School union accepts freeze
Monday, April 11, 2011
By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ
Staff Writer
WEST GOSHEN — West Chester Area School Board announced wage freeze agreements Monday they say will save taxpayers $1.4 million.
At a meeting Monday night, school officials announced the district had reached agreements with the unions to create one-year extensions in a budget-reduction effort, initiating a wage freeze.
Three unions representing the district’s teachers, support staff and custodians almost unanimously agreed to freeze their salaries for another fiscal year, officials said.
“This decision … was was proactive and voluntary on the part of the (members of the West Chester Area Education Association) and not the result of discussions made at the negotiations table,” said teachers union President Debbie Fell.
“We are at the point where the district will be forced now to increase class size and cut our children’s programs, like full-day kindergarten. … I want our school board and our community to know that the members of our union are willing to share the sacrifices that are required by everyone in the community.”
District administrators who fall under Act 93 are under contract through 2013 and were represented by Le Roy Whitehead, principal of J.R. Fugett Middle School.
“Realizing the severe financial situation (in which) the WCASD as well as many other school districts in our county and in our state find themselves, our employee group … was the first group, actually, to agree to a salary wage freeze also for this coming year,” said Whitehead.
The combined agreements of the groups cover 1,380 employees who will go without a raise to their salaries, school officials said.
“In my 27 years of working in the public school system, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said district Superintendent Jim Scanlon. “Our staff truly understands the difficult economy, but more importantly they are doing whatever it takes to keep the focus on students and learning during this time of financial hardship.
“I’m very honored and proud to be the superintendent of this school district with all these wonderful people working together for the kids.”
Some school board members echoed Scanlon.
“I think it is very important and probably historical,” said board members James T. Smith. “There will be no other school district in this entire state where its employees will make the sacrifice that our employees have made for the good of the students. This is unheard of, unprecedented.”
“A lot of districts are just sitting down (to really cut at their budget) now, and they face $9 (million) and $10 million gaps because of it,” said district Communications Director Rob Partridge. “Since we cut $5 million last year, our gaps are smaller. … When all’s said and done, you know, the parents of our district need to realize that, yeah, pretty big sacrifices are being made.”
Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget for Pennsylvania includes cuts that, if approved by the Legislature, will reduce West Chester Area’s state subsidy by almost $5 million, officials said.
The district had planned for a $1.1 million state revenue reduction, but the proposed budget will cut funding for school district programs to 2003-04 levels, district officials said.
“I’m calling on the employees of our public schools —administrators, teachers, support workers, everyone — to hold the line,” Corbett said in his budget address last month. “If it means a pay freeze, trust me, you’ll have plenty of company out there to keep you warm.”
“I am a long-time taxpayer and definitely a stake-holder in this district,” said Fell. “Gov. Corbett and his legislature have made deep cuts to education in our state while increasing spending on prisons. … Has Pennsylvania decided that our children’s quality of education is no longer a priority?”
To contact staff writer Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez, send an e-mail to smfernandez@dailylocal.com.
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URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/04/11/news/doc4da3cbbfcb6a0123902779.prt
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