Taxpayers must give credit to teachers for concessions

As the campaigns for and against the proposed 9.5-mill levy for the Youngstown City School District heat up — the issue will be on the Nov. 6 general election ballot — teachers have weighed in by accepting a contract that includes a wage freeze and partial payment of health insurance premiums.

While critics of the school district will be inclined to dismiss the move by the Youngstown Education Association as a ploy to win support for the levy, we would note that the labor agreement is for three years. Teachers would not benefit from the passage of the levy, at least not for the first three years.

It is also noteworthy that the YEA accepted a wage freeze last year — in the midst of the district’s financial collapse. In November 2006, the state placed the system under fiscal emergency, which resulted in a five-member Fiscal Planning and Supervision Commission taking over the finances.

With a tight rein on the budget, the commission has assisted Superintendent Dr. Wendy Webb and members of her administration, as well as members of the board of education, in developing a recovery plan that relies heavily on cutting costs.

Over the past two years, spending has been slashed by $17 million — the result, in large part, of 250 jobs being eliminated. The number of teachers was reduced from 740 last year to 650 this year, and 20 administrative positions have also been erased.

Additional cuts

Given the $15 million budget deficit in the 2006-07 general fund, additional cuts will be required — even with the passage of the levy, which would generate about $4 million a year.

Earlier this month, Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, revealed that another $250,000 in spending cuts were made in transportation and maintenance.

But as we noted in last Sunday’s editorial, the warning from Roger Nehls, head of the state fiscal oversight commission, that the district cannot cut its way back to solvency should become the rallying cry for the pro-levy forces.

That said, we do believe opponents of the issue have a right to be heard — if they present more than soundbites to make their case.

Thus, we urge Dr. Webb to produce the records being sought by Citizens’ Action Committee Against the Levy. The group wants details of the $17 million budget reduction and the employee payroll from Sept. 17, 2005, to this Sept. 17.

Those are not unreasonable requests; they fall well within the state’s public records law.

Besides, in a letter to district requesting the documents, Delores Womack, chairman of Citizens’ Action, held out the possibility of the group’s ultimately supporting the levy.

“To date all we have had is commentary without factual documentation,” Womack wrote. “Please provide this so that we may help educate the voting public. Based on the information we have to date, we cannot support the request for the levy.”

The school district should have nothing to hide.