Disgust with Local Teachers Union Drives One New York Parent to Run for School Board
by Education Action GroupWEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Bill Signorile has regularly attended West Hempstead school board meetings for the past two years, in hopes of getting board members to curb the district’s spending.
He says the board’s big-spending habits, particularly when it comes to union labor costs, are jeopardizing the financial futures of taxpayers and younger school employees, and threatening the quality of instruction for students.
Over the past decade, Signorile has watched his school property taxes increase by 232 percent – from $2,584.97 in 2001-02 to $5,994.71 in 2011-12.
During that same period, the West Hempstead Union Free School District’s budget has increased by 56.7 percent – from $34.7 million to $54.4 million – even while enrollment has dropped by 200 students.
Signorile says “runaway” taxes make it difficult for him to keep his home or send his children to college, while the ballooning school budget puts the jobs and pensions of district employees at risk.
New York’s Education Commissioner John King echoed those concerns at a budget hearing last week. King told state lawmakers that a number of school districts are facing insolvency over the next few years, according to TimesUnion.com.
In an interview with EAG, Signorile estimated that over half of West Hempstead’s commercial property sits vacant. That leaves the average homeowner – whose income has mostly flat lined in recent years – to shoulder more of the tax burden.
West Hempstead is located in New York’s Nassau County which has the highest median property taxes in the nation, reports CBS 880.
“That means the community has to come up with the money to pay the ever increasing school costs,” he said. “Does everybody want the train to crash?”
Signorile shared his concerns at a school board meeting last summer, in hopes of waking district officials up to the possibility of a serious financial calamity in the near future.
“I told them, ‘Let’s freeze everything for five years and let the economy come back,’” he said.
Signorile was shocked by the response he received.
“A retired teacher told me, ‘If you can’t afford to pay the taxes, you shouldn’t live here.’”
That response not only revealed the selfish attitude of the local teachers union to Signorile, but it also inspired him to run for the school board this coming spring.
“I’m getting involved,” he said.
Teachers union caused much of the mess
Signorile worked for 13 years as a New York City firefighter and is proudly pro-union. Those sentiments initially made him a strong supporter of teachers unions, but not any longer.
He said he was turned off by the union’s selfish behavior during the most recent contract negotiations, which spanned two years.
Even though a state-appointed fact finder determined “the district’s financial woes are significant,” the West Hempstead Education Association managed to gain school board approval for a new contract last spring which included pay raises – 2 percent for 2011-12 and 1.75 percent for 2012-13.
The WHEA did agree to forego other types of bonuses – for longevity and continuing their education – concessions the union president characterized as “a major sacrifice.”
Signorile was not impressed.
“How do they expect me to keep giving them more money?” he asked, noting that student achievement has stagnated over the past few years.
“If the kids’ grades are jumping up, people wouldn’t have much problem with the pay raise,” he said.
Equally appalling to Signorile is the fact that a number of young, less senior teachers have been laid off since 2008, even while the union keeps demanding more at the bargaining table.
“A union’s job is not to demand an increase in salary if it results in your brethren getting laid off,” he said. “There’s a lot of self-serving going on. They don’t even care about their fellow members.
“It’s IGM – I got mine.”
‘This is a story that is consistent across New York State’
Richard Cunningham, deputy superintendent for West Hempstead schools, understands Signorile’s concerns about taxes, but says the situation is not unique to the district.
“This is a story that is consistent across New York State,” Cunningham wrote in an email to EAG.
Like many New York school districts, Cunningham said West Hempstead is faced with higher employee pension costs, more state mandates over special education services, and the costs of transporting West Hempstead students to private schools.
He believes the district is taking a balanced approach to controlling its financial problems.
“There are many people working very hard in West Hempstead to continue to improve education and find ways to stem tax growth,” Cunningham wrote.
He added that “total budget growth … since July 1, 2009 equals 3.39 percent” and the union’s “salary schedules are among the lowest percentile” in New York’s Nassau County.
Signorile remains very skeptical.
“I’m at a loss to explain wage and benefit increases during a deflationary period,” he said, a reference to his days as a stock market forecaster.
Signorile believes West Hempstead students stand to lose the most – fewer teachers and reduced academic and extracurricular offerings – if the district doesn’t make serious changes to its budget, particularly labor costs.
“The boat is taking on water,” he warns, “and most people are oblivious to it.”
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27 Comments
"Teachers union caused much of the mess"
And that in a nutshell says it all. Abolish ALL public employee unions…problem solved!
And we hope a lot more are coming.
We need to end the crony capitalism and put real people who pay the bill and use the product in decision making positions and take the leaches out the equations.
Schools are kids – teachers might want learn that.
The union is filthy.
Good luck, Mr; Signorile! We need more people willing to confront the schools on waste!
As for the continuing education…it's a vicious scheme. I take courses that the district pays for. I choose the cheapest courses, usually mail order or internet, because I work during the summer. Those institutions are in bed with the unions, who lobby for "stricter" certification requirements, which means more required courses that I have to take to keep my certification. Which I then take. And around we go.
One of my mail order DVD courses on language acquisition was delivered by George Carlin and Noam Chomsky. Really.
Google Noam Chomsky if you want to hear the ideology that teachers are being taught under the banner of better qualified teachers.
Be prepared to get a knock on the door from Nobama's jack booted thugs.
A good start, anyway!
Public school is completely broken. I don't think that abolishing the teacher's union (excuse me, association) will fix it. The union is filthy, but it's not the only thing wrong. There is a LOT of blame to go around.
Get rid of the teacher's union, then, as a country, we might actually be able to truly talk about education reform. Frankly, though, as a public school teacher, I am pretty sure that the whole thing needs to be scrapped; Vouchers, charter schools, tax breaks for homeschooling…all of those are at least worth exploring. Can public education be saved? I don't know. Some classrooms work. Some don't. I have yet to see a magic solution that would work across the board.
Thanks for your input, with an insider perspective.
i agree with everything you say. You're right, abolishing unions would be a start, but not the only thing wrong. The whole American public school system needs to be reworked, with a new set of goals and objectives that will meet, and excel world competition. Presently, we're behind and are in need of lots of catching up.
We need to get rid of fed govt involvement. Give schools back to the states (and hence back to the communities). Competition between school systems will drive innovation and improvements. One size does not fit all. Monopoly systems always self-destruct.
He might want to recruit some like minded people to run for other seats on the school board, or he will just find himself voted down by the other statist board members.
This is what it is going to take…to make a difference America…getting angry enough to get into the fray and get it done…yourself!
Bravo…sir…Bravo…your children should be extremely proud that you care enough to fight for their education!
BANISH THE UNION ‘GOONS’ – BOTH PUBLIC & PRIVATE
IS YOUR STATE “RIGHT TO WORK”? – http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm
Why is it so hard to see that we must end these public unions if we are going to fix anything?
Socialism even in the format of the teachers union always reveals its typical parasitical and very political agenda, producing nothing while taking from We The People. Unfortunately, it is We The People Taxpayers paying for and promoting their short sighted Socialist/Marxist/Democratic agenda.
We NEED way more Bills. In my little area of Commifornia we conservatives of San Diego county are a gathering storm. Most people I know have opted to run for some open position on school boards, water boards and local government. We have no hope of changing things unless we get in and do it ourselves (or my favorite: revolution). Thank you Bill for running for School Board, now tell all your friends to do the same thing
Shut down DOE and return education to the states where it belongs.
good luck sir! may we regain our country and schools back by concerned parents such as yourself.
"There are many people working very hard in West Hempstead to continue to improve education and find ways to stem tax growth,” Cunningham wrote"
Stem tax growth? How about cut costs? Good God, this is what is wrong with these idiots in charge these days. How can we get more money (same philosophy with the federal government). Why not do what the every day Joe has to do in times like these and that would be reduce the spending. And don't tell me there's no places where costs can be cut. For crying out loud, this is the teachers union. One of the most wasteful groups that exist in today' society. Can someone please refresh my memory and explain to me why there's a need for unions in this day and age. I thought Unions had outlived the need for their existence. Why can't we just toss them ALL in the trash heap where they belong.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” (Burke)
Some move kids to private school or home school, few actually stand up to evil. I think we will see more people fighting the system and winning.
We need to do more than get rid of unions.
We need to get back to basics. Period. Go back to teaching reading, writing, math, the sciences.
No more social agendas, no more morality classes, no more sex ed. Those subjects should be left to families, the churches and communities. If we take those subjects out of the classrooms then there is no reason for these liberal teachers to be teaching their progressive view of the world.
No teacher should be taking children out of class for a political stand off on behalf of a union nor should a teacher be allowed to take children out of class for an abortion. A parent has to sign off on taking kids to a museum why are these teachers getting away with this?
Plus we need to take sports and put them into after school activities. Too many kids get a free ride when it comes to bad grades and bad behavior because they can play sports. I think sports are great for kids but being tied to grades and tied to revenue for schools opens up a can of worms for anything goes.
Also the government should get out of the business of feeding kids at school. If the parents are poor enough that they are needing help feeding their children then they are probably getting food stamps. They should be fed with those. Then the school would not have a say over parents choice of what they feed their children. Plus the food wouldn't be thrown away.
My husband worked in a school system for years. The amount of food that gets thrown away each day is disgusting! You could feed a city I bet with the food these kids dump each day and we pay for this.
Also we need to put kids back into neighborhood schools and either they walk or get a ride from parents. They'll get some exercise too that way. You can make the minority schools better without having to bus kids for an hour each day each way. Save a ton of money that could actually be spent on class books and other necessary items.
So teach math, science, English, history, geography, civics, and writing. Then teach some basic living skills because as I see it too many of these kids graduate and know nothing about banking, saving or critical thinking when it comes to things like buying a home.
Good for this dad for getting involved. We need more like him!
Good luck with that, the unions are funding the campaigns of school board candidates who support the union. Surprised, I was too when I found out.
Another classic example of unions gone wild. They have evolved into a militant and dangerous group of people that will have it their way or no way. We always hear from them that it is all about the kids, that is BS… It is all about the union greed and arrogance to take more and more from the tax payers.
Running for the school board won't do anything unless the majority of the school board are not Marxists. otherwise, all you are doing is farting in the wind.
True. When someone who's worked for 30 years as a physicist isn't "qualified" to teach high school physics because he/she hasn't been "certified," something is BADLY wrong. When a CPA must take "leveling" classes to be "qualfied" to teach math, the system is screwed up. The "colleges of education" must be disbanded and the whole idea of "certifying" someone to teach needs to be abandoned.
Right on! The social engineering must stop.
Teachers Unions do not care about community, students, or anything but what they can steal from the tax payer.
Teachers who belong to the unions and do not stand up for the community and students are leaches on the backs of the taxpayers.
The Unions are a tinder box just waiting for a dry match.
They deep down can't wait for the violence to begin.
They sure have a great reputation …don't they? and do you think they care? Yea they care but they don't care more then they love money. So if you try and taking any of it away it will be like taking candy from a baby…Except by the time it happens the baby will be 35 years old, 350 pounds and still in diapers…
Running for a leadership position out of pure anger doesn't seem like a good idea. I hope he does some research and really pushes for change. From reading most of the comments on this board, very few have done any research outside of their own political realm of talking points and agenda. Finland, one of the best educational systems in the world, is a great place to start researching for anyone here willing to do so with an open mind. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/...
Pappa Dave, you make a valid point, there are many comunity experts who students could benefit greatly from. I would challenge you thinking somewhat though, I teach kids with autism, ADD, OHI, EBD, one of my classes has seven of 22 kids with a learning disability, I dont think many CPA's or Physicists expect their perfect office or lab situation to be disrupted to the extent that a classroom often is. Teaching in a perfect world would be great for those with real world experience to be involved in, but public education in the US is far from a perfect world.
The solution is simple. Kids with autism, ADD, OHI or EBO (whatever those last two are) shouldn't BE in a standard classroom if their presence disrupts the learning experience for every other kid…period. I'm of the opinion that those conditions are often over-diagnosed and kids who are bored out of their gourds are told they have a 'learning disability' which simply gives them an excuse to UNDERachieve.
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