A citizen group in Pennsbury SD (Bucks County) calling itself Better Pennsbury has created a website urging transparency in school finance — especially union contract negotiations. The group practices what it preaches by posting online a spreadsheet showing the actual salaries and benefits of all district employees.
That spreadsheet packs a punch. Of the district’s more than 700 teachers, many are at what must be the top of the salary scale: $98,222. Salaries over $80,000 are common — possibly in the majority. (I didn’t count.) Add benefit packages, almost all in the $22,000-$30,000 range, and you get a picture of a staff that’s very well compensated. These figures do not, of course, impute any value to near-absolute job security in all kinds of economic weather.
The board and the union have had a first meeting to renegotiate a contract due to expire June 30. A January 15 story in the Bucks Local News quotes the union negotiator noting that the union agreed last year to a salary freeze during a one-year extension of the current contract. (That was a smart move and perhaps not too painful, given the salaries in question.) Naturally, he declined to be specific about the union’s current proposal. He’s quoted as saying, “in the sense that money is tighter, budgeting will require more creativity in terms of funding from the school board.”
A spokesperson for the board describes the district’s financial difficulties. It remains to be seen whether the board will publish its proposal, along with the union’s, once both offers are actually on the table.
At present the district’s website has nothing that really helps a reader understand how the negotiations now underway can actually affect future taxes — or teacher retention, if that’s a valid issue. The site does include a copy of the current budget in a format basically like that required for reports to PDE.
11:49 am on February 1st, 2010 1
They should consider putting their public meeting videos online so that people can watch them even if they can’t attend. It would also allow for research, so that the citizen can see who said what about a certain issue that matters to them. Lancaster and Chester Counties use our solution for this. Let me know if you’d like more info. http://twitter.com/VideoMinutes
-Justin
3:02 pm on February 1st, 2010 2
I have nothing against posting meeting videos online, but what’s said in public meeting rarely gives you much insight into the issues. Even in small districts, proposed union contracts can easily cost $50-100,000,000 over the life of the contract. The salary scales are complicated, and there’s no substitute for being able to study their details in advance of a meeting. During negotiations, those who speak for the union position come to meetings armed with emotional sound bites, while taxpayers often don’t even show up. Anyone with the patience to sit through a video of one of our board meetings — or even one of our public committee meetings, where we do most of our serious discussion — would learn something, but they’d usually learn it too late to influence actual decisions. Again, I’m not objecting to this idea in principle — just expressing doubts that “seeing who said what” is as useful as it sounds.
3:14 pm on February 2nd, 2010 3
That’s an interesting thought. At the same time, at least more of the public would be informed as to (some) of what is going on. For example, if a citizen were to have a public comment at the meeting, it would be heard by more than just the handful of people in the room at the time… it could be watched on the internet by anyone. It ends up giving citizens more of a voice. Also, aren’t those “work sessions” (at least at the county and township level) supposed to be open to the public? They could video them as well. The more citizens that know what is going on at the school board meeting, the more likely it is that they will find an issue that is important to them and champion it. Thoughts?
6:18 pm on February 2nd, 2010 4
Justin — Almost all committee sessions are open to the public now (and publicized in advance). The only legitimate topics for executive sessions are student disciplinary hearings, pending or potential litigation, union contract negotiations and most kinds of personnel decisions. (I don’t think I’ve left anything out.)
One problem is that most people find what we do tedious and boring. That’s especially true for the important stuff, which requires some homework. Another problem is that many school board members aren’t greatly worried about being voted out of office. We’re unpaid, so it’s not as if we’re losing money if the voters fire us. I’ve been elected five times now, and in every one of those elections I’ve put some time into trying to persuade other people to run. The average tenure of school directors in this state is (or was when I last checked) only about four years — one term. Most of them aren’t thrown out — they just leave for their own reasons.
A better strategy than videotaping meetings is to demand more information on the district website. Check out the Sunshine Review’s Pennsylvania Project, especially the report cards on school district transparency. Many districts don’t make it easy to contact school board members. Few provide financial information in user-friendly form. Almost none publish the union contracts that drive costs and influence educational quality. For any given piece of information, I suspect that it would take only a half dozen or so Open Records Law requests to result in the requested data being posted online, if only to avoid the hassle of reproducing the documents involved.
12:30 pm on February 3rd, 2010 5
Wow! It’s really wonderful what they have done in Bucks County. This is exactly the kind of transparency in negotiations that needs to emerge throughout the Commonwealth. It really does no good for boards or unions to talk about percentage increases or even benefits, if the public lacks a clear sense of what that means in actual dollars and cents.
Steve
6:23 pm on February 10th, 2010 6
Wow!
I wonder how long it took this group to assemble this information…and what the Right to Know Request looked like? I bet the Right to Know Official nearly died on the spot.
There are a few things that can also be added including: value of accumulated sick days, value of accumulated personal days, value of GASB 45 retirement benefits, and value of tuition reimbursements. I would also be curious if the salaries include any extra/co-curricular positions held by those individuals
Although this may be considered somewhat extreme, it certainly goes to dispel any salary rhetoric head on!