BOE Punts On Budget Vote
They, the BOE that is, didn’t vote on any of Corda’s budget recommendations, or the overall budget itself. The Hour reports on Corda’s position and the teachers union’s position. First Corda:
For weeks, parents, students and school administrators have expressed their concern over many items included in the superintendent’s proposed recommendations such as closing the Norwalk pool, eliminating or cutting positions and slashing benefits that would reconcile the board of estimates’ requirement that the board of education eliminate an additional $2.2 million from its budget.
Corda then went through charts of savings should various unions agree to take furlough days, increase their health insurance contribution or forgo salary increases. He then exhibited how the budget could be reconciled if only the first two options were agreed upon but raises continued as scheduled.
The furlough days saved $1.2 million, the health insurance concession saved $467,112 and cutting the salary increases saved nearly $1 million for a total of $2.6 million.
“We tried to approach thinking about how it is that we could, without significantly and negatively impacting educational program, perhaps come to a place where the reconciliation might be possible,” Corda said. “That necessitates the cooperation of each of our bargaining groups.”
He said those groups have agreed to discuss concessions only after the board has reconciled the budget and knows exactly how personnel would be impacted. This means the budget could pass with many of his original recommendations but be revisited.
“We’re up against the wall,” said Corda. “We’re faced with reducing programs everyone feels are important.”
Now Bruce Mellion:
Norwalk Federation of Teachers President Bruce Mellion said the issue isn’t whether or not the unions will make concessions, it’s how much value the city puts on the Board of Education and whether or not the board has been thorough in determining where it can eliminate costs without cutting benefits, positions and programs.
He cited recent funds in transportation and with the district’s contract with Xerox.
No one is talking about the reality of the Norwalk Public School system. Enrollment is steady, it is is not increasing, and has not increased in fifteen years. What has happened is that the union has put into contracts minimum classroom sizes. What has happened is that Corda has put before and after school programs in the schools. What has happened is that special programs of the educational sort have increased, often without large student participation.
It’s time for both the unions and Corda to streamline and that means starting with a mechanism to have larger classes when temporary enrollment blips appear. I’d toss out redistricting overall, but they’d all run for the hills, because no one on the BOE or in central office has the political cajones to tackle that issue. Any program that is using school facilities that is not part of the core curriculum, that would be reading, writing and math, should have to pay to the use school facilities at a market rate. There’s an unintended consequence of that of which I’m well aware, but times are tough. Lastly, the schools should get out of the transportation business. There’s the Norwalk Transit district, use it, the busses ride empty much of the time, school busses are a huge drain. Anyone notice gas prices creeping back up?
The issues are complex, and once again Corda doesn’t see the value in getting real CFO quality financial management advice. Seeking external high caliber advice is what successful CEOs do. School superintendents should be required to spend a part of their career outside of Education Inc.
source: The Hour, Corda on budget: We’re up against the wall, By LAUREN MYLO, 06/16/2009
