. Teachers will not volunteer for the after school clubs, sports, tutoring, Odyssey of the Mind, and other freebies parents take for granted. Non of these are part of the contract.

So who loses? The students, not the taxpayer. So the students can thank their own parents, grandparents, neighbors, etc. for the after school fun things they will not longer have.

You get what you pay for.
Pay little, get little.

[freely]

Chris, let's not forget teachers also have to be parent, police officer, nurse, counselor, nutritionist, bookkeeper, accountant, referee, etc. (And they do not get paid extra)
Some people really need to volunteer or spend a few days in a classroom to really understand what teachers need to do on a daily basis. Yes, it is true they work about 200 days of a school year, though you need to think about all the hours they spend after school, cleaning up the classroom, getting ready for the next day, plus taking home all the papers, assignments, projects, hours and hours, that are spent on school work only! OOps forgot about the hours of phone calls to parents and the belittling and the daily dose of what an awful job educators are doing from parents, yes they have to swallow that too!. I will challenge anyone from the Private sector to take a week in a classroom and see if they can handle it. Let's give teachers the respect they deserve, let's not generalize(there are a few bad apples), most teachers have the students well-being and success in mind. But unfortunately, these pay cuts will not help. Great teachers are already leaving to the private sector, easier job, less hours,(they don't take work home!) Schools will be left with the less experienced or those ones who think they can teach because they come from the private sector :-)
Teaching is not the easiest career, babysitting is! Make sure you know the difference.
Maybe our legislation wants to hire babysitters instead, but remember teachers, the true ones, have spent many years studying and researching, in order to understand the development of learning, they deserve all the support and respect they can get!

[BBMOM]

The three most underpaid professions.

TEACHERS
POLICE
FIREMEN

I work in the private sector and you could not pay me ENOUGH money to be a teacher. I would not put up with the abuse the teachers take from these kids who think they run the schools and for the most part do. Maybe now that we are going back to neighborhood schools we can go back to the teachers and admin running the schools like they did in the old days before busing started. It is time for a change and rules to be followed.

[Chris W]

freely, my wife is a middle school teacher and I volunteer in her school so I am very well aware of all of the stuff that teachers have to do. The galling thing is that gasbags like Tony above think they know the price of everything but don't understand the value of anything, and the *really* galling thing is that our legislature is run by those same gasbags (Marcoooo, are you listening?).

[Chris W]

freely, keep in mind that the current troubles in being a teacher are largely the result of deliberate conservative policy-making designed to overload the public school system and eventually destroy it. Conservatives absolutely *hate* things that don't ensure a cheap local labor supply, and good schools that prepare kids for college are one of them.

[unemployed]

3:01 , leave for WHAT other opportunities???? There AREN'T ANY JOBS in the private sector right now. Be happy you have a job with job security and benefits. I'll take it if you don't want it.

[bobo]

Everyone in the private sector seems to complain about teacher's pay. I bet they wouldn't be happy if their boss came to them and said, "hey, we are cutting your salary by 4%". They would be the first to cry "unfair!". Oh, and as far as getting paid a ton of money and getting our summers off---try this on for size. Here in Hillsborough county, we don't get paid in the summer. We also have something called escrow, which takes money out of my paycheck. In my family, we are both teachers and I lose $800 a month to escrow (all so the district can seem like they are paying me for spring break--1 week). I have never seen a system like that in the private sector, workers wouldn't put up with it.

[oldteacher]

Teachers get paid for their work AFTER they worked the hours....DOES ANYONE IN PRIVATE SECTOR GET PAID 10 MONTHS AFTER THEY EARNED THEIR PAY?

Reason Districts do this so they don't have to pay unemployment compensation because teachers are technically unemployed 2 months...it is then to the TAXPAYERS ADVANTAGE NOT TO PAY TEACHERS ON A 10 MONTH SCALE
so that unemployment insurance isn't another cost to bear.

[Chris W]

oldteacher, you don't know what you're talking about. My wife is a teacher, and she had a choice between getting paid for 10 months (slightly higher monthly pay) or 12 months (slightly lower but steady). This means that they're paid on a 10-month contract, and all they're electing to do is maybe stretch that 10 months of pay out over 12 months.

They don't *actually* get paid for hours they don't work, which is what you're trying to imply. If you really are, in fact, an "old teacher" then you should know better.

[Ann E. Mouse]

Frankly, I'm not sure how that whole "escrow" thing is legal. I work 10 days, but get paid for only 9. The school district hangs onto that extra day. They earn interest on it, then they give me my money but keep the interest. Then there are the time they pay us a week late. How much interest are they earning on that millions of dollars they get to hang on to all the time? What a scam!

[John]

Pay cut = strike. Enough is enough.

[Fed Up Reading Teacher]

Not delving into the "Are teachers paid enough? debate; but cutting pay by 5% would have disasterous consquences for some particularly beginning teachers. 5% amounts to about $70 a pay period-- and frankly I can't afford that. I have a son, a mortgage, groceries, and I live paycheck to paycheck. $70 a check would potentially cause me to quit and take a lower paying job just to qualify for public assistance--I would come out ahead after you factor my daycare and insurance costs for my son into the mix. I don't see how the public can even think this is a good idea. No pay raise? Fine. But pay cuts? No way. Teachers give alot to the students they teach and should receive more than taking money out their pockets and their children's mouths.

Where is the blog entry that explains just how the Senate offered a budget resolution that was about $150 million worse than their original floor budget which was about $600 million worse than the original House budget. And, the House leadership caved on every issue of importance in the education budget, so the resolution is likely to be worse than either house offered their members to vote on just two a week and a half ago. Where is the story? Tell the people what they are going to do to public education in 2008-2009. It will be the worst education budget in the history of the state. Congrats!