Time To Put the 800lb Gorilla on a Diet?

Since none of the school board members want to talk about the 800 lb gorilla in the room , except of course to mention that no one is talking about it, allow us.

One of the things that constantly has us scratching our heads is that members of the public can take the time to analyze publicly available data with which to evaluate how our budget masters are performing. Consider health and dental insurance premiums. We know that state employees pay between 6 and 10% of the cost of their health insurance premiums. We also know(fact, folks) that state government employees have historically been afforded pretty nice benefits to make up for the gap in income between state jobs and similar jobs in the private sector.

But...school board member and Finance Committee chair Jim McCourt is tired of hearing about state employees. So let's give him something different to hear. SP-EYE reviewed employee contracts from 8 different school districts similar in size to Sun Prairie. We're still searching for those from the other 12 districts similar in size). A little Sunshine Review kudos for Sun Prairie and these 8 school districts that make their employee contracts available on their websites (as it should be, folks). Note: state employee contracts are available on the Office of State Employee Relations website.

Herewith is the comparison of what Sun Prairie Teachers pay for their benefits relative to what the other 8 districts pay. We did the best we could to "normalize" contracts to Sun Prairie as a baseline, and have annotated the data as needed.

Observations:

• Only Middleton-Cross Plains employees pay less of a share for Health Insurance than Sun Prairie employees.
• It seems that the going rate is for employees to pay-on average- 5% of the cost of their health insurance premiums. Sun Prairie is well below that. In fact--in the current contract--employees pay a fixed fee...which only means that the percentage share that employees pay will continue to decrease.
• Dental Insurance benefits remain a force to be reckoned with. For a family plan, these cost nearly 25% of what health insurance premiums are.
• Note that in their last contracts, the state reduce dental benefits--available only through HMO plans--to annual dental exams and minor fillings.

Dear school board...

As you get to thinking about raises for Administrators, Admin Support, and Local 60, you should really require a higher pay-in for benefits. Oh wait...except for Local 60. They are already being beaten like a red-headed stepchild by paying 9% for health insurance and 14.5% for dental!

2010-11 Budget - the Question That Needs to be Asked

Dear Sun Prairie School District...

I read daily about other school districts making massive cuts to their 2010-11 budgets. Most are freezing salaries and even cutting staff, particularly the highly paid administrators. What PERMANENT cuts have you included in your 2010-11 budget proposal?

Answer: $21,000

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING US?

Your $72.3M budget contains exactly 21 THOUSAND dollars of permanent reductions?

Did you slip and fall and hit your collective heads causing amnesia regarding what happened at last year's annual elector's meeting?

The economy is still in the tank and you're still feeding the 800 lb gorilla?

Good luck with that.

Spotlighting the 2010-11 Budget

Tomorrow is the 2nd of 3 public hearings on the school district's 2010-11 budget. This is YOUR chance to speak your piece and comment on the budget. The first budget hearing had a least the appearance of being a little too...well...staged?

So to perhaps whet people's appetites, and to provide data in a format a little different than the one "spun" by district administration, we offer you this:

The net increase in budgeted expenditures of 2010-11 over this past year (2009-10) comes to $3.1 MILLION dollars. That's a figure the district doesn't highlight.

When asked about it, they usually will quickly revert to their defense posturing and blame the increase on "opening the new high school". That is quickly followed by a lot of yada yada about no school district opening a new school under the revenue limit. Hard to buy that when they also tell us that we're one of handful of schools that don't levy up to the revenue limit. Yet another statement that collapses when one looks at actual DPI data instead of taking the district's word for it.

So...$3.1 MILLION dollars in new costs. According to their own budget data, we can only see that $1.5M of those costs --slightly less than 50%---can be attributed to the new high school. So...what's behind the other $1.6M?

We call it "keeping up with the Jones". It's all tied up in food to feed that 800 lb gorilla...which is quickly gonna become a 900 lb gorilla at this rate.

This gorilla needs to be put on a diet...stat!

SP-EYE note: Yes...we don't truly KNOW what some of these costs will be, but the Administrators are "entitled" to 3.8% (just ask them). We even projected low (2.5%) for Local 60 (currently in negotiations) because the screw always gets put to Local 60. The SPEA number comes directly from the contract costing sheet provided with the contract last year. The 5% and 7% increases to health and dental premiums have been stated by the district and applied to what our CURRENT costs for 2009-10 were. We welcome data from the district to refute these numbers. Because basically, we just want to know...where exactly are we spending $3.1 M MORE dollars? Oh...and yes...those of you that do the math will see that the numbers add to 3.19M...not $3.1M. That's because OTHER parts of the budget have slight decreases built into them to accommodate the fat in the gorilla's diet.

If You're Not Part of the Solution, You're Part of the Problem...

Our posts related to salary and retirement information have generated a pretty sizable level of...shall we say...discussion? We received this e-mail commentary. This is a great example of someone offering solutions. Instead of just mentioning that there is an 800 lb gorilla in the room about which n o one wishes to speak, here's someone at least suggesting ways to deal with said gorilla. And that's what SP-EYE is all about. Let's get everything on the table so that we can take stock of our situation , and deal with it. While others ENRAGE the community, we prefer ENGAGING the community. Get the community informed. Nothing will change with an uninformed electorate. Knowledge is power.

Power to the people!

SP-EYE

.......................................

Now that we’ve exposed a little of the 800 lb. Gorilla, we may as well starve him, poke him with a stick, and turn him loose in the city. Let’s talk about salaries-

We have an elementary school librarian making $88,435, or roughly double what a new teacher gets paid (and roughly what the Director of the Library of Congress gets paid http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Library-of-Congress-Director-Salaries-E22696_D_KO20,28.htm). I don’t know this individual, nor do I begrudge this individual for reaping the benefits of his/her dedication to the district. What I will say is that I think the district could go further towards educating children with a brand new librarian and a brand new teacher. Two for the price of one has always been a deal I could never pass up.

Now there is nothing we can (nor should) do about this salary in particular. It’s just an example. Promises were made when people were hired and should be kept (although, in fairness to the contrary argument, promises were made when this person was hired that by now we’d be taking our high-speed floating car from domed city to domed city http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/24/what-will-life-be-like-in-the-year-2008/). So what’s the answer?

One humble suggestion (in 3 parts)-

1) Increase starting salaries to attract the best students right out of college and early in their teaching careers.

Once a teacher gets established in a system, they are less likely to leave for small differences in pay. The costs of moving and learning a new system and changing textbooks and finding the last remaining safe place to sneak a smoke are high, and it’s easier to just stay put for the small amount of difference.

2) Compress the step pay schedule.

To fund the higher starting, make each salary increase smaller and really compress it on the top end. That difference between $42k and $47k means more to a young teacher trying to start a family and buy a house and pay off student loans and take care of aging parents than the difference between $82k and $87k means to someone with a few more years (and, if they are like the rest of us, pounds) under the belt. Also, the extra money is less essential to retaining someone with a couple years left, since they are less likely to leave in their last few years.

3) Skip steps in the pay scale for a significant number of great teachers each year. I know that this sounds a whole lot like merit pay, and maybe it is. I know that teachers will scream about being judged on test scores and administration will scream about not being able to properly evaluate in a fair manner. Too bad. You people are in the evaluation business. Administrators used to be teachers, and somehow they figured out a way to determine which kids did well and which ones didn’t. For the most part, people know who the good teachers are, and a combination of parent feedback, student evaluation, administrator evaluation, student progress, extra contribution, and other factors would give a pretty good idea of who deserves the extra carrot. Will this cause some veteran teachers who get passed over to leave? Maybe, but that would let us hire a superstar anyway, and it makes the salary step compression more palatable for those doing great work. If each step raise were cut in half and the top 50% of teachers get to double their progression (4 new steps), then this would be more-or-less budget neutral. It would also give a superstar the motivation to go the extra mile to teach kids and work with administration and families to improve the school.

If anyone is still reading, they are probably well aware that this would take an effort more monumental than even that required to build a pool with a door on the first try. Old teachers, not bright-eyed young dynamos, run teacher’s unions and if there is one thing that the entrenched power knows how to do it is stay entrenched.

Can’t stop us from dreaming, though.

These opinions not necessarily shared by SP-EYE. I’m sure there are problems with this theory, and I’d like to hear them. Agree/disagree, drop SP-EYE a line and let them know how you feel. All comments anonymous unless requested otherwise.

17% Of The 800 lb. Gorilla

Caren Diedrich and Terry Shimek like to talk about the fact that nobody wants to talk about the "800 lb gorilla in the room". Funny...they don't talk about it themselves! All they do is talk about nobody wanting to talk about it.
Guess that's our cue...our raison d'être, s'il vous plait.

...and that's French for , "Yeah, baby! We'll talk about it!" We'll talk about whatever needs to be talked about.

We've said it before...that the SPASD budget is between 80 and 85% personnel costs. Roughly two-thirds of that 80-85% is salaries; the rest is fringe benefits--largely health insurance and dental insurance premiums.

How much? How about $11.5 MILLION just for the 2009-10 school year alone! That's right...and it's all public record. If you review the "check runs" from Finance Committee or school board meetings, you'll see that we pay about $870K per month on average for health insurance premiums, and another $100K per month for dental premiums.

And, for 2010-11, not only are we adding 22.4 more positions, but the costs are projected to increase by 5% for health insurance and 7% for dental insurance.

• A 5% increase to health insurance costs for existing employees means an additional $430K to the 2010-11 budget.


• A 7% increase to dental insurance costs for existing employees means an additional $80K to the 2010-11 budget.


• At an average cost of $13,400 per employee times 22.5 new employees, translates to an additional $302K to the 2010-11 budget.


• That comes to a grand total of $810K for the 2010-11 budget for health insurance and dental insurance premiums alone.

Funny...we don't recall seeing a slide that indicated that particular number at the budget hearing on May 20. Sure...people were told 5% and 7% increases...and that there would be 22.5 new staff. But never did anyone specifically say..."Oh, and hey, taxpayers...that all means an additional $810K to the --now---$72.3 M budget for 2010-11 for health insurance costs."

The insidiousness of these costs is, like a number of the nastier STDs, they represent the gift that keeps on giving. These costs INCREASE every year and with every new employee.

Sun Prairie's Very Own Silent Caste System?
You've heard of "stickin' it to the man"? Well, here in the Sun Prairie school district, we're sticking it to the very people (you know...the ones we value so much as demonstrated by Birthday KitKat bars) that are working deep in the trenches for the lowest wages: AFSCME Local 60 Support staff. These are the people that keep the buildings clean, cook and serve the breakfasts and lunches, playground aides, and serve as teacher and student aides.

They are paid the least amount for wages (well below the Adminosphere) and yet get stuck paying a phenomenally large portion of their health insurance premiums! These are the people that can LEAST afford to pay more out of their pocket. While those whose salaries are in the Adminosphere and the Culverosphere pay mere pocket change for their insurance "benefits", Local 60 members pay out "real money". To use a more recent analogy, while teachers and administrators fork over about the cost of a couple of large pizzas monthly for their benefits, Local 60 members fork over the equivalent of several MONTHS worth of grocery bills! Why are we stickin' it to Local 60?


What Needs To Be Done
First...we need to establish a benchmark for what percentage employees should pay out-of-pocket for their insurance benefits. Some will argue, but we suggest that a good place to start is state employees. According to 2009 data, Wisconsin state employees pay about 6.15% of their health insurance premiums. And, with the state budget woes, the potential to increase that percentage is high.

Poor local 60 is already paying 9% of their health insurance premiums and a whopping 14.5% of their dental, while teachers and administrators are paying WELL below of even the share that state employees pay. Those percentages need to be pushed back down to the zone of reason.

Second...we need to establish a level playing field. Eliminate the caste system mentality and have ALL district employees pay the same percentage. We value ALL employees equally...right? Then SHOW it!

Third...teachers and administrators are going to need to pick up a higher percentage of their health insurance costs. Oh, they won't like ole SP-EYE for this stance. But...you know what? Tough tooties. They have one hellacious deal, and we need to stop listening to the whining and start pushing. We understand and would push back on this ourselves, but it's fair and just.

Fourth...we need to do more to work towards joining with state employees so that the cost of these premiums is lowered.

The most important thing to understand is that Rome wasn't built in a day, and similarly, creating a level playing field will not be an overnight solution. We need to establish the benchmarks and communicate to the unions a plan for moving contracts to equity. What's good for state workers, is most certainly good enough for school district employees.

There...NOW the 800 lb gorilla has been (at least partially) exposed. Let the fireworks begin.

SP-EYE disclaimer: Administration will probably declare: All those figures are wrong! But they will offer no attempt to correct them., So let's just head that one off at the pass. The monthly district premium costs come directly from the last 12 months of district check runs. Those are fact. The average administrator salary, $93,000(2009-10) comes from DPI data. Same for teachers... average salary is $47,991 . Premium shares come directly from employee contracts obtained from the district website. The only question mark in the bunch was coming up with an "average" salary for Local 60 workers. (These folks get paid somewhere between $11 and 18.00 per hour, and retire at an average pay of about $17 per hour). They all get paid hourly (vs. salary) and work different numbers of contract days. We took Support Staff salary costs from the annual budget documents and divided that by the number of Local 60 staff. Then we checked some HR tables from school board packages. Subsequently in the worst case scenario, we believe the "average" local 60 salary used here ($24,000) to be biased high.