Concerned that cuts in state aid to schools will alter the educational abilities of local school districts, the CHSD Board of Education put its destiny in its own hands last week by announceing that district teacher and administrative unions would decline their contractual pay increases for 2011-2012 in the hope of saving teachers’ jobs and classroom sizes.
   
A total of $840,000 in savings was expected from the savings to avoid further cuts, and enable the district to save some student programs while lessening increases in class sizes, said a prepared statement from the school board.
   
The unions include the Bellmore-Merrick United Secondary Teachers (BMUST) and the Bellmore-Merrick Association of Building Administrators.
   
Mike Dolber, president of BMUST, e-mailed a statement to Merrick Life saying that the “teachers have agreed to forego their negotiated salary percentage increase for the 2011-12 school year. Teachers offered to forfeit a scheduled increase of approximately 2%. In addition, the administrators have also agreed to forfeit a salary increase for next year. As a result of these actions, the district will save over $800,000.
   
“The union understands the difficulty the district is facing due to rising costs and the large cuts in state aid in Governor Cuomo’s budget, and we believe that this forfeit was the right thing to do in this current financial situation.
   
“We understand the potential burden placed on our taxpayers by the massive cuts that the state is imposing. By taking this action, we have helped the district to maintain educational programs, to reduce the size of a large number of classes, and to maintain the jobs of our colleagues that would otherwise have been lost. We are confident that all of this will serve to benefit our students and our community.”
   
Fewer job cuts coming?   
While Merrick Life reported in its February 24 issue that a first draft of the 2011-2012 CHSD budget reflected numbers suggesting 13-25 teachers’ jobs could be eliminated, and class sizes increased, a spokeswoman for the district said that final numbers on class sizes and numbers of layoffs would be released during its Wednesday, April 6, budget meeting.
   
She said with more certainty that the number of staff being laid off may no longer fall necessarily on teachers, but may instead include a mix of full- and part-time positions, thanks to the newfound savings.
   
“We thank each and every teacher and administrator in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District for their selflessness in these tough economic times,” said Board of Education President Nina Lanci at the March 23 school board meeting.   

Other districts
Lorraine Deller, president of the Nassau Suffolk School Boards Association, said that school districts throughout Nassau and Suffolk County are now “pretty much close to having their budgets finalized [to bring to the public] and they are expecting cuts [from state aid] with little restoration impact.”
   
With this in mind, Mrs. Deller explained that districts are “looking at a wide range of things to effect savings, including costs savings with staff.” But Mrs. Deller cautioned, “Each district is different. Some districts can attain some give backs.  It depends on a district’s ability to look at contracts. Some of it is time-directed,” she said.
   
In North Merrick, Superintendent David Feller said the district “is in discussion with the unions to see if we can do something similar [to forego a salary percentage increase for 2011-2012]. I am waiting to hear back on this,” he said, adding that
“I will waive my increase.” 
   
This year North Merrick teachers are entitled to a 2.75% increase, as outlined in their contract that expires on June 30, 2012.
   
Mr. Feller added that the district was looking at a number of cost-cutting measures to keep the tax levy down. “We are looking at everything that is not mandated, and we are eagerly waiting for a response from the union [regarding the possibility of foregoing salary increase for 2011-2012].
   
“If there is no give-back, it is likely we will have to cut programs,” explained Mr. Feller.
   
In Merrick, Christine Grucci, Assistant Superintendent  of Business and Technology, said the district was also looking at a number of cost-saving measures, although nothing was finalized. “We are still in the budgetary process but, the “teachers are not re-opening their contract,” said Dr. Grucci. This 2011-2012 school year, the contract calls for a 3.5% salary increase, plus step, she said.
   
The Merrick teachers’ contract will also expire on June 30, 2012. Dr. Grucci said the Merrick school district budget for 2011-2012 would be announced at the April 12 board of education meeting. 
   
Meanwhile, in North Bellmore, Arnold Goldstein, superintendent of North Bellmore Schools, told Merrick Life that its district was in the second year of a four-year contract that would save it $2 million, and was finalized  when it signed its new contract with the North Bellmore Teachers Association in 2009.
   
“The teachers association was very forthcoming during contract negotiations in 2009, and it was approved by a 97% vote,” the superintendent said.
   
Among key points hammered out in negotiations was a 12-20% increase in teacher contributions to their health plans over a four-year period; a first-year salary freeze in 2009 and subsequent salary freeze in 2010; a no-step increase in 2011, for a 2.5% savings; a step increase in mid-year in 2012; and a new salary scale for new hires.
-Laura Schofer contributed to this story

By Doug Finlay

Doug Finlay is the assistant editor for Bellmore Life newspaper. He is also an award-winning writer for L&M Publications.