It's been a while since I've had a good political debate here and this issue needs some more attention. I'm going to tackle this issue in a three two part series. Today, part one of the series.
The Problem
What's going on here in Georgia is we have a budget short fall. A big one. This isn't uncommon. Many state and local governments are having this same problem.
To help resolve the shortfall, the state government has mandated across the board budget cuts (of varying levels) for all agencies. This includes schools. The answer for many school districts is coming in two forms: Forced teacher furloughs and reducing school bus stops.
Solution 1 - Teacher Furloughs
The furloughs involve teachers taking three mandatory unpaid days off during the school year. What days teachers are being furloughed are being chosen by the district, not the teachers themselves. These aren't unpaid vacation days. Many teachers are objecting to this, but not for the reason you might think. It's not the unpaid days off that's the problem. It's not even that they don't get to choose when they take them to maximize personal benefit (Hey, if you're forced to take three unpaid days off, why not at least have them be when you need them, or they cause you the least impact, right?). Most people would be willing to give up three days of work a year to help keep everyone's jobs, even when it would be a hardship to do so. The hardship of the three unpaid days a year versus the hardship of no job at all isn't really a tough call. The problem is that those unpaid days "off" aren't really days off, according to the teachers being furloughed.
Although the districts that have implemented this plan have chosen non-school days to furlough teachers (furlough days are during the week before school starts, known as "pre-planning," and previously planned student-holiday-teacher-work days during the year), teachers point out this doesn't add up. Classrooms still need to be set up, plans still need to be made, papers graded, report cards compiled. All this work still needs to happen and even before furloughs it gets accomplished by using unpaid personal time to make up the difference. Teachers already work far more than their alloted number of hours. They're already woefully underpaid, especially in Georgia. The objection, reluctantly though it's being made, is that being asked to do all this for even less is hardly the right thing to do.
Cobb County, at least, agrees. Cobb has voted to use their reserves to pay teachers and avoid furloughs. I happen to live in Cobb County.
My Proposal
As more and more school districts are facing this difficult decision, more and more are making the wrong decision, in my opinion. Teacher furloughs dictated by the school district aren't the answer. That said, I'm not sure that taking money from reserves is the answer here either. I'm conserned that the reserves should be saved for things outside of the school district's control -- wildly fluxuating fuel costs, unexpected repairs or expenses for the bus fleet or schools themselves, etc. Using money from the reserves seems very attractive, but consider that doing so still only covers a small percentage of the necessary cuts. I think the answer lies somewhere in between those two solutions.
This whole thing is a no-win situation. That's pretty obvious from the get-go. Making a sacrifice like this is incredibly hard and when it comes to education, no one wants to sacrifice quality or quantity. Given that, how do you come to a compromise that makes the mandatory cuts, creates the least possible impact on the teachers, and doesn't short-change the students, either.
I think the first step is understanding that these cuts are necessary. Unwanted and undeserved, but necessary. We have to collectively accept that we're going to have to give something up that we really shouldn't have to, and that we're going to have to cut the budget whether we want to or not.
One of the best ways to reduce an operating budget is to cut payroll. I suggest offering some number of unpaid days off, of the teacher's choosing. I'd go even further to suggest that there should be an option to either take the three days the district suggests, or (for example) five of their own choosing. The higher number of unpaid days for their own choosing is to cover the fact that teachers taking off days during the school year necessitates a substitute teacher.
Under this plan teachers and school districts would both gain something, not just the school districts. Teachers would gain the ability to choose for themselves when and how much to be impacted by the unpaid days off. School districts would cut operating expenses, while still preserving the reserve budget for unexpected emergencies.
Your Thoughts?
What are your thoughts on teacher furloughs? Would you prefer three mandatory days chosen for you or to pick your own, albeit at a higher number of days unpaid? Do you have another idea to help cut payroll for the school districts?
Next up... reduced bus stops. Is it safe? Whose really going to end up paying for that?
The Problem
What's going on here in Georgia is we have a budget short fall. A big one. This isn't uncommon. Many state and local governments are having this same problem.
To help resolve the shortfall, the state government has mandated across the board budget cuts (of varying levels) for all agencies. This includes schools. The answer for many school districts is coming in two forms: Forced teacher furloughs and reducing school bus stops.
Solution 1 - Teacher Furloughs
The furloughs involve teachers taking three mandatory unpaid days off during the school year. What days teachers are being furloughed are being chosen by the district, not the teachers themselves. These aren't unpaid vacation days. Many teachers are objecting to this, but not for the reason you might think. It's not the unpaid days off that's the problem. It's not even that they don't get to choose when they take them to maximize personal benefit (Hey, if you're forced to take three unpaid days off, why not at least have them be when you need them, or they cause you the least impact, right?). Most people would be willing to give up three days of work a year to help keep everyone's jobs, even when it would be a hardship to do so. The hardship of the three unpaid days a year versus the hardship of no job at all isn't really a tough call. The problem is that those unpaid days "off" aren't really days off, according to the teachers being furloughed.
Although the districts that have implemented this plan have chosen non-school days to furlough teachers (furlough days are during the week before school starts, known as "pre-planning," and previously planned student-holiday-teacher-work days during the year), teachers point out this doesn't add up. Classrooms still need to be set up, plans still need to be made, papers graded, report cards compiled. All this work still needs to happen and even before furloughs it gets accomplished by using unpaid personal time to make up the difference. Teachers already work far more than their alloted number of hours. They're already woefully underpaid, especially in Georgia. The objection, reluctantly though it's being made, is that being asked to do all this for even less is hardly the right thing to do.
Cobb County, at least, agrees. Cobb has voted to use their reserves to pay teachers and avoid furloughs. I happen to live in Cobb County.
My Proposal
As more and more school districts are facing this difficult decision, more and more are making the wrong decision, in my opinion. Teacher furloughs dictated by the school district aren't the answer. That said, I'm not sure that taking money from reserves is the answer here either. I'm conserned that the reserves should be saved for things outside of the school district's control -- wildly fluxuating fuel costs, unexpected repairs or expenses for the bus fleet or schools themselves, etc. Using money from the reserves seems very attractive, but consider that doing so still only covers a small percentage of the necessary cuts. I think the answer lies somewhere in between those two solutions.
This whole thing is a no-win situation. That's pretty obvious from the get-go. Making a sacrifice like this is incredibly hard and when it comes to education, no one wants to sacrifice quality or quantity. Given that, how do you come to a compromise that makes the mandatory cuts, creates the least possible impact on the teachers, and doesn't short-change the students, either.
I think the first step is understanding that these cuts are necessary. Unwanted and undeserved, but necessary. We have to collectively accept that we're going to have to give something up that we really shouldn't have to, and that we're going to have to cut the budget whether we want to or not.
One of the best ways to reduce an operating budget is to cut payroll. I suggest offering some number of unpaid days off, of the teacher's choosing. I'd go even further to suggest that there should be an option to either take the three days the district suggests, or (for example) five of their own choosing. The higher number of unpaid days for their own choosing is to cover the fact that teachers taking off days during the school year necessitates a substitute teacher.
Under this plan teachers and school districts would both gain something, not just the school districts. Teachers would gain the ability to choose for themselves when and how much to be impacted by the unpaid days off. School districts would cut operating expenses, while still preserving the reserve budget for unexpected emergencies.
Your Thoughts?
What are your thoughts on teacher furloughs? Would you prefer three mandatory days chosen for you or to pick your own, albeit at a higher number of days unpaid? Do you have another idea to help cut payroll for the school districts?
Next up... reduced bus stops. Is it safe? Whose really going to end up paying for that?
Good point. The federal funding issue cuts into everything. Especially when the Feds eventually cut the funding they're offering as well, but will surely require the same number of days for schools to be open. It's definitely a catch 22. There really isn't a winning solution to this dilemma.
The substitute teacher issue is why I suggested offering the choice of the 3 days the district chose or a higher number of days of the teacher's choosing. The higher number of days for the teacher's choosing would be to help mitigate the cost of substitute teachers, who costs less to pay than the regular teachers (based on a friend who subs and another friend who is a teacher).
Posted by: Arie | July 24, 2009 at 12:42 PM
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With all due respect, the Governor of Georgia is shooting himself in the foot by furloughing teachers and state employees.
Posted by: Thelma Heywood | August 22, 2009 at 07:51 PM
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Posted by: Raymond Grossman | May 22, 2010 at 05:40 AM