Joe Knilans Representative, 44th Assembly District Telephone: (608) 266-7503 |
 |
July 7th, 2011 |
Decisions Need to be Made
(Janesville) -- Over the last few months there have been many articles in the Janesville Gazette about the school district’s budget shortfalls. There has been progress since last year but now the final decisions need to be made. I was asked by the school board and the school district to get relief to help balance their budget. At the time it was a $10.4 million budget shortfall but when you add in the Governor’s reduction in school aid the deficit increased to $13.5 million. I was able to insert into the state budget a memorandum of understanding (MOU). This MOU would allow the district and teachers union to open up their contract and negotiate on their contributions, asking them to contribute up to 5.8% toward their pension and up to 12% toward health care premiums, all the while not interfering with their collective bargaining throughout the duration of their 4-year contract. The payment toward their pension is something that many states such as Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio have asked their public sector workers to do. President Obama has even requested that all federal workers pay 5.8% toward their pensions in his newly proposed budget and many federal workers pay 25% - 30% toward their health care premiums today.
I commend the school district for moving the budget shortfall in the right direction. They had to make many tough decisions to balance the budget and possibly realize a budget surplus; however, they had to cut employees, classes and textbooks. They also approved pulling $3.4 million from the fund 10 balance to fill in the remaining budget gaps.
If the JEA and school district were to open up the contract and agree to pay 5.8% toward their pension that would create $3.1 million in additional revenue that could be used to buy text books, call back teachers and add back classes. Unfortunately the next school budget could be as bad, if not worse, than this one, which could mean even more cuts next year. However, if the JEA would contribute 5.8% there would be a significant savings that we would realize in every budget going forward.
The President of the JEA, Dave Parr, has stated that only a few employees will actually be laid off, but the district estimates that it is closer to 60 employees that will be laid off. The JEA contends that the school district will not call back laid off workers; however, the Superintendent Karen Schulte has stated that she would hire back librarians, counselors and academic learning coaches, if she had the money.
Things aren’t easy for anyone these days. It’s not easy for someone to have a reduction in their paycheck of 5.8%. However it is also unfair to those employees that will be losing their jobs this fall, when the chance for them to keep it may very well be there. Let’s not wait until the fall to make decisions for the sake of those whose lives are on hold. Let’s make the decision now and move forward in Janesville.
