From: Kristen Brown
Columbus
I’m dismayed that the school board had an emergency meeting on March 19th to react to the coronavirus crisis, but didn’t even discuss withdrawing its referendum to increase taxes.
Instead, the board approved paying full wages and benefits to 735 of its support staff who are staying at home with no work responsibilities for at least six weeks while schools are closed.
BCSC is fortunate not to feel the pinch. Being so charitable right now is very difficult or impossible unless you are a corporate Goliath like Cummins or government collecting revenue by force of law.
Despite the crisis, BCSC continues plowing ahead with its campaign to increase property taxes to fund extraordinary pay hikes for all 1,600 employees.
The tax increase would fund proposed annual pay increases of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 for the 700 teachers, depending on seniority.This equates to increases between 7% and 31%.
All 900 support employees would receive pay increases between 4% and 10%.
BCSC’s employees have not been starved of pay raises. They’ve been getting annual raises the last several years, on average between 2% and 2.5%. This year’s raise for all employees was 2.5%.
When the school board approved the referendum in January, their rationale was to retain more employees. BCSC’s concern about employee turnover was not unique among our employers. At the time, our state’s unemployment rate was the lowest in 20 years.
Fast forward two months to today: shuttered businesses, skyrocketing unemployment, disappearing life savings. Contrast the financial meltdown so many are suffering to BCSC’s large proposed pay increases.
Before this crisis, 45% of BCSC’s kids qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. Can you imagine how many more parents won’t be able to feed their kids now?
To rub salt into the wound, the proposed property tax would burden everyone, regardless of income.
BCSC’s unrelenting campaign is unconscionable in light of the plight of so many people and local businesses owners who would pick up the tab.
The Columbus I know is not a culture of “me.” Yet the slogan prominently displayed on yard signs around our community is “Vote Yes for BCSC and Me.”
BCSC will not commit to improving our kids’ education with the tax revenue. Presumably then the only “Me” left is the BCSC employees.
There’s no doubt the BCSC employees do yeoman’s work for which we are all extremely grateful. If the administrators believe pay hikes are necessary even now, an option is to increase employees’ pay and tighten their belts elsewhere.
The referendum supporters will argue instead, “Let the voters decide.”
In this upcoming primary, the will of the voters won’t necessarily equate to the will of the people. Voter turnout in primaries is abysmally low. In this current crisis, turnout will probably be even worse.
Naturally, turnout will be high among the recipients of the tax dollars: BCSC’s 1,600 employees and their family members who live in the district.
For BCSC, letting voters decide could very well be “like taking candy from a baby."
