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Schools Budget Gets OK Despite Union's Protests

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Unhappy school employees minced no words.

They urged the Pasco County School Board to reject this year's budget, saying the board needed to work harder to find money for raises and step increases that aren't included in the financial plan.

Many suggested the board dip into the district's "rainy day" reserve fund to pay for the raises and help employees struggling to make ends meet in the weak economy.

"Whether you like it or not, it's raining now," Lynne Webb, president of United School Employees of Pasco, told the board during a budget hearing Tuesday evening.

Despite the pleas, the board approved the $1.2 billion budget by a 4-1 margin, with board member Cathi Martin casting the dissenting vote.

Board member Marge Whaley told the employees the board had no choice. By law, she said, the board had to approve a budget Tuesday night.

With union contract negotiations continuing this week, Tuesday's action isn't necessarily the final word on raises, Whaley said. The board can amend the budget after a contract agreement is reached.

The employees expressed skepticism. After the budget is passed, they said, raises aren't going to happen.

"It will be a fait accompli," said Pat Connolly, a teacher at Land O' Lakes High.
School district officials said the tight budget year could worsen. The number of students is about 1,000 below projections, which could cost the district about $4 million because state funding is provided on a per-student basis.

Olga Swinson, the district's chief finance officer, said the governor has told school districts to brace for another round of budget cuts in December. Pasco anticipates it will lose another $4 million when that happens.

Board chairwoman Kathryn Starkey said the members understood the employees' concerns.

"We have friends and neighbors in the same boat as you are," she said.

Starkey said that maintaining employee health benefits and saving jobs have been the board's priority, but as the budget situation gets worse, layoffs are becoming a possibility.

"We're probably not going to be able to save everyone's job," Starkey said.

Tuesday's public hearing drew a standing-room-only crowd to the school board meeting room. Some employees overflowed into the hall, where they had to settle for listening to the meeting through speakers.

About 35 employees spoke to the board, detailing ways they have been affected by the economy. Some spoke of taking second jobs. Others said spouses had been laid off. They talked about the difficulties of paying their mortgages or sending their children to college.

Many said raises and step increases are necessary to cover the basics of living.

"I feel like you are kicking us in the teeth," said Tracy Turner, a teacher at Pasco Middle School.

Employees expressed doubt that money for raises couldn't be found somewhere in the budget.

"Let your effort rise above your excuses," said Kristin Hillstrom, a teacher at Sanders Memorial Elementary. "That's what we tell our students."

The lack of money for step increases especially steamed the employees. Step increases are annual bumps in pay the teachers and other school employees receive based on years of employment.

Kenny Blankenship, a Land O' Lakes High teacher, said the failure to include step increases made him doubt the administration's often-made claim that employees are "the district's greatest asset."

Before the budget hearing, about 200 teachers and other school workers held a rally in front of the school district administrative offices on U.S. 41, lining the road to let the public know about their effort to seek raises.

They waved signs and joined in chants such as, "Do the right thing, not the easy thing," which also became a refrain in school employee leader Webb's remarks to the board.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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