Struggling Taxpayers Kept in the Dark and Forced to Reward School Employees with 'Salary Enhancements'

Most Americans realize that things seem "harder" these days. Unfortunately, things aren't going to get any better. The number of good jobs continues to decline, the number of Americans losing their homes continues to go up, people are having a much more difficult time paying their bills, and our federal government is drowning in debt. Sadly, this is only just the beginning. Since the financial collapse of 2008, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government have taken unprecedented steps to stimulate the economy. But even with all of those efforts, we are still living in an economic wasteland. So what is going to happen when the next wave of the economic crisis hits? During one recent interview, Peter Schiff made the following statement: "If you look at the economic relapse that’s going on right now, look at Friday’s abysmal job numbers, look at the housing numbers, understand that all of this is taking place with record monetary and fiscal stimulus. What happens if we remove those supports?" At the end of June, the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program is slated to end. [The Coming Economic Hell For American Families, The Economic Collapse, June 8, 2011]

Public school employees are the most protected class (as are federal workers) and the first to protest when asked to make sacrifices like everyone else. This is why the socialist state that the United States has become will collapse just like Greece. Why should teachers' unions, using collective bargaining, make backroom deals for increased compensation at taxpayers' expense when local governments are in the red and property values are falling but property taxes aren't?

The Teachers' Union Mantra: It's for the Kids! The nation’s public schools employ more than 6 million workers, and instructional staff receive about $295 billion in salary and benefits, according to federal estimates ... All told, personnel costs—the salaries and benefits that sustain the K-12 workforce—consume about 80 percent of school districts' budgets, and many policymakers are determined to drive those expenses down. Yet reducing those costs is not as simple as chopping away at the state or local education budget, or eliminating programs or services. State pension systems, which typically cover teachers, generally are protected by state constitutions and other laws, and courts have made it difficult to reduce benefits for current enrollees. And teachers’ salary schedules and health-care costs are often protected by hard-fought collective bargaining agreements at the local level. There’s a lot of money at stake. [Sean Cavanagh, Personnel costs prove tough to contain, Education Week, January 12, 2011]

$4.9 Million Included for Pay Enhancements for Frederick County Maryland School System Employees

June 10, 2011

Frederick News-Post - The Board of Education approved a budget this week that includes $4.9 million for staff salary enhancements.

For the second year in a row, school board members have looked for creative ways to provide financial rewards to employees in the absence of cost-of-living or incremental pay raises.

Last year, employees received a one-time rebate from a surplus that had built up in the system's health self-insurance account. School system employees have not received across-the-board pay raises since the 2008-09 school year.

The board approved a total operating budget of $516,751,528, an increase of $9,867,361 over the current approved budget.

Exactly what employees will receive is not known because negotiations are held in closed meetings.

"I can't go into details because the membership has not approved the proposed agreement, but the money is not for pay raises," Frederick County Teachers Association President Gary Brennan said Thursday. "A pay raise would mean recurring funds year after year, and there was no money offered from the school board to do that."

The association's board of directors and elected work-site representatives have approved forwarding the agreement to the rank-and-file membership for ratification, Brennan said.

Karen Blackwood, president of the Frederick Association of School Support Employees, said her board of directors was scheduled to meet Thursday night to approve sending the proposed contract to employees for ratification.

"Because I have not yet provided the information to my board and the membership, I am not at liberty to discuss what is proposed between the Board of Education and FASSE," she said Thursday.

Blackwood said she would start getting the agreement out to members as soon as possible after board approval to move ahead.

Brennan said he is working on a "very tight time frame" and hopes to get the agreement out to members by their last workday of the school year, June 16. He hopes to have ratification by late June.

"I'd like to have everything done and approved by the time the current contract expires, which is July 1," Brennan said.

The news of some sort of financial reward for school system employees -- for the second year in a row -- comes at a time when Frederick County and city employees have been laid off or have taken salary cuts in the form of furloughs.

Frederick city civilian employees will not receive pay raises in fiscal 2012, and 30 positions will remain vacant.

Decisions have not been made about sworn police officers, who are subject to collective bargaining.

"County employees aren't getting a raise in '12, and they didn't get one in '11 and they didn't get one in '10," acting Assistant County Manager Mike Gastley said Thursday. "So from a county standpoint, I would hope that this is a one-time expense."

Gastley said it is his guess that the salary enhancement is fringe benefit-related.

Asked about how news of a school system salary enhancement would affect county workers' morale, Gastley said it is difficult to gauge.

"It depends on what it is," he said. "I think (county workers) will care, but until we know exactly what it is, it's really too hard to tell."

Mike Bunitsky, president of the Frederick County Administrators and Supervisors Association, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

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