July 25 Board Meeting, Remarks

Hickory Hills Safety Concerns

The board discussed safety concerns around Hickory Hills school, noting that new retail outlets are in the works across the street. A lease-purchase financing option is being considered to expedite the necessary funding for construction of a new school.

Sick Leave/Personal Day Change

This change does not effect the number of sick days or personal days for employees. Personal days had been included with sick leave in the old operating system. Under the new MUNIS operating system, personal days are now in a separate category.

Aramark

The board approved a five-year contract with Aramark to manage food and custodian services.

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Compensation

As most of you know, the new budget gives employees a 2.5% pay increase. SNEA had recommended 5%.

July 25, 2006
Remarks to board by Ray Smith
President, Springfield NEA

I am Ray Smith, and I am proud to represent the teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses and support employees associated with Springfield NEA. I’ve lived in Springfield most of my life and consider it a great town to raise a family and work. Like many of my fellow teachers and R-12 employees, I’m glad to be a part of a great public school system whose leadership is not merely satisfied with maintaining the status quo but seeks to constantly improve the quality of education for the children of our community.

Springfield schools continue to perform well and earn recognition for student achievement. In a recent board meeting, we saw a power point presentation that displayed bar charts and graphs comparing our student assessment scores to Rockwood, a comparably-sized district in suburban St. Louis. Student achievement scores compared admirably to the Rockwood benchmark, and the district has every reason to be proud.

But a closer look at comparisons with Springfield and a benchmark system like Rockwood reveal some disturbing trends. For instance, Rockwood’s free and reduced lunch rate over the past five years has remained at a steady 12.5%, even dipping to 12.2% in 2002. Springfield’s free and reduced lunch rate, on the other hand, has dramatically increased from 35.6% in 2001 to 40.7% in 2005. In the last two years, the rate has leaped ahead by 3%. Of course, statistics don’t tell the whole story, but ask any veteran teacher in Springfield, and they will tell you that the student demographics are changing rapidly, which makes it all the more critical that the district recruit and retain quality professionals in the classrooms.

Recruiting and retaining quality employees becomes more difficult with salaries that hover just below the state average - a state average that has fallen to 45th in the nation. Also, consider that Springfield, the third largest district in Missouri, ranks in the lowest 12th percentile for teacher salaries among the largest twenty-five districts in the state. Twelfth percentile. Without doing a lot of math, it is clear that Springfield teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation.

Consider that the average worker moving from the Rockwood area would expect to take an 8-10% pay cut if he or she relocated to Springfield. That’s Springfield, a low wage town. We’ve heard for years that the cost of living here makes it more palatable, but everything I’ve been able to find shows our cost of living saves us only 2-3%, and the gap is closing. Now consider a teacher moving to Springfield from Rockwood. He or she would have to endure a whopping 20% pay cut - more than $8,000. Would anyone even consider such a move?

One of my daughter’s friends recently graduated from MSU with a degree in secondary education, and she was very excited to sign a contract with Springfield soon after graduation. She took a little vacation up to Illinois to celebrate with a friend, but when she found out what the teachers were making in that Chicago suburb, she scheduled an interview, was hired and immediately cancelled her contract with Springfield. It is very short-sighted to believe, in our increasingly mobile society, that Springfield only competes with surrounding districts for teaching talent.

I know this year’s budget is already a done deal . . . but I would strongly suggest that the district make it a priority to address the critical issue of employee compensation in the coming year. Our organization would be eager to work with the district to develop a multi-year compensation plan that would enable Springfield to recruit and retain quality educators and support staff. We can work together to make Springfield a model district that the rest of the state can hold up as their benchmark.

Thank you for your time.