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Springfield schools in financial squeeze, district officials say By JEFF EPSTEIN vtreporter@eagletimes.com 2 hrs ago 0 Facebook Twitter Email Springfield schools budget in the red Superintendent Zach McLaughlin (at right, in back) explains to an audience that Springfield schools are facing a fiscal crunch and will have to cut 19.5 full-time equivalent positions. JEFF EPSTEIN SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The school community here learned Monday night that the current district budget is in trouble, and prospects for next year include a reduction in teachers and staff. Superintendent of Schools Zach McLaughlin engaged the district board and the school taxpayer community Monday night in the second of a series of at least five budget discussions. The school administration is requesting a $30.2 million budget for 2019-2020, a decrease of 0.6 percent or $182,464 from this year’s budget. But even as discussions about staff cuts for next year ensue, Chief Financial Officer Rick Pembroke broke the news to the board that the current budget was apparently in the red, perhaps by some $80,000, due to “higher than anticipated special education needs.” He said there were five “unanticipated persons,” which may mean new special education students, moving into the district and seeking services that were not budgeted for. However, Pembroke mentioned the matter only briefly during his remarks near the top of the meeting, and did not go into details. The matter could not be clarified by press time. However, Pembroke did make clear the current financial situation was tightening. “We’re starting to feel the pressure on this year’s budget,” he said. Meanwhile, McLaughlin explained that the various algorithms that the district has used in the past to project anticipated tax rates, partly by estimating state support, are being largely dismissed this year, because the past political tussles in Montpelier between the governor and the legislature make them seem unworkable. “We have decided to construct our budget around a set of numbers that are more immediate,” McLaughlin explains in a cover letter to the budget proposal. “We have designed this proposal around per-pupil spending.” To keep the same levels of spending, however, could lead to a tax rate increase of as much as four cents, he said. Therefore, “I have tasked our team with cutting more than a million dollars of prospective spending in FY20.” The budget proposal summary shows cuts of 13 teaching positions across the district plus six support staff, and a part-time administrative position, for a total reduction of 19.5 full-time equivalent positions (adding together both full-time and part-time employees). Initial reaction during the meeting came from a few persons who said they would pull their children out to private schools because they were unhappy with the education the district was providing. Specific complaints came not about spending directly, but about misbehaving children who disrupt instruction.
RE: “higher than anticipated special education needs.”
ReplyDeleteAs a state, Vermont can not continue the absurd, disproportionate spending on SpEds. These individuals fair no better now at earning a livelihood than 50 years ago. Matter of fact, previous to current mandates and near universal disability/SSI benefits, disadvantaged citizens maintained a level of self respect having learned a trade. Consider the good done as a society if that same financial resource was focused on those gifted students stemming their abandonment of public schools. Such talent would be a motivation to all and a pride to our schools. Further consider, not a single SHS student was accepted to a tier one university last year. How that statistic alone impacts a family's decision to relocate here.
2:23, no matter how hard you try to sound intelligent and educated, your ignorance comes shining through. Draconian, top-down social engineering at its absolute finest. Ayn Rand would be proud.
ReplyDeleteIt comes down to the money if the town can not afford to have the number of teachers then something has got to give, and it should be the number of teachers, as the taxpayers in this town and state suffer enough.
ReplyDelete2:47 you are clearly a self righteous narcissist, 2:23 was making their point and you immediately attacked them just as you do everyone.
No, Roger, I just attack ignorant wingnuts, like yourself. I have never felt the need to denigrate people with disabilities, nor have I ever believed that they should "know their place." Local conservatives want to cut staff, cut spending, and then you wonder why SHS students don't get into Ivy League colleges. Shoveling resources at the "gifted" (meaning wealthier) students deprives the others of any chance they might have to succeed. "Learn a trade" has always been code for "poor kids should push brooms." I know for an absolute fact that none of you are wealthy enough to have that attitude. Few people around here are. Big fish in a VERY small pond. You think I'm a self-righeous narcissist? How self-righteous and narcissistic is it to tell someone else's kids where they should work, and how much they should get paid? Don't give me that crap about taxes, either. I don't have children in this school system, and never have; I'M paying for YOUR kids. Do you think that gives me the right to say they should work at McD's? I didn't think so.
DeleteGreat Post ANONYMOUS ANONYMOUS 3:51 Reread your post, it proves my point. You know everything and are the greatest providing for my kids (wrong) and you know what everyone of us Stupid people need, Great Post!
DeletePeople who are uneducated need an education. Some of us are willing to pony up the tax dollars to see that everybody gets one, including people that you think are unworthy of it. Including you, and yours, Roger.
DeleteAnonymous, Wrong again, my family pays it's own way, and pays it's fair share of taxes, we are not part of the large portion in VT that do not.
DeleteBut really 30.2 million dollars, the problem is that everyone that encompasses that 30.2 million pay out is looking out for their own, when it's the tax payers that foot the bill. Teachers won't give an inch on anything, they need to realize how good they really have it, and they actually think just the opposite, it's sad.
That's your opinion, Roger. You have a lot of opinions; they always elevate you while denigrating others. Maybe you do pay for some of what you get, but that doesn't give you the right to take from others so that you can have more. Nobody owes you anything.
DeleteMore Spin, Anonymous King of Spin... Not what I said
DeleteYou expect hard working teachers to get paid less, and would deprive handicapped children of an education, just so your taxes can be lower. That's taking from others so you can have more, Roger. Pretty sad, considering how successful you SAY you are. Maybe you're the one who doesn't realize how good you have it. No spin, just reality.
Deleteroger, I suggest you be a teacher for a day or a week and let us all know how you fared.
DeleteI used to be a teacher. Roger doesn't have the education or the temperament for it. He wouldn't last a day.
DeleteRE: "...would deprive handicapped children of an education,..."
DeleteExactly how much should that education cost? Keeping in mind every cent over the average is deprived from another student with much greater potential.
See More Spin 10:08 I never said I was successful, I SAID I and MY Family pays their taxes!
DeleteNor did I say I wanted to deprive anyone, 32 Million Dollars just needs to be managed, and if a teacher or two has to do a little more then so be it, Quit spinning my words for your benefit.
You people should quit making Teachers out to be saints, they work hard just like the rest of us do and for 9 months a year with plenty of benefits and days off, they get paid well already.
Roger, I've been listening to you spout off about how hard-working, successful, and truly deserving you are for years, as has everyone else. That, while characterizing everyone who criticizes you as "basement dwelling, tide pod eating losers," and worse. You've said things to me, personally, (while speeding away in your POS van) that I can't even post here. You brought this on yourself when you chose to defend the first poster, at 2:23. Birds of a feather, etc. The problem that I, and anyone with a functioning moral compass has with your kind, is that you monetize human life, and place yourselves at the top. As if you are God, and can dictate the value of another human being. I will continue to challenge you, as it is my right as an American citizen, and my obligation as a human being. I pay taxes, and I'm concerned about how they are spent, but I can raise these questions without diminishing those who receive my tax dollars. You either can't, or won't.
DeleteThose "top-tiered" students very often fight tooth and nail to keep any of the rewards they've reaped from trickling down to Springfield. One unfortunate characteristic that appears too often among the highly intelligent is arrogance that causes them to scorn their economic inferiors.
ReplyDeleteThe alternative to providing for our neediest is to engage in even more savage a capitalism than we already have.
What our school board should be thinking about is kicking over the traces and setting our own course to become a world-class school district-- showing the rest of America and all those neoliberal "school reformers" what real reform is and how it's done.
Bravo, 3:51!
ReplyDeleteAs for where the community's coming from on our schools, a 21-year-old challenger ran for the board last time and told the public that he was running in part because the system had not adequately prepared him for college.
They voted for the incumbents.
Start at the top. Fire Zach McLaughlin and the school board.
ReplyDeleteTime for some fresh ideas. Other schools dont seem to have this much of an issue. The budget keeps getting higher each year for what?
As a parent I have not seen anything that warrants the increase in the budget.
We won’t achieve any results by simply posting on a blog or commenting on social media. We need to attend a board meeting, volunteer as a mentor, or gosh darn it run for school board. I have my petition, do you have yours? Stop posting about schools in Finland and actually do something. You can pick up a petition to run at the town office. Signed petitions are due at the end of January. We need more parents on the board not retirees. Use these budget cuts as a call to action.
ReplyDeleteIf less students = less teachers, it follows that less teachers = less administrators.
ReplyDeleteKick some to the curb or cut their salaries!!!.....starting with the loafing absentee non-resident superintendent!!!!
I attended Monday night's school board meeting. I actually had to restrain myself from commenting due to the fact that I'm not a resident (but own two properties in town, not allowed to speak). Such spin I saw going on by the school's administrators, primarily McLaughlin. His fake cut of the financial officer position is laughable given that there are two people in this position currently where there should only be one. The retiring business person was kept over to hold the hand of the new business guy (why is anybody's guess, new hire incompetance?).I
ReplyDeleteCutting to the chase, McLaughlin is cutting NOTHING from central office, boosting his good friend Coen's salary and promoting him, all while cutting teachers and instructional staff.
I'll be attending future budget meetings and hope others demand answers to these troubling issues. It's my taxes too!
That would be D. Cohn, not K or E Coen, who are teachers.
DeleteGovernment entities are ALWAYS in some sort of a financial squeeze, contrived or otherwise. And they can be counted on to roll out the same worn emotional appeals for us to give them more of our money: the children, the environment, climate change, and the inevitable apocalypse if we don't comply. Chicken Little had now met the Boy Who Cried Wolf and the public may finally be waking up to these phony shakedown tactics after decades of their overuse.
ReplyDeleteI went to the district's website to look at board meeting minutes. Although it said approved minutes were 'here', clicking on it gave me nothing. What are they hiding?
ReplyDeleteThe 800 lb. gorilla in the room? The fact that the cost for teachers who no longer teach continues to grow. As the cost of pensions and health care benefits for a growing number of retirees outstrips the ability of a dwindling number of taxpayer's ability to pay, all focus is on reducing student services, with no thought of reining in entitlement costs. Enrollments are going down in many parts of the country, yet the cost to "teach" them increases?...Do the math...
ReplyDeleteBingo! 7:55, this transitions to our entire government as well, State and Federal, and not allow them to be protected by their union either.
DeleteThe teachers pay into the state retirement system and do not get health care benefits in Vermont. For teachers that are still teaching the district does match a percentage of what teachers pay into the retirement system but that is a small percentage. In Springfield if a teacher retires after 20 or more years with the Springfield School District the district pays 14,500.00 into their 403b retirement account. The cost to "teach" students keeps going up because more and more students come to school unprepared to learn and schools are expected to do everything, Health Care, Dental Care, Counseling/Mental Health, teach CPR, Teach behavior skills and basic manners, in some cases potty training, provide clean clothing, provide food and other basic care. On top of that education is now big business and in Springfield the superintendent is not running budgeting like any successful big business.
ReplyDeleteYour comments notwithstanding regarding retired teacher's health benefits, search results may indicate otherwise: https://www.vermonttreasurer.gov/sites/harry2015/files/VSTRS/PDF/010_-_Act_74_-_Informational_Mailing_-_final.pdf
DeleteFurthermore, why does it cost more to teach a student how to use a toilet than to teach them how to use a slide rule? Does the teacher earn a higher salary for the former? Longer hours?
School systems elect to provide non-classroom services such as those you mention as a means to increase their numbers, (and associated budgets), which results in higher property taxes for residents. In many communities, the school budget alone accounts for >60% of total revenue annually, leaving all other municipal departments to claw and fight over the remaining funds.
Again, with declining enrollments, how can these spiraling costs continue to be justifiable?
Slide rule? Are you kidding me? Electronic calculators replaced those 50 years ago! Get a grip, you sound worse than Roger!
DeleteANONYMOUS 10:59, Just attack attack attack, might make you look smarter, but shows just how much of an ANONYMOUS you are. Comment over a slide rule, they were just making a point.
DeleteThe point being that they have no clue about education, and should therefore keep silent, as should you, Roger. If you don't want to be criticised when you say stupid things, then think before you speak.
DeleteApplies to people who say Hateful things, look in the Mirror, and as a Tax Payer we can say what we want it's called American Democracy, someone as smart as you would think you would know that, or so you SAY your smart. maybe your just trying to silence those who think differently than you so you get what you want, another deficient behavior.
DeleteThat "we" includes me, Roger, and I have a few things to say. Apparently you don't understand that. You people LOVE to talk about democracy, but you only like it when it serves your purpose, exclusively. When someone you don't like gets something, you all scream about the "injustice" of it.
DeleteIt's a death spiral, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteTaxpayers complain about high school tax rates.
The board responds by cutting school funding.
The quality of education goes down and is reflected in property values.
To continue funding the same amount, the town has to raise the tax rate.
The taxpayers complain about high school tax rates.
The board responds by cutting school funding.
The quality of education goes down and is reflected in property values. . . . . .
So, where's the problem?
This town suffers from terminal brain drain. Thanks to today's rabid populism, smart, ambitious people with good ideas are driven out of town. What's left are lazy, ignorant, greedy people, who's only way of life is to collect welfare, or scam the suckers with money who roll off the interstate. Just like in the movies. It's not political, it's cultural. The "good old boys" are just as likely to be liberal as conservative. Objectivism creeps into every institution, and corrupts everything. Once you begin to view others as cash cows, it's over.
DeleteNo, 10:32, I think what the town suffers from is a variation of Bonhoeffer's minatory: "First they came for the Jews, and I did nothing..."
ReplyDeleteOur (and possibly our culture's) variation is, "First they came for [insert here: "the schools," "the sidewalks," "the jobs," "the roads," "the scenery"] and I did nothing, because I had a nice car, nice appliances, and a premium Netflix account."
Something in town goes a little downhill, and we let it slide because, hey, we can still drive 25 miles to work with no problem. Then something else corrupts, and we let it slide because, hey, we can still see "Game of Thrones." Then we hear about someone who's just scammed the town for $20,000, and we brush it aside to get that Amazon deal before the offer ends. And then when we find our kid can't complete college because there's no way she can afford it, it's too late-- because we never paid attention to all the stuff that set up that situation.
We stay comfortable by choosing to be ignorant in our comfort.
There is a lot of truth in that, Chuck. People think, "That's not so bad, I'll fix it tomorrow." And then 10 years go by, then 20, and so on. People get used to the decay, because it happens slowly, and they see it every day. One day, they realize how bad it is, and that it's beyond their capacity to fix, but their pride won't let them admit they allowed it to happen. Then the finger-pointing starts. They won't accept criticism or help from anyone, because their pride won't allow that, either. And the downward spiral continues. I still think brain drain is a factor, at least in the inability to solve the problems.
Deletehttps://www1.salary.com/VT/Public-School-Teacher-salary.html
ReplyDeleteSpringfield VT Teachers Salaries are $ 1837 per year higher than the Avg Teacher in VT.
Avg in VT $ 55,860... Springfield $ 57697, Look Anonymous Anonymous I can do math!
Congratulations, Roger! You pass the Third Grade! Those "average salaries" don't say anything about education level or years teaching, do they? That's because entry-level with a Bachelor's Degree is about half that. It will take a Master's Degree, and at least 10-15 years teaching to get to the "average." That's how they scam people into teaching. They also don't tell you that you'll work just as many hours outside class as in it. Lots of fun grading papers until 1:00 am, and then getting up at six. The only way to know how hard a teacher works is to be one, or be married to one. Summers off are spent recovering from a year of lost sleep and fried nerves. One thing's for sure, they don't have time to make ignorant blog posts at 2:00 in the afternoon, like you!
DeleteHey 3:03, I think I hear your mommy calling. Now he a good boy and run upstairs for num nums. Enjoy your Tide pods!
DeleteVery funny, 5:10. No, seriously, I'm really laughing at you!
Delete5:48? Did mommy correct your punctuation for you? If so, she's as dumb as you are!
DeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA