Under pressure to certify a revised budget before the first Island annual town meeting next week, the regional high school committee and administrators are struggling to reach consensus.
Under pressure to certify a revised budget before the first Island annual town meeting convenes next week, the regional high school committee and administrators are struggling to reach consensus on the size and scope of budget cuts.
“All town agencies are tightening their belts in their own ways: firefighters, policemen,” Kimberly Kirk, chairman of the high school district committee, said at a meeting Monday. “They are looking to us to see if we are doing our part.
For the past two weeks, members of the school committee and administration have been hashing out different ways to reign in a previously approved $23.2 million budget by over $1 million, roughly the amount it was increased from last year. The goal, each member said, is to level fund the budget and spread cutbacks across the board so that no individual department bears the full weight of reductions.
Items considered for the chopping block include heating oil, transportation fuel, supplies, professional development programs, annual post-employment benefits contribution and some long-term capital projects.
Significant salary reductions at all staff levels are also being considered, but a standoff with the teachers’ union has complicated that process.
School administrators, who are not part of the union, have surrendered their cost of living increase, for a savings of about $42,000. The teachers’ union, however, has rejected a similar concession, which would have yielded savings of about $210,000.
Leading up to the high school committee meeting on Monday, which was attended by 148 staff members at the school, it appeared as if the committee would continue in the direction of a $1 million reduction. The idea of level funding the budget to last year’s budget was previously approved at a high school committee meeting two weeks ago.
But superintendent of schools Matt D’Andrea opened the meeting Monday by saying that after receiving guidance from the towns of Tisbury and Oak Bluffs, he did not believe the full $1 million budget reduction was necessary. Instead, he suggested cutting the budget by just over one per cent — totaling about $278,000 in cuts.
“I am proposing that we step back before we level-fund this budget, which would decimate it, and impact our students tremendously,” Mr. D’Andrea told the committee. “We need to consider the guidance that the towns have given us . . . they are saying a one to 1.5 per cent budget reduction would be helpful at this time.”
The new proposal caused confusion and saw pushback from committee members, who have been working hard to meet the target of a $1 million budget reduction.
“We thought we were moving forward with a level budget,” Ms. Kirk said. “I am sort of bewildered by the process that has come forward here.”
By the end of the meeting, committee members had put the $1 million reduction back on the table.
At a subcommittee meeting last week, the school committee and administration had reached general agreement on about $790,000 in reductions. But the additional $210,000 the committee had hoped to get from teachers remained a sticking point.
“Looking at the $ 1 million reductions that we outlined last time, the only question mark in it was the $210,000 in staff reductions,” said committee member Robert Lionette.
Mr. D’Andrea told the school committee last week that he had asked members of the union to forgo their annual cost of living increases, but said the union had rejected that request, instead asking the school district to trim spending elsewhere in the budget.
Mr. D’Andrea originally said he was disappointed with the decision of the union, but struck a more conciliatory tone on Monday, when he announced that the union had offered a two-day furlough instead. The furlough would mean that union personnel would not work two professional development days. The savings would add up to about $114,000 at the high school.
But committee members said a two-day furlough would be a one-time savings and should be reserved in the event of a budget crisis — which many described as possible, citing a potential shortfall in funding from the state and local levels.
The meeting ended with more uncertainty regarding the budget than when it began. The committee did not vote on which direction to take. Instead, administrators were asked to examine the budget and see where staff positions can be eliminated — with the least amount of impact on student learning.
“If we are going to reduce more, we are going to reduce people, we are going to have an impact on the kids,” Mr. D’Andrea said. “If you want us to do that, we can come back with people we will have to reduce.”
The recertified budget must be approved in time to be consider as part of town budget votes in each of the Island’s six towns. Chilmark will be the first town to hold its annual town meeting, on Monday, June 8.
Comments
I am a teacher at MVRHS and a
Anna V Cotton Vineyard HavenI am a teacher at MVRHS and a parent of a 3rd grader at the Tisbury School. I attended all 3 plus hours of the MVHRS School Committee Meeting as well as the Tisbury School Committee Meeting on Tuesday morning. In a week when our awareness is so heightened by the systemic racism in our country I think the topic of educational funding is a vital top. I am a bit saddened that this article about this very important topic has the tone and inaccuracies it does. At the MVEA (not just teachers by the way the Union represents Teachers, Education Support Professionals, Administrative Support Personnel, Food Service Workers, and Custodians) meeting with Superintendent Matt D'Andrea last week there was a tone of trying to work together to come up with a solution, hardly the “standoff” described. In fact the Superintendent and MVEA worked together to come up with the furlough days and it was immediately voted on and supported by 98% of the members representing a 1% salary decrease for all employees in all the categories previously mentioned. Those days do not impact students because they would not be on the 180 school days. Those furlough days will save the Island schools $400,000. The number reported in this article is only for one school. In addition there had been continued questions into this week whether all Towns had asked all town employees to give up Cost of Living Adjustments. In the article it is attributed to Kimberly Kirk, has it been confirmed that other Town employees have been asked for this? Have they agreed?
There was also no mention in this article that all of the other Town School Committee’s accepted the 1% recommendation. In fact the tone at the Tisbury meeting was grateful and constructive all around. Mr. Custer asked to use the Excess and Deficiency money from this year to pay off school lunch balances for the Tisbury School Students. At the MVRHS School Committee Member Roxanne Ackerman pointed out that there will be a surplus from this year that will go into the Excess and Deficiency line item for next year and can be used to offset future losses and argued against the recommended cuts.
In the meeting on Monday the Committee wanted the MVRHS Administration and Superintendent to go through the “exercise” of showing what one million dollars in budget cuts, level funding would look like. In fact I wrote an email to them the next day where I thanked them for their time and service and expressed how distrurbed I was with the lack of clarity on what is being asked for and why when it is not clear those cuts are necessary. Member Skipper Manter mentioned a reduction in "annual recurring expenses''. This sounds an awful lot like reducing the staffing and programs at our Regional High School. It is important to note that reducing these annual recurring expenses in a time of global crisis will be very hard to undue. There may be lasting repercussions for the program offered at the Regional High School for generations.
I am proud to teach and live on Martha’s Vineyard. We have amazing teachers, staff and administrators and amazing schools. In fact, it is why many of us choose and work hard to live here. It is crucial that the public, taxpayers, current parents, future parents and the community have accurate information about what is going on in our school system.
Fact check moment. Dukes
Really? TisburyFact check moment. Dukes county is not the most expensive county in the US to live in. Housing costs here are high, tax rates are low. Some consumables are more expensive. People commute shorter distances for work. It’s a balance on many fronts and you don’t have to drive 2 hours to go to a beach. Everyone who lives here, chooses to live here. If it was crazy cost prohibitive, nobody could make a go of it and everyone would leave. Not saying it isn’t a struggle. What lifestyle would you have if you found a cheaper county to live? Maybe you find a similar paying job but you pay higher taxes. Maybe everyone should do a 3 year stint off island and write back in about how you are doing out there in the world.
A small increase in Taxes
Harland Gibbs EdgartownA small increase in Taxes should settle the matter quickly . Can't cut education to an Essential Service
Speak for yourself before you
Mark EdgartownSpeak for yourself before you spend other people’s money. Perhaps this is an opportunity to bring island education costs in line with those of other public education systems in Massachusetts.
Mark, since you brought it up
kafkaesqueMark, since you brought it up, perhaps this is an opportunity to bring island tax rates in line with those of other towns in Massachusetts? This island's towns have some of the lowest tax rates in the entire state (except Tisbury, of course):
https://dlsgateway.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Propert…
Good point Mark. I think
Anna Cotton Vineyard HavenGood point Mark. I think raising taxes especially in Oak Bluffs and Tisbury would be challenging. Our school system is complicated by the Regional High School and separate districts. Since school budgets are dependent on property taxes it is also complicated that we have one of the largest property tax disparities between Towns in one district in the State (compare property values in Chilmark and Edgartown to Tisbury and Oak Bluffs) and wildly different tax rates between each Town. If the goal of the MVRHS School Committee is bringing Island Education costs down they could save everyone a lot of time and energy and say that clearly. This article did not do a great job of explaining that confusion for anyone who did not attend the meeting. The challenge is that as an Island we have costs many districts in the rest of the State do not; if we want to provide a Career and Technical Education (CTE formally Vocational) program we need to have a comprehensive high school there is no 2nd option, students who need residential placement due to legal requirements of Individual Education Plans need transport to and from those placements, we do not have the option for day placement or providing services by creating collaboratives as an off-island public education systems would. We also have to provide salaries that will attract and retain teachers in the most expensive County in the Country to live in. Bringing our costs in line with other districts would have grave impacts on the quality of education provided which is not a concern to many. It would certainly help if we could have that conversation in a straightforward manner. Thank you for pointing this out.
Sure Mark, when every cost on
Jennifer Vineyard HavenSure Mark, when every cost on the island gets in line with the rest of our state, maybe education will too.
Look at the data: http:/
Mark EdgartownLook at the data: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/statereport/ppx.aspx. MV schools are ~2x the state average in total expenditures per student while Nantucket is only 1.4x the state average. If Nantucket can do it more efficiently than MV with more remote access to the mainland so can MV. Thoughtful review of the expense base and town spending in general would be prudent in the wake of the recession the economy is now going through. Increasing the burden on tax payers is not.
In a time when many are
WT taxpayerIn a time when many are losing employment and income it seems unusually bullheaded to refuse to give up a RAISE. Teachers here get paid a lot of money—despite all of the claims to the contrary many of them make at least 75000 and quite a few easily top 100000. (And that’s just the base salary. They also get substantial and very valuable benefits.)
I suppose they can act out of self-interest just like everyone else. But can we please then drop the pretense that they are doing this “for the kids” ?
My daughter finished her time
Chris Mara EdgartownMy daughter finished her time at the island schools last year but I feel grateful for her experience. If there are rainy day funds Then we should use them first. Ms Cotton’s point are well taken but should be explained better. What are these 180 days she mentions? Vacation days I assume but I’m not sure. As for the last comment about our expenses being in line with the rest of the state, there are districts in the state that can’t afford school buses or most importantly the arts. We have the lowest real estate taxes in the Commonwealth because of our summer community. These are tougher times then we’re used to. Please please please, don’t cut the arts.
180 are required school days
Anna V Cotton Vineyard Haven180 are required school days for students. These are contracted professional development days where no students are in the building so giving them up does not lengthen the school year for students.
Cut the administrative budget
Very Annoyed Vineyard HavenCut the administrative budget - Shame on the Teacher's Union for not helping the poor working class islanders, we are hurting more than you are! We support the teacher ALL the time, and the union can't help this once, selfish!!!
As a teacher I would like to
Gail Gardner Oak BluffsAs a teacher I would like to address some concerns posted here. I don't speak for anyone but myself. In all the meetings I’ve been in with union workers, everyone wants to help with this. However, cost of living raises are part of the contract negotiated last year. The union workers voted against giving up the cost of living raise but did vote for the two furlough days by a 98% vote, which would be professional development days that we would not work and we would not get paid for. This would save over $400,000 island-wide
It is my understanding that other unionized organizations that have offered to give up the cost of living raises did so with the agreement that they could revisit it in the fall. We were not given that option. They stand to recoup lost monies down the road, when life hopefully normalizes, unlike us if we simply gave up our cost of living raises. The union workers have been willing to help, understanding that we are a community and need to work together. We simply wanted to gather information and make decisions that were least impactful across the board.
The towns have asked for 1-1.5% cuts, supposedly. I sat in on a meeting several weeks ago that the Edgartown Town Administrator said he didn't believe that the Edgartown School would need to cut their budget, as things looked at that time. That was several weeks ago and may have changed, but if it has changed, we don't know what is recommended now. At least one school committee has sought cuts greater than what the towns have supposedly recommended, with no explanation why. One would think that the towns certainly have a reasonable knowledge of what cuts would be required. Furlough days, in our eyes, help cut the budget but don't impact us as significantly over future years. Additionally, we have no idea what school is going to look like next year. Will we end up working longer days or more days because we will have to schedule kids in "shifts"? Will we still be remote? We can't possibly know yet what it will look like and it feels a bit like we are putting the cart before the horse when we literally don't know much of anything for sure.
I am sorry that people often see teachers negatively. The vast majority of teachers that I have met and have the joy of working with put in everything they have to their career choice. I can assure you, no one would go into the job if they are not in it for the kids, but we also appreciate our salaries. This article does not include a great deal of the details that brought us to that vote. However, 98% of the hundreds of union workers here have agreed to furlough days without pay, which have a similar result but don’t eliminate previously agreed upon items in our contract.
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