TESD Teachers Organizing Email Campaign

In case you missed Ray Clarke’s comment on an earlier post,  he is reporting that an  email campaign is being organized by Tredyffrin Easttown teachers against any program reductions and in support of the Tredyffrin Easttown School District School Board’s Monday, January 25th vote on asking for exceptions. 

The deadline to receive an Act 1 exception is coming quickly.  An exception application must be filed by February if the TESD tax increase is to be higher than the 2.9% allowed by Act 1. I think that the exception can allow an increase as high as 6.9%.

Any school teachers want to weigh in?  Residents? School Board members?

West Chester Area School District Superintendent is Suggesting 19 Staff Cuts to Help Budget Deficit

Tredyffrin Easttown School District taxpayers should not feel that they are alone with challenging school budget problems.  One of the purposes of looking at other districts (such as Great Valley and now West Chester) is to see if can learn anything new or examine other ways to handle similar problems. Dan Kristie is reporting in today’s Daily Local that West Chester Area School District Superintendent Jim Scanlon announced that he is recommending that the school board cut 19 district jobs.  The cuts will be carried out by attrition – when current staff members retire, their jobs will not be replaced.  Cutting of these 19 jobs (which include 3 assistant principal jobs) will save the district $1.4 million annually.  The suggested cuts were developed by the administration and the Community Budget Task Force, a group of more than 150 stakeholders who met last year to help the district identify cuts.  Here’s one West Chester Area taxpayer’s take on the announcement:

Attrition means forced retirement or risk termination for some folks. As a former Educator that is the one field that you never thought would be impacted by economic downturns but they are quietly finding that they have stood behind their union protection for far too long almost to the point of holding the very people whose children you educate are paying to keep you there hostage.

They are no more entitled to job security than anyone else. If you can do more with less people then by all means do more with less.

To those who will lose jobs in all of this…WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD.

Mr. Scanlon . . . I know it’s tough to tell your people tough times call for tough decisions but then again that’s a part of your job too. “

Continuing to Discuss TSED Teacher Pension Plan

Following up on my last post about the Great Valley School District, I think that I am beginning to understand their resident involvement. One of the best parts of Community Matters is that readers bring new information to the discussion.  I received a comment from ‘Berwyn Reader’ that offered interesting insight on the Great Valley School District (GVSD) residents and their ability ‘to hold the line’ on school tax increases. A few years ago, Brian O’Neill of O’Neill Properties (Worthington project) asked GVSD to be a lender on his Worthington project.  In the end, GVSD choose not to lend money to O’Neill.  However, because of residents concerns, Great Valley Stakeholders was formed about 18 months ago and has become a sort of watchdog organization for the Great Valley residents.  The purpose of the Great Valley Stakeholders is to provide information to the public and School Board to ensure fiscal responsibility, transparency and better communication between school board and taxpayers. 

Here’s hoping that Community Matters will be able to provide similar information to taxpayers and Tredyffrin Easttown School District school board members.  Many of our residents who have provided commentary to this site on the school district topic have helped us better understand our own budgetary process.

Beyond the current 2010-11 school budget discussion, I remain concerned that many of our taxpayers do not understand the PSERS (Public School Employees Retirement System) teacher pension plan and how our taxes are going to be affected as a result.  I found an interesting statement from the Commonwealth Foundation on pensions. The Commonwealth Foundation is an independent, non-profit research and educational institute that develops and advances public policies based on the nation’s founding principles of limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility.

Public Pensions: Beginning in 2012-13, taxpayers will see a dramatic increase in their contributions to pension plans for state and school district employees. This scenario is due in large part to misguided policy decisions-including substantial increases in pension benefits in 2001 and 2002, and deferring increased payments following fund losses-as well as the recent downturn in the stock market. Pension contributions are estimated to rise by $1,360 per homeowner/household, resulting in higher property and state taxes. Additionally, local pension plans are facing major deficits. . .

 A few weeks ago a opinion article written by Thomas Gentzel, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. This commentary titled, Change Pennsylvania Pension System or Prepare for Catastrophe should be a  must-read for all taxpayers!  Here’s the link:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/80562927.html

Comments anyone?