Deliberative session crowd voices mostly support for proposed Bedford teachers agreement

Friday, February 10, 2012

Trevor Mueller was one of 200 or more attendees at the Bedford School Board’s Deliberative Session on Tuesday night to discuss 10 warrant articles that voters will see when they go to town polls March 13.

A Bedford High School sophomore, the 15-year-old Mueller showed off a red T-shirt under his gray sweatshirt – a color sported by nearly half the crowd – to show his solidarity with the Bedford Education Association.

“I’m here partly for my democracy-in-action hours and partly to show support for my mom,” Mueller said after the Deliberative Session.

Mueller’s mother, Judy, is a sixth-grade teacher at McKelvie Intermediate School.

“She works way longer than the average school day,” Mueller said.

One of the major warrant articles under discussion Tuesday night, Article II, calls for an appropriation of approximately $1 million to fund cost items related to the Bedford Education Association’s collective bargaining agreement with the School Board for a one-year teacher contract for the 2012-13 school year.

If passed, the contract, which presents a 30-cent increase for taxpayers, would be Bedford teachers’ first step increase since the 2009-10 school year.

“Our teaching staff, as many of you know, have not had any type of a salary increase in two years,” School Board Vice Chairman Cindy Chagnon said during the deliberative session. “We tried to negotiate a contract that would enable us to recruit and retain quality educators, but as I said before, never forget the challenges that many of our taxpayers face today.”

The proposed agreement between the association and the board addresses the noncompetitive salaries of teachers with up to 10 years of teaching experience and shifts more health insurance costs from the district to the teacher.

If approved, the district would move from a 94 percent share of teacher health insurance plans to a 93 percent share of an individual health plan, a 91 percent share of a teacher’s two-person plan and an 88 percent share of a family plan.

Teachers also agreed to less expensive plans and would face higher co-payments for prescriptions and office visits as part of the agreement, if approved.

“They’ve taken on more risk,” Chagnon said. “In the future, if there’s a bigger jump in the rates of insurance, the district will save even more, but also the plan itself, the employees have agreed, the union has agreed, to a lot of things that are going to save the district money.”

A handful of session attendees, ranging from high school students and teachers to parents and realtors, voiced support for the teachers agreement.

“I am in full support of Article II,” resident John Arico said. “As a businessman, I can tell you that I asked my team … for two years I asked my team to take hits. … They made sacrifices, our team has made sacrifices, and it comes to a point where we have to say enough is enough. … This year, my team got back 401(k) matches. My team got back merit increases. It’s not because we could afford them; it’s because we needed to make investments for our future. That’s what this is about. It’s an investment for our future.”

Resident Dianne Bzik said taxpayers should look beyond the tax rate increases to support Bedford education.

“The proof is in the pudding, because teachers are leaving,” Bzik said.

Bzik pointed to a Forbes Magazine article that ranked “America’s Best School Districts For Your Housing Buck” in 2011, listing Bedford as No. 3 in the nation for homes valued between $200,000-$399,999. Bzik said a median home price of $293,000 would force the average taxpayer to pay about $100 in tax rate increases.

“We have National Merit Scholar finalists, we have presidential awards, children that have gone on to Ivy League schools that have carried the name of Bedford,” Bzik said. “I know of one young student who went to seek recommendations this year from three teachers – two of the three were no longer in the district. The proof is in the pudding. Let’s stop talking about a few dollars, and let’s support this contract.”

Realtor and Bedford resident Michelle Palys said people move to Bedford for its school system and that support of the contract would support Bedford home values.

“To have these teachers who are such an integral part of our kids’ lives leave because they can’t pay to support their families and their homes would be very sad,” Palys said. “We need to put that money towards our kids and our future.”

Few attendees stood up to speak against the proposed contract.

“I appreciate the fact the teachers haven’t had a raise for a period of time,” resident Beverly Barry said. “A lot of us that are fortunate enough to still have jobs have not had raises in a while either, and I think the teachers need to realize that in this budget-conscious time and economic time, that $1 million is an awful lot of a hit to take.”

Bedford High School students old enough to vote also took time to advocate publicly for their educators.

“My teachers have helped me grow and turned me into a student that will be able to go on and be competitive in college,” BHS senior Amy Willer said. “They work so hard, and I think they’ve taken the hit long enough. They deserve to be compensated for what they’ve done.”

The only other article to stir much debate at the Deliberative Session, lasting approximately 90 minutes in total, was Article X, which calls for the board to stop utilizing surplus funds for nonemergency capital cost expenditures not approved by voters.

“The issue is not so much whether an expenditure is well-thought-out or not,” said resident Richard Evans, who presented the petitioned warrant article to the town. “The issue is who it is thought out by. The existence of large surpluses, which is spent at the discretion of the school board, changes the relationship between the board and the electorate. If the board wants a playing field or a concession stand or bleachers, then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, but they should ask us, the voters.”

School Board Chairman Terry Wolfe argued that the board’s largest budget surpluses went back to the years when the district was building Bedford’s middle and high schools, and estimates for building operation functions were higher.

Wolfe said the board did spend surplus funds in the last several years, including to repair McKelvie’s failing septic system in 2007, to make school security upgrades in 2009 and 2010, and to make roof improvements to Memorial School in 2010.

In 2008, Wolfe said, the board turned the surplus funds back over to the taxpayers, and in 2009, the board had advanced projects that had been voter-approved in the budget process.

“I appreciate the frustration of the petitioner, and I completely support surpluses being returned to the taxpayers,” Wolfe said. “I don’t consider roofs or security upgrades for $41,000 wish list items, especially when they’ve been approved by the voters during the budget process, so I don’t support those talking points.”

A proposed amendment to the warrant article, suggesting that surpluses more than $250,000 ought to be turned over to taxpayers, ultimately was denied by voters.

“I think we elect our board members, and if we don’t like what our board members are doing, we should vote them out,” resident Stephanie Willer said. “I think this warrant is not necessary.”

Voters will make their final decisions on each warrant when they head to the polls 7 a.m.-7 p.m. March 13 at the Bedford High School gymnasium.

Maryalice Gill can be reached at 594-6490 or mgill@nashuatelegraph.com. Follow Gill on Twitter (@Telegraph_MAG).