My Comment: There was actually over 75 “public” attendees, the majority of them D.B. teacher’s aides and teachers. It was frustrating, and not very productive, from a public standpoint to not understand what the board was taking “in code” about cutting, but the advice from the school attorney was to not discuss specific departmental cuts, especially since nothing was finalized or being voted on.
The school board did an excellent job explaining why this year there is such a significant shortage (see article entitled “Springford and Perkiomen urges legislature……). All school districts in the state and across the country are experiencing the same situation…many for the exact same reason as Daniel Boone.
The most managable way to close the gap in the budget, without significantly impacting children and the academic programs, would be for the teachers’ to approach their union and revise their contract to include a salary freeze and a revision in the retirement benefits the school is under obligation to pay. Please see Taxpayers Will Pay for Massive Shortfalls in State Pension Funds – Barrons.com, a previous blog entry found below this post, for a detailed explanation of how the teachers’ yearly increases and the required retirement benefits the school must pay to the teachers, has contributed to this years’ shortage.
Please check the DB school district website for the next meeting on the Budget (there was discussion that the meeting would be on Wednesday, March 31st at 7:00 pm)
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No document provided to 50 in audience; board talks in code, laughs at inside joke
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By Greta Cuyler
Reading Eagle
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Even though the Daniel Boone School Board spent more than two hours on Tuesday cutting nearly $600,000 from its 2010-11 budget, its audience left with little idea of what had been discussed.
That’s because the officials, acting on the advice of the solicitor, refused to provide the audience with a document listing the cuts, including staff and program cuts, recommended by Dr. Gary L. Otto, superintendent. The document is confidential, Otto told more than 50 residents at the workshop. The district is trying to cut $2.2 million from its proposed 2010-11 budget to avoid a tax increase. The preliminary budget is $53.4 million, up from about $49.2 million this year, officials said Otto’s confidential list of Tier 1 cuts totaled about $580,000 and included those cuts with the least impact to the district. The school board suggested he tentatively incorporate all Tier 1 recommendations in the proposed budget. The discussion that led to that decision was difficult to follow. “Is 2C in Tier 1 or Tier 2?” board member Andrew Basile asked, referring to one of the specific cuts in the confidential document. “I’ll accept 1L,” one board member called out. The rest of the board laughed at the inside joke. Residents questioned the board’s secrecy. “You’re talking about 3J, but we have no idea what 3J is,” said Tom K. Schadt of Birdsboro. “If the board is talking about a budget for next year, I don’t think there would be anything illegal about coming and in and saying ‘We’re thinking of cutting the engineering program at the high school.’ “ There is no such program at Daniel Boone High School. Schadt said he was simply using that as an example. Otto said district employees should hear about cuts from district officials. Schadt suggested the board call an executive session to discuss specific employees rather than talking in code. Information on proposed cuts will be made public only when the board votes on it, board member Margaret M. Fiset said. Otto’s recommendations will never be made public if the board chooses not to act on them, board President Kevin F. McCullough said. According to Otto, his recommendations do not fit the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law’s definition of a public document. Solicitor Brian E. Subers said before the meeting that the document is a “pre-decisional deliberation to a budget recommendation.” Residents and district employees disagreed. “There’s no way for the public to comment about these cuts if we don’t know what you’re talking about,” one resident said. Otto said many of the proposed cuts have been discussed in public. Examples include not replacing retiring schoolteachers and charging for outside groups to use district facilities. “It didn’t seem like a public meeting,” Schadt said. |
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