Manatee School District Employees Face up to 8 Percent Pay Cut Plus Higher Insurance Premiums

During public comment the board was criticized for money mismanagement.

BRADENTON – In a seemingly noble act, the Manatee County School Board agreed that they would take the lead in pay cuts, sacrificing a whopping 7 percent decrease in their salaries. However, this significant amount falls short of what was required from their hardest-hit employees. Ironically, in the same meeting they approved a motion to cut the highest paid SAMP employees over 8 percent, which includes mandatory furlough days.

”We haven’t signed anything yet, so we will definitely have to adjust the rate. We should take the highest cut if we are asking employees to do the same,“ said board member Karen Carpenter when asked about the mistake.

Under the superintendent’s budget cut recommendations, which passed 3-2 with board members Julie Aranibar and Carpenter opposing, higher paid SAMP employee pay will be slashed 8 percent, while lower paid SAMP employees, principals and vice principles will get salary decreases totaling 6 percent. Teachers will face pay cuts of 5.75 percent. All employees will now have to pay a 19 percent increase in insurance premiums, adding a substantial amount of salt to an already festering wound.Teacher aides and teacher assistant salaries will be decreased by 4.08 percent. Non-bargaining hourly clerks and secretaries will  take a 4.28 cut and AFSCME employees will see a 4.19 percent salary decrease. The pay cuts include mandatory furlough days.

On June 28, 2010, the School Board discontinued automatic step for SAMP, Principals, Assistant Principals and non-bargaining hourly employees. Based upon revenues and budget cuts needed to balance the budget the Superintendent is recommending no step increase for employees in 2011-12. Employees will not be advanced on the salary schedule by one step.The financial impact of the reduction in salaries (salary percentage reduction plus days off) is a savings of $964,800. In addition, a savings of $730,000 is achieved by no step increase for these employees for the 2011-12 School Year.

Richard Green, a spokesman for the Committee for Improving Education of Children in Manatee County, chastised the board for lack of transparency.

”If half of your board members question what money is going where, the public surely has the same questions,“ he said.

Barbra Harvey told Superintendent McGonegal that making the right budget decisions was his job.

Tom Garland, also with the CIEC, told reporters that the district purposefully waited until the end of the last tediously long meeting to address the budget. The hearing ran over 6 hours until almost 1:00 a.m. on June 30, 2011. He also stated that yesterday’s 2:30 p.m. meeting ”wasn’t exactly public.“

Robert Gause disagreed, stating that people could tune into the meeting and watch it at home -- only the meeting never ran on any of the public television stations. If residents wanted to tune in, they would have had to be at school board headquarters or watch online where the meeting was streamed with inconsistent quality and frequent gaps.

”They are taking the superintendent’s word for all the information they receive,“ said Peggy Martin, a local taxpayer who has been vocal in her opposition to how the budget has been managed.

Aranibar and Carpenter opposed all aspects of yesterday's meeting because they feel their demands for more information have been repeatedly ignored.

”You are asking me to vote on something that I am not comfortable with complying with, because I’m not sure we have nothing left to cut in the budget besides teacher pay,“ said Aranibar. ”There are 151 administrative positions totaling $6 million dollars in expenditures -- I have repeatedly asked for complete information and have not received important communication, making it very hard to vote on this.“

Garland and members of the CIEC believe that the Superintendent McGonegal purposefully withholds information from the two newcomers to the board, Carpenter and Aranibar, because they are continually questioning the way he conducts his business.

”There are a lot of skeptics out there that question whether school-board staff intentionally disregard our requests, and the truth is I don’t know if they do or not,“ said Carpenter. ”The truth is, no one on this board is new to the budget process and it should have been more comprehensive and collaborative.“

Board member Barbra Harvey said that it isn’t her job to go through ever line item individually to determine the best financial plan.

”I am not the superintendent, I don’t want to be the superintendent. It’s my job to hear the voice of the people and I’m good at what I do,“ she said.

Harvey turned to Superintendent McGonegal and pointed a stern finger. ”Figuring out what can be cut and what can’t is your job and we expect you to do your job.“

In addition to the hybrid of furlough days and salary reduction, there will be a reduced level of school cuts ($700,000) in the plan. According to the superintendent, this level of cuts will impact school resources by less than one-half of one percent.

Total cuts should provide a midpoint between the $11 million and $17 million range that was reached when the board compromised at the last budget meeting. The additional $3 million in savings will be a one-time additional board share premium for the self-insured health plan.