Contracts and Quality of Education Debated in Wantagh

Emotions ran high at Thursday evening's Wantagh Board of Education meeting at  with parents voicing their opinions about the tough budget decisions and the  with the Wantagh United Teachers (WUT).

The Board of Education and the WUT recently met together on Mar. 9, but, in a statement made during the meeting, the board “believes that public discussion of any specific negotiating points is not in either party’s best interest.”

Several parents came up to the microphone during the latter part of the meeting and expressed their concerns about quality of education in Wantagh, specifically preserving the high standards the district has always been proud to have, due impart to the teachers.

Commending the Board of Education for all of their hard work, one parent said, “in this district, we get what we pay for and the rock of this community is the school district.” Many of the parents said that they want to give their children the best education and that the teachers in the district make this possible.

“I know that I want the best education I can give to my children and if we take everything else away from these teachers- what are we going to be left with,” the parent continued. “These teachers are wanted somewhere else. We have some of the best teachers in this district.”

“We became teachers because we love children or because we love a particular area of study,” said David Cipoletti, a Wantagh teacher and football coach. “Wantagh is an exceptional district due in part to the fact that Wantagh has exceptional teachers at all levels. The teachers here understand that they are all important columns in the Wantagh district.”

In these tough economic times, another taxpayer did his own eight-year study that looked at the contribution rate to the teachers retirement system. He stated that these contributions, according to the current draft budget, have increased 540 percent over the past eight years.

“I just wanted to bring this to your attention because there are things you need to do to fix this problem,” the taxpayer explained to the board. “A growth rate like this is not sustainable.”

Facing one of the toughest budget seasons in years, the district has to take a cut in state aid, tax cap and pension obligations into account when drafting this year’s preliminary budget, as well as negotiating the employee contracts. All of the cuts will certainly leave some of the gap and financial burden on local taxpayers.

With the district facing a grim outlook in regards to state aid, another resident suggested that others should go meet or call State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick, and tell him that Wantagh needs more funding from the state because the district is asked “to do more for less” year after year. He also said, that “people who do their jobs need to get rewards.”

“The teachers are here because they don’t have a contract, you guys are here late at night because you don’t have a contract- it is obviously a real problem,” said former Board of Education trustee Chris Wendt, who is also on the Budget Advisory Committee for the district, to the administrators during the open forum section of the meeting. “We have problems that are very real in the budget…with our own expenses and state aid.”

"The most recent draft budget, as presented to the budget advisory committee (BAC), on Mar. 8, 2011 reflects a spending increase of 1.99 percent over this year’s budget, with an estimated tax levy of 5.1 percent,” Board of Education President Jean Quinn said.

Quinn continued by explaining that the district has been examining a Princeton plan to look at declining enrollment and class sizes, as well as talking to neighboring districts to see what services could be consolidated.

“We have come to crossroads and are doing things like thinking about cutting teachers and increasing class size,” Wendt continued. “What you are doing is very serious and has very serious consequences for all of the teachers, all the parents, all the kids and especially all of the taxpayers”

The final budget for the 2011-2011 school year will be approved at the Apr. 14 business meeting. The Board of Education plans to meet again with the WUT on Apr. 13 and the WSEA on Mar. 22.

“In these trying economic times, both educators and school leaders need to unite,” Cipoletti said