Ypsilanti Schools support staff OKs wage & benefits cuts to help cut $2.9 million budget deficit
Note: This story has been updated to show the school board ratified the YSSA contract.
Due to concessions approved by its support staff union, Ypsilanti Public Schools will avoid privatizing some aspects of the district’s services, according to the budget presented Monday to the Board of Trustees.
However, eliminating five teacher positions and high school transportation were two solutions presented Monday to help fill a $2.9 million budget deficit by David Houle, the district’s chief financial officer.
Many of the proposals in the budget stem from the district’s deficit elimination plan that was approved in January by the school board and was approved by the state earlier Monday.
The Ypsilanti Support Staff Association on Friday approved a contract that will save the district about $2 million. The school board ratified the contract unanimously Monday.
Houle said the district is slowly shrinking its structural deficit and much of that is due to the willingness of employee unions to work with the district.
“We’re certainly making progress,” Houle said. “We’re making good progress. It’s not fast enough, but we are making progress to change that structural deficit.”
The elimination of five full-time teacher positions would save the district $320,000, the elimination of high school transportation — a measure under consideration in Ann Arbor Public Schools as well — would save the district $252,000, and the concessions from the YSSA would save the district about $850,000, said Houle.
In the original deficit elimination plan, custodial services and food services would have been privatized, but the concessions from the YSSA would cover the same amount of money, Houle said.
The contract approved by the YSSA's approximately 200 members on Friday included a 2 percent and 6 percent wage cut in the next two fiscal years. The district would also cap its contribution to YSSA members' health care at $12,000 annually, which is down from as high as $20,000 per employee.
YSSA members would also pay $100 per year for their health insurance policy and up to a $1,000 deductible. Association members do not pay an annual fee or a deductible.
The aspect of the plan that accounts about half the savings the district hopes for would come from negotiating a cap on health care costs for all employee groups at $12,800. Capping health care at that level would save the district about $1.4 million, Houle said.
“This is a different option that would give us more consumer-driven health care with co-pays and deductibles,” Houle said, adding that the Ypsilanti Education Association is considering the proposal.
Dedrick Martin
Houle proposed a total of $3.3 million in cuts, which would give the district a $400,000 surplus heading into the following year’s budget. Among the cuts is the elimination of student service coordinators, which has been the subject of debate and concern among building principals and leaders in the district.
The elimination of five teaching positions will likely not result in any layoffs as the school board approved 11 retirement notices and one resignation at Monday’s meeting.
Superintendent Dedrick Martin praised the YSSA as being the latest employee group to help the district in balancing its budget. However, there is still more work to be done to make sure the district is on sound financial footing, he said.
“That represents a significant sacrifice on their behalf,” Martin said. “We’ve had all our employee groups step up to date. Our work is not done, we have some significant challenges ahead of us.”
Kira Berman
Many of the trustees expressed their gratitude to the YSSA for voting to approve the contract.
Trustee Kira Berman said the contract was another example of employee unions and the district’s administration working together.
“This is an amazing sacrifice by the YSSA, on the part of all their members,” she said. “I want to thank them for their willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the district.”
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Milan Moravec
Sun, May 29, 2011 : 9:16 p.m.
University of California wage concessions faculty chancellors UCOP to eliminate tuition increases. The 10 University of California (UC) campuses, UCOP are not untouchable: Californians fund UC. Californians face foreclosure, unemployment, depressed wages, loss of medical, unemployment benefits, higher taxes: it's time Governor Brown, UC Board of Regents Regent Lansing, President Yudof demonstrated leadership by curbing wages, benefits. As a Californian, I don't care what others earn at private, public universities. If wages better elsewhere, chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured, non tenured faculty, UCOP should apply for the positions. If wages commit employees to UC, leave for better paying position. The sky above UC will not fall. California suffers from the greatest deficit modern times. UC wages, benefits must reflect California's ability to pay, not what others paid elsewhere. Campus chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured & non-tenured faculty, UCOP are replaceable by the more talented. UC faculty, chancellor vice chancellor concessions: No furloughs 18 percent reduction in UCOP salaries & $50 million cut. 18 percent prune of campus chancellors', vice chancellors' salaries. 15 percent trim of tenured faculty salaries, increased teaching load 10 percent decrease in non-tenured faculty salaries, as well as increase research, teaching load 100% elimination of all Academic Senate, Academic Council costs, wages.
Grant
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 12:53 p.m.
Teachers and administrators should at a minimum should be paying what the YESSA members pay for benefits. Perhaps since support staff earn so much less than teachers and administrators, a percentage of the average teacher and administrator salaries should be paid by them in line with the percentage they pay: which is a huge burden on support staff.
daisymae
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 3:20 a.m.
Support staff will be paying between $112 & $270 per month for healthcare (single vs family plan), teachers are paying $100 per month for healthcare, and administration is paying $50 per month for their healthcare. Doesn't make sense that the lowest paid employees in the district are forced to pay the most for healthcare!
sad day
Thu, May 12, 2011 : 10:44 p.m.
Daisymae is exactly right. If you are a para-pro or food service worker that equals 1/3 or 33% of their pay in most cases. They beat up on the lowest paid people in the district.
Rachel
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 11:22 p.m.
Dear Snyder, How do you expect to attract NEW teachers to Michigan? How do you expect Michigan to be successful with a poorly educated population? Do you think businesses will move in if they can't attract employee's due to the fact that no one wants to move into a place where their children won't receive a good education? Michigan isn't a business. You can't outsource the poor. You can't outsource children. You can't outsource a community.
jns131
Thu, May 12, 2011 : 2:11 a.m.
Boo hoo on that one too. Teachers in Wayne and Wastenaw county are all being laid off by the tons because this is suppose to be a great area to live in. Hate to say it, but I heard a lot are migrating to the west side of the state where jobs are plentiful. We could be in Muskegon by now but the husband thinks his job is safe...for now. As for teachers? There is nothing in Michigan holding them here. Good luck.
macjont
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 4:50 p.m.
It is not just a question of numbers. Quality is essential. Schools of Education at Michigan institutions are not attracting and graduating the best and the brightest of our young people. And how do we expect to retain the best and the brightest of our teachers? We are headed down the wrong path and a dangerous one to boot.
YpsiGirl75
Wed, May 11, 2011 : noon
@AMOC-Not sure if you are a parent, but I for one, don't want my children educated the same way as the children in Mississippi, Alabama or Texas. I am proud they are getting a Michigan public education.
AMOC
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 1:23 a.m.
Rachel - We certainly don't need to attract any MORE new teachers to Michigan. Our universities are already graduating 3-5 people with freshly minted BAs in Education for every teaching opening in a public school. Plus we attract LOTS of teachers from other states because wages for teachers in Michigan are (still) very high compared to other places, even places as nearby as Ohio and Indiana. We won't even go into how well Michigan school districts pay compared to Mississippi or Alabama, or even Texas.
MichiganMommy
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 8:15 p.m.
Is Mr. Martin going to take a paycut also? That will help in the budget cuts.
daisymae
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 9:03 p.m.
Fat chance of that happening.
crazyasian
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 6:26 p.m.
The true story: The YSSA were told that if they did not approve these cuts, their jobs would be taken away and privatized. Not much of a choice there...
jns131
Thu, May 12, 2011 : 2:09 a.m.
O boo hoo on the medical. Ann Arbor Bus drivers before they were all laid off paid over $300 a month or more on medical and they were not paid enough to cover these expenses. So boo hoo, you got a deal, better then what WISD has offered the bus drivers, $4000 in co pay. Sucks doesn't it? So stop the whining and be lucky you have a job in September.
sad day
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 8:20 p.m.
The yssa contribution is 100.00 per month not a year
sad day
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 8:17 p.m.
The true story is that the YSSA employees that have families will pay 300.00 a month for their medical, In some cases that is over 33% of their wages.
oneofsix
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 6:15 p.m.
Can I assume what is meant by support staff is non-teaching positions and administration? If so, shouldn't ALL staff be asked to at least share in some sort of concessions? If this includes teachers and administrators, the article is not clear on that point. Since I do not know how many are employed by the district, I really can't tell if all are included. One point I would like to make is if the budgets are reduced, will we ever see them increase to the levels they were before? Or will teachers still have to supplement their own classrooms with supplies and teaching materials? I have known some teachers in my life and they always bring supplies, spending their own money just so the kids have enough to go around. You have to love kids and what you do to be a teacher these days... My thanks for all the fine ones I had throughout my school days.
daisymae
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 8:59 p.m.
YSSA support staff refers to: secretaries, custodians, maintenance and paraprofessionals (teacher assistants). Administration has their own union as do teachers.
braggslaw
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 6:05 p.m.
I expect 1/2 the high school students will shift to the new charter school over the next five years. There will be more cutting and at some point the district will have to merge with Lincoln and or Willow Run.
daisymae
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 6:12 p.m.
I couldn't have said it better, YpsiGirl75!
EyeHeartA2
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 1:12 p.m.
"Students going to Ypsilanti High School are going to have an opportunity to choose an Academy and receive an education better than any charter school will offer them" Good to hear. It sounds like students leaving to charter schools will no longer be an issue then. Problem solved.
YpsiGirl75
Wed, May 11, 2011 : 12:11 p.m.
It is sad that everyone thinks charter schools are the answer. Charter schools get the per pupil funding that should be going to public schools and they only keep and educate the students who perform well and don't have any special needs. By special needs, I don't just mean special education. They won't even accommodate a peanut allergy! They also recommend that students go back to public school to get their needs met, but not until they account for them and receive the money from the state. This translates into challenging students at public schools with no funding. It also means, the charter school's performance reports are not accurate, because they don't include those challenging kids. They don't educate better, they only educate those who are easy to educate. There are many amazing public school teachers and they work hard every day to provide a wonderful education to ALL students. People need to quit blaming teachers and start looking at school administration and the legislature! Also- read the article on the new YHS redesign. Students going to Ypsilanti High School are going to have an opportunity to choose an Academy and receive an education better than any charter school will offer them!
Dennis
Tue, May 10, 2011 : 6:01 p.m.
Mr. Martin and Ms. Berman may choose to call it working together.... I choose to call it extortion ! Lowering wages of working people only bring us down as a State and a Country. Soon we will have the "playing" field on par with Mexico and China.