Marty: Students are held hostage

I am prepared to give provisional support to the Hollister
Elementary School District’s proposed $96 annual parcel tax after
reviewing the deficit reduction plan presented by the new
superintendent Dr. Gary McIntire. However, before the election, the
employees must agree formally to cover the nearly $1 million a year
gap with pay and benefit concessions so the district can maintain
long-term solvency. Without that part of the plan in place, the
parcel tax is nothing but another unsustainable short-term
bailout.
I am prepared to give provisional support to the Hollister Elementary School District’s proposed $96 annual parcel tax after reviewing the deficit reduction plan presented by the new superintendent Dr. Gary McIntire. However, before the election, the employees must agree formally to cover the nearly $1 million a year gap with pay and benefit concessions so the district can maintain long-term solvency. Without that part of the plan in place, the parcel tax is nothing but another unsustainable short-term bailout.

It is worrisome that this deal hasn’t been sealed with only eight weeks to the election scheduled for June 7. The concessions would equal less than 3.5 percent of the district’s salary and benefit costs, according to the projected budget in the 2010 state financial report.

This does not address my basic problems with a system designed by some elected officials, administrators and employees to hold the students hostage for political gain, job protection and continued lack of accountability. The current rules effectively protect those responsible for the mess and you have to trample the children to get to the culprits – I am not willing to do that.

Public entities should not do continuous deficit spending to avoid making politically difficult choices. Their failure to take timely action now forces us to make those choices all at once under enormous pressure. The public also often fails to monitor the system, regularly abandoning it to the “experts” – usually special interest groups. Putting too much faith in those who are supposed to do the right thing is a natural reaction in a complex world.

If I vote for the tax I will forego the age-based senior exemption; it’s just a gimmick like the meaningless restrictions on administrative spending or the independent Community Oversight Committee. If the parcel tax goes in the left pocket to replace admin payments coming out of the right pocket, what’s the difference? A total cap on admin spending would be welcome.

In my experience, independent oversight committees are rarely independent and provide little oversight. As with Measure T for the City of Hollister, they usually rubber stamp decisions and only supply another way to dilute accountability, just what we do not want. We need more of a commitment to improve education and less reliance on well-worn slogans recommended by the financial advisory companies.

The district has a $5.7 million hole to fill in fiscal year 2012-13, which starts July 1, 2012. Dr. McIntire’s deficit reduction plan is designed to do that by cutting or restructuring 22 specific line items totaling $3.8 million over three years and obtaining another $1.9 million in concessions from employees over two years.

That last part is the weakest link. Once the tax is secured, the employees often balk at any cuts.

State rules dictate that some changes cannot take effect until next fiscal year. The across-the-board cutting and restructuring will reduce spending by $277,000 this FY and almost $1.8 million in FY 2011-12 and again in FY 2012-13. The remaining reductions are supposed to come from a planned $950,000 per year decrease in employee compensation and/or benefits. 

The projected $1.1 million a year net income from the parcel tax, if approved, will be used to restore some of the critical and desirable programs such as libraries, counselors and coaching that are to be cut as part of the deficit reduction. The board must commit not to use the tax funds to replace the compensation and benefit reductions. Naturally, this plan works only if they close the deal on employee concessions before the election.

Time for the taxpayers to play some hardball. It’s my vote, and that’s my bottom line.

Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.