Hebron Dollars & Sense

I support "public" education ... within reason. Our system in town is clearly becoming a bottomless pit for our tax dollars. The budget will have to be cut soon ... the citizens cannot afford the educational impact on their taxes in this economy. Check out the link to the town budget under the Finance section of the town home page. The total General Subtotal for our town is $8,874,965. The BOE total is 11,715,965 and the RHAM figure is 11,189,660. The RHAM debt is 1,416505. BOTTOM LINE FOR THE BUDGET IS $33,155,095. With simple math the town gets only 27% of this total, the BOE gets 35%, RHAM gets 34% and the RHAM debt is allocated 4%. From the taxpayer’s view, the bottom line is this: the town receives 27% OF THE BUDGET AND both EDUCATIONAL BUDGETS receive 73%.

Have you checked out the BOE numbers ... the total budget for '09-10 was approved at $11,833,782 Did ANY of you calculate the percentage of this used for SALARIES AND BENEFITS??!!?? $7,791,659 is listed as TOTAL salaries on page 7 of the budget and $1,980,520 is the listed total for benefits. Add these figures together for a total of $9,772,179. YES!! (83%) EIGHTY THREE PERCENT OF THE ENTIRE BOE BUDGET!!

Now, a fair question would be does this budget really support the kids or the staff? Looks like the budget requests are building an 'educational' empire in town. Why have 2 principals and 2 assistant principals?? Why does the super have 2 secretaries .. I have known heads of state agencies with just ONE!! WHY won't anyone on the BOE challenge and question some of the line items?

I sent these comments in an email to the BOE, Ms. Cruz, BOS and the BOF. ONE CITIZEN will not make an impression ... all of you need to do your part. Write, call or shout - NO! NO! NO!

The budget for the school is "out of control" - soon, we will only be able to pay salaries and perks. As salaries continue to escalate and others are hired, no funds will be available for the needs of the students and the upkeep of the school's facilities. I found this rambling - makes-no-sense statement under future challenges in the projected budget to be alarming. Pg 10 reads: " Continue to build capacity of staff and administration to meet goals of increased teacher knowledge". I believe we are "at capacity" and perhaps have employed too many administrators, teachers and specialists! Page 8 in the budget has another interesting posting under future challenges: "Balancing the need to control costs while recruiting staff in a time of teacher shortages in certain areas of certification". MORE - MORE - MORE??

I say ignore the "teacher-speak" the nice budget power point presentations that hide the real substance of the budget. Let's START "downsizing" and do "more with less"!! Only one person responded and, of course, blamed 'state mandates' and the removal of some grant money.

I offered some cut suggestions that would not impact on the children .. like office costs when things are basically electronic now. I also concluded with this remark: The taxpayers need someone like DC Schools' Chancellor Michelle Rhee in our corner. Ms. Rhee has been ruthless -- eliminating unproductive teachers and staff. Someone needs to start cleaning out the ranks in Hebron.

Did you notice that all applicants wanting to serve on the selection committee for the new principal must send in their application to Ms. Cruz. WHY?? If this is suppose to be a diverse group of individuals from the community .. the selection should be made blindly by choosing names from a hat. I feel our superintendent will load the committee with her friends ... and she basically will control the selection of the replacement principal.

can't argue with your numbers and facts..but here is a fact that you can't argue with:


BECAUSE OF BINDING ARBITRATION THEY HAVE US BY THE SHORT HAIRS!!

So honestly unless you get rid of that or want the actual kids to see ANY of that budget (they only see 17% as it is)...we got screwed when the idiots voted against a change to the state constitution.





agreed! I've read about her and she is a no nonsense type of lady love what she's done...as a matter of fact I do believe she turned the district around. younger teachers are way more motivated and obviously cost less because of their experience. I hate to make blanket statements like that because someone will comeback w/ a friend I know has been a teacher for 200 years and they love it and are more motivated than ever...yack yack yack...more motivated then ever? have em take a pay cut lets see how motivated they are.

Much Agree About Rhee. I Have The Washington Post Sent To Me By Email & She Iz Not Afraid To Ruffle Politicians/Unions/Boe's Feathers In Order To Reduce Waste Etc with INNOVATIVE Ideas & ACCOUNTABILITY For Both Teachers & Boe's & Buracrats To Have The Most $$$$ Dedicated To KIDS, Not Salarys, Admin & Fluff. They Is Trying To Get Her Fired already I see, No Soap So Far. Opening In Hebron For Her ANYTIME For Sure!

Because of binding arbiration, there ain't much we can do.

Like it or not, education is THE priority in our town. We don't have any real industry or commercial tax base to support anything else, yet we are required to provide education to our citizens.

In order to reduce the education budget meaningfully, we'd have to cut PROGRAMS or increase class sizes, and those aren't easy.

The rest of the spending, where the real dollars are, is mandated, and we are spending lower per pupil in comparison to most other towns in the state. I like to bitch about special ed spending - since it means something like 5% of students get over 40% of the budget. And, as I understand it, this is after any state reimbursements.

Cutting a part time secretary in the super's office would be a start, as would juggling the current staff's roles, and not replacing Collins with a new hire.

The teachers deserve a living wage, but they don't deserve the high level of benefits that few other professions (other than state employees) enjoy. Everyone else has had their benefits slashed, it isn't fair that they don't. But, their union negotiators have been shrewd. Where the private sector sees benefit cuts yearly, along with cost increases, the union workers have spread out their cuts over 3 years at a time. So when negotiations start, their comparison is always to what benefits they had last year, instead of what the rest of the world has.