Publication Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Palo Alto teachers want to be full partners in solving district's fiscal crisis
Palo Alto teachers want to be full partners in solving district's fiscal crisis
(February 11, 2004) by Ro Davis
My maternal great grandfather, B.G. Allen, arrived in Palo Alto in 1903 and founded the Palo Alto Hardware Company on the corner of University and Bryant. I am proud to be a fourth generation Palo Altan.
I am also a multi-generational educator. Direct descendants of my family have been involved in education for generations. One was a professor of linguistics at Northwestern University. My grandfather Davis was a longtime superintendent of Schools in Santa Monica. My great aunt, Lina J. Guerrero, taught Spanish for 43 years at Palo Alto High School.
My brother, Alan, served eight years on the Palo Alto Board of Education while my sister, MaryAnne, teaches English as a second language.
I am deeply proud of this educational heritage. I am proud to say that I also am an educator. I work alongside people who are the very best at what they do: teaching and working with the children of Palo Alto.
Teachers do not enter the profession to get rich. They do so because they have those rare intangibles that allow them to teach and interrelate with young people. In exchange for the joy of teaching, we hope to make enough money to pay the bills, raise a family, pay for college for the kids, buy a place to live someday and then maybe retire with a little money set aside for our golden years.
Palo Alto teachers are acutely aware of the economic realities of the times we live in. We appreciate the seriousness of the fiscal situation currently faced by the Palo Alto Unified School District. Our teachers want to be fully involved in the process of solving these fiscal problems.
However, we would hope to be involved as equals and as peers in this process. To date, we do not feel that this has been the case. Last spring, PAUSD made $3.7 million in cuts for the 2003-04 school year. Teachers had no effective input into these cuts.
Now, with our district facing another $3 million in cuts next year, employee groups have been presented with a hard choice: agree to two unpaid furlough days or expect layoffs. This choice means we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils. Neither is acceptable.
The proposed furlough days result in a 1.08 percent pay cut -- not huge in itself.. But add this to what will likely be two consecutive years of no salary increases and the impact becomes significant: Teachers will be facing a de facto pay cut of at least 10 percent from 2003 to 2005 -- based on studies showing the cost of living in the Bay Area has risen 14 percent since 2001.
Starting teachers in Palo Alto make about $45,000 while a 10-year veteran will make $55,000. A loss of 1 percent in buying power is difficult for a teacher to deal with. A 10 percent loss is devastating -- impossible, in fact.
Many teachers live month-to-month is this high-cost area. And many do not hesitate to use their own funds to supplement classroom supplies.
Despite tight personal budgets, Palo Alto teachers have a tremendous wealth of ideas that we wish to share with the community as we endeavor to solve the current fiscal crisis. We know that Palo Alto without exception has been steadfast in it's support for education, both financially and in creative ideas. Our teachers also have a richness of ideas we can bring to the table.
This process can begin with the "Save Our Schools" forum Feb. 21, to be followed by the district's Strategic Planning Conference Feb. 26-28. The process will conclude with one or two final meetings to allow time for all ideas to be analyzed prior to final decisions by the Board of Education. This would comprise that open, thoughtful and measured process that has always been valued in Palo Alto.
In the meantime, we propose that the district use reserves to avoid furloughs or the layoffs that must by law be approved by March 15. Money saved by these measures would only save the District $772,000 in any event. This amount is all that separates our position from that of the district administration and school board.
We are not advocating deficit spending on an annual basis or indiscriminate spending down of the reserves.
We believe that this is the approach will serve our District well and be the right thing to do for our children and our community.
Roland "Ro" Davis is president of the Palo Alto Educators Association. He teaches physical education and has coached swimming and water polo at Palo Alto High School. He has been with the district since 1991.
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