Austintown schoolteachers see the light -- or part of it

It would be easy to react with a "It's about time" quip to the decision by teachers in the Austintown School District to forgo a pay-scale raise next school year, but that would be unfair. Instead, a round of applause is warranted for the Austintown Education Association and its president, Bill Iagulli.
Taxpayers of the school district should recognize the significance of the decision.
Had the teachers not agreed to the freeze in their basic wages, Austintown schools would have collapsed financially. As it is, the board of education must still find a way of paying for state-mandated increases in salaries teachers will receive in 2004-05 for longevity and level of education.
Superintendent Stan Watson, who has been brutally honest in his assessment of the district's financial condition, called the agreement with the AEA "crucial." But Watson also warned of "difficult times ahead."
Forecast
The district's last five-year financial forecast, submitted to the state in April, shows it will have a $2.1 million deficit at the end of next year. That is the reason for our contention in the headline that the teachers have seen part of the light.
The district's administrators and non-union employees also have agreed not to take raises next year. Secretaries, janitors, bus drivers and other employees represented by the Ohio Association of Public School Employees are being asked to show similar restraint.
But considering that 2004-05 is the third year of a three-year contract, the issue of what happens after that cannot be ignored. Why? Because in the first year of the current contract, employees received a 3 percent raise, while in the second they got 3.5 percent. Teachers also received increases for longevity and level of education for teachers.
While it is difficult to predict what will happen in the future, this much is certain: Austintown, like most other school districts in Ohio, will continue to face tough economic times. And since more than 80 percent of the operating budget goes for salaries and benefits, the issue of concessions must be put on the negotiating table.
There is a practical reason for teachers and other employees of the district to take a serious look at paying a portion of their health insurance premiums and considering other givebacks. It would ingratiate them to the voters, thereby winning support for a levy.
Last November, residents said no to a 5.9-mill levy that would have raised $3 million. The margin of defeat was 2,800 votes.
While some of these voters are charter members of the "I'm taxed off" crowd, many are taxpayers who have had to bite the bullet in their private sectors jobs and now expect employees in the public sector to also make sacrifices. That is not an unreasonable expectation.
Invitation
The defeat of the levy should be viewed as an invitation from the voters to the teachers and other employees to temper their demands and participate in the long-range financial recovery of the district. If they do, the Austintown Education Association and other unions could then make a strong case for approval of the levy.
There's a lot of light left to be seen by the employees of the school district -- if only they would open their eyes.