School Budget: Separate Facts From Emotions

Thanks to Denise Lovelady!  Denise is Vice-Chair of the Talbot County Republican Central Committee and has posted a great op-ed by their chairman, Nick Panuzio.

It seems that folks in Talbot County are just as concerned about how their tax dollars are spent as we are down here on the Lower Shore:

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After attending the budget meeting about the 4 percent appropriation reduction, I read the various news articles and Superintendent Dr. Karen Salmon's comments that the sky was falling and the very welfare of our children is in dire jeopardy.

Opponents of budget reality want us to think there's some magic pot of money that the evil council members are keeping to themselves.

The swell in tax revenues associated with the real estate boom of the mid-2000s is now gone as the bubble popped and is arguably still deflating. There simply isn't the money that there used to be.

Republicans support education. We believe in a strong educational system where students are provided every possible choice and opportunity to make their lives successful.

Republicans recognize the importance of public schools. We believe modest reductions today can be made with minimal pain. The alternative is to do nothing until such point as we find ourselves facing massive cuts similar to Queen Anne's County.

The school system is up in arms because the huge increases they received during the boom years are not there.

They want us to have emotional images in our heads of children without lunches, packed classrooms, no supplies, special need children being denied. They want to tug at our hearts rather than talk about the facts.

We are not the wealthiest county when our average household income is $57,000 and the average salary is $39,000. Wealth based on property values is flawed and the state is wrong in considering it.

These are the facts:

In 2003, TCPS had 4,210 students and spent $29.7 million. Local appropriation was $25.8 million and each student cost $6,129.

In 2011, TCPS has 4,273 students. The total budget is $44.7 million.

An increase of just 1.5 percent in students, but there is about a 50 percent increase in spending. Local pupil cost is $9,070 if you include laptops.

In 2003, TCPS spent $26.4 million on salaries and benefits.

This year, they will spend about $38.7 million on salaries and benefits: An increase of 47 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2003-2011 inflation has been about 21 percent. The growth in TCPS salaries and benefits has been more than twice the rate of the taxpayers' wage growth and overall price increases.

Either we've hired a lot of new employees when the student population has been stagnant or we're paying people a lot more. I believe in paying teachers good wages. These folks don't have an easy job and for the most part do an excellent job. I commend anyone who enters the field of teaching.

The TCPS budget debate is about salaries and benefits.

Nobody wants TCPS staff to take a wage cut; that's not been discussed, and I hope it never has to come up for debate.

Because the money that was there during the boom is now gone, we need to find reasonable ways to develop efficiencies to save money precisely to avoid a wage cut discussion.

I wish the facts could count instead of creating a false image of catastrophe if a $1.8 million reduction in a $44.7 million budget comes to pass. The taxpayers deserve better.