PTA Council to school administrators: Cut your pay!

The most highly paid school employees should take a pay cut, the Bristol PTA Council argues, in order to help prevent layoffs or class size increases that would hurt the city’s education system.

In a letter send to the Board of Education recently, the council of parent-teacher associations in town said it doesn’t want to shortchange children.

To promote fiscal responsibility, the council proposed “that all non-union salaried Board of Education employees grossing $100,000 or over take a 5% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year” and those earning between $75,000 and $100,000 annually take a 3 percent cut.

“This proposal would only affect base salaries and not fringe benefits or retirement contributions,” the council said in its letter to school board members.

 The council estimated the savings for the fiscal year starting July 1 at more than $215,000 if school officials were to go along with the request.

The school board endorsed what it calls a “go forward” budget last week that seeks almost 4 percent more money than education received this year. The $104 million plan would essentially maintain the existing staff and programs.

The PTA group said that “in these tough economic times families are having to tighten their budgets. Workers are taking furloughs, cutting their hours, or giving back vacation time.  Services are being cut to those in need and cities are having to take hard looks at their bottom lines and cut away any excess.”

“The one area that can not afford to be cut is the education of our children,” it said.

“When these economic times change we don’t want to look back and find that our children were denied the opportunities to learn and advance at the same rate as their peers just one town over,” the letter to school leaders said.

“We need to position our children at the forefront of our agenda to ensure that when the time comes they are prepared to be a nation of leaders and workers who will continue to support the economy’s growth and recovery.

It said the proposal to cut highly paid salaries “may only preserve the jobs of a few teachers and staff, but every job saved counts and shows that the board is willing to take the necessary measures to preserve the quality of the education our students receive,” the council said.

“If we are asking our teachers and staff to work with fewer resources and we know that families are pinching pennies to make ends meet then we need to show that our top paid BOE employees are willing to follow suit,” it said.

Here's the full text of the letter:

March 3, 2009

Dear Commissioners of the Bristol Board of Education:

In these tough economic times families are having to tighten their budgets. Workers are taking furloughs, cutting their hours, or giving back vacation time.  Services are being cut to those in need and cities are having to take hard looks at their bottom lines and cut away any excess.  The one area that can not afford to be cut is the education of our children.  When these economic times change we don’t want to look back and find that our children were denied the opportunities to learn and advance at the same rate as their peers just one town over.  We need to position our children at the forefront of our agenda to ensure that when the time comes they are prepared to be a nation of leaders and workers who will continue to support the economy’s growth and recovery.

 In order to promote being fiscally responsible the Bristol PTA Council would like to propose to the Board of Education and the Finance Committee that all non-union salaried Board of Education employees grossing $100,000 or over take a 5% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.  We would further propose that all non-union salaried employees who gross $75,000 or more take a 3% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year.   This proposal would only affect base salaries and not fringe benefits or retirement contributions.

 This may only preserve the jobs of a few teachers and staff but every job saved counts and shows that the board is willing to take the necessary measures to preserve the quality of the education our students receive.  If we are asking our teachers and staff to work with fewer resources and we know that families are pinching pennies to make ends meet then we need to show that our top paid BOE employees are willing to follow suit.

 The savings for the upcoming fiscal year is conservatively averaged at over $215,000, which may not be the final solution to our budget crisis but a significant beginning.  One that shows in tough economic times a slight decrease in pay that allows for the preservation of jobs is the responsible choice.  We are confident the board will continue to make cuts that will not directly impact the quality of education; such as freezing non-essential travel for professional development and instead look internally at the strengths of the educators employed by the city to help provide those opportunities for teachers and staff. The board should also take a look at the use their resources and whether the staff at Central office all hold positions vital for the basic operation of the BOE. The staff size of the Central office has nearly doubled over the past 5 years. 

Increasing class size is not an acceptable solution and needs to be avoided at all costs.  The Bristol Council PTA appreciates the consideration of our proposal and looks forward to creating an alliance that will strengthen our vested interest in ensuring an equal and quality education for all of Bristol’s students.

 Respectfully Submitted,

Bristol PTA Council

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com