For the 3 plus years that I’ve been attending Columbia Borough School Board meetings, I’ve heard on numerous occasions that it’s all about the kids! Truth be told, it should be all about the students of Columbia Borough School District. However, I have a hard time believing that to be the case when I see the decisions made by this Board over the last three years.
Anytime you talk of tightening your belts, it’s a cut to the education programs for these students you’re supposedly here to serve. It’s a cut to the Curriculum budget or a cut to the Extra Curricular budget or the talk of pay to play sports, where does it stop when it comes to OUR students? The lack of funding for Special Education is the reason given for the ever increasing taxes and while we may be under-funded for Special Education, there are other things under our control that would help our economic situation.
The one thing that I’ve NEVER heard discussed except by me when I stood at the podium and addressed the Board, is the “freezing” of wages or the cutting of positions for our Administrators, Teachers or Support Staff. In fact, we’re going to take action tonight on administrative raises which when passed, will be the 2nd increase in 6 months for these administrators. We’re living through the worse economy the United States has ever known and social security didn’t receive a raise, but we’re willing to give our administration a second raise in 6 months time and this will continue for the next 3 years. When this action is approved tonight, the cost of this administration for a student body of 570 students in grades 7-12 will be $895,697 in salaries without Dr. Clippinger's salary accounted for until August, which, when added in, will put us over $1 million in salaries alone, throw in their benefit package and the costs soar even higher.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is tax money leaving the Borough with very little if any of it being spent in Columbia as none of these administrators live in Columbia Borough. The salaries and wages that were negotiated in the last teachers contract by the previous Board giving 3.5-3.8% raises over the life of the contract and the proposed 3-3.5% for the support staff will continue to add to our economic challenges as a District. WHY do these contract have to be for 4 or 5 years, WHY can’t the employee be evaluated and given a fair raise every year instead of knowing that they’ll get their automatic, very generous raise every year.
The private sector has taken drastic steps to compete, including freezing or reducing wages, having employees pay for a large portion of their benefits and cutting the number of hours employees work in a week, it’s time the public sector does the same.
There are those who are making the tough decisions, Mayor Bloomberg has frozen wages for teachers and principals in NYC; the School District of Lancaster is cutting positions and a Superintendent in Montabella, Michigan who has been with the District for 40 years offered to work for free.(His salary is $95820 and the District refused, saying they’ll pay him something.) Expected savings will be $80-85k
We continue to burden our taxpayers with the rising costs of these salaries, well, it’s time we ask the administration, staff and teachers of the Columbia Borough School District to give something back instead of taking more and more.
We’ve got to look at Columbia Borough for what it is, a landlocked community with a diminishing tax base with little room for growth and stop trying to keep up with neighboring school districts. A number of taxpayers in this Borough who have worked their whole lives to own a home simply cannot afford a tax increase of any size without making the hard decision of whether they will have food on their table, the lights on in their house or even a roof over their heads.
I will be voting NO on the budget containing the 1.013 mill increase.
