Shrewsbury tells teachers to forget about pay raises
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By Cristina Kumka STAFF WRITER - Published: November 26, 2009
SHREWSBURY — Taxpayers in Shrewsbury, including some former teachers and some with children in the town's school, told Shrewsbury Mountain School teachers Monday night they wish they could afford to pay their requested salary increases but they just can't.
It was the first public hearing on the town's inaugural joint teaching contract, which would outline the salary, benefits and requirements for teachers in unions in Shrewsbury, Clarendon and Wallingford.
The contract has been on the table since January 2008 and as of Monday, the two sides were left debating 15 key points of the agreement, including salary, break periods and health insurance payments.
The associations are asking for a 5 percent across-the-board increase in the first year of the three-year contract, followed by 5.25 percent and 5.48 percent.
School Board members from those towns are asking to cut those numbers in half over the three years.
Many residents who spoke at the meeting held at the school Monday night sided with School Board members.
Steve Walsh, a longtime Rutland hospital employee who saw his kids graduate from the school, said he didn't get a raise so he couldn't see how he could pay other people to.
"I'm not getting five and a half percent … I don't know how I'm going to pay your salaries," he said.
Irene Gordon, a former teacher whose husband's income from a New York police retirement pension was cut by more than half, said times were too tough.
She thanked the teachers for providing a "safe, caring and loving environment" for students, one to be envied, but said it wouldn't be horrible for teachers to keep their salaries the same.
"If I had the money to give to you, I would," Gordon said.
"Some people are giving up a day or two of salary because their companies can't pay them … we all have to bite the bullet."
One resident asked for a quick compromise to not ruin teacher morale and another referred to the school's 60 students and 8-to-1 student to teacher ratio to push the point of not losing sight of what's important — keeping the town's school in existence in the face of consolidation.
Resident Jonathan Gibson used federal Department of Labor statistics to show that the cost of living nationally has increased less than 2 percent in the last 12 months and the School Board's proposal of 2.5 percent, 2.75 percent and 2.75 percent over three years was more in line.
The meeting's 34 attendees sat divided — the School Board in the front of the room, residents on one side and teachers on the other.
The teachers remained silent when asked to comment publicly by Shrewsbury School Board Chairwoman Adrienne Raymond.
It's not an uncommon story.
Property owners statewide are fretting over what's more important — being able to pay their rising taxes or maintaining school quality as school budget season starts for the 2011 fiscal year.
"To balance the state budget the state has begun shifting costs onto property taxes through the Education Fund," Paul Cillo, president of the Vermont nonprofit research group The Public Assets Institute.
"The solution (is) we need our state elected leaders to use a balanced approach, including new revenue to deal with current recession-driven budget deficits, refrain from shifting state costs like teachers' retirement onto the property tax, and immediately get to work to fundamentally reform the way we finance health care in Vermont."
Negotiations are expected to resume between the teachers associations and school boards early next week, Raymond said Monday.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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