By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has his education priorities straight.

A recent editorial in the New Hampshire Union Leader commended Gatsas for putting school spending into proper perspective.

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After a 2012-13 school budget forced teacher layoffs and increased class sizes, some residents called for a tax increase to hire more teachers. But Gatsas reminded residents during his State of the City address this week about the real problem with school finances:

Runaway labor costs, fed by an overly generous teachers union collective bargaining agreement.

“Total city school spending, including money taken from expendable trusts, is up by $1.6 million over last year. General fund spending on pay and benefits is $2.8 million higher than last year,” the editorial noted.

Meanwhile, student enrollment in Manchester schools has dropped by 4.7 percent since the 2007-08 school year. The teaching staff is 6.6 percent smaller than in 2007-08, the Union Leader reports.

In other words, district officials are spending more on fewer people, both in terms of students and staff. The reason is simple: the union contract with the Manchester Education Association has dialed up teacher salaries by 2.5 percent each year since 2010, according to the news site.

The contract is also generous when it comes to teacher benefits. MEA members pay only 7 percent of their health care premiums, compared to an average of 32 percent for private sector workers. Gatsas told citizens the city needs concessions from the MEA to put teachers’ benefits in line with other city workers when a new teachers contract is crafted this summer.

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“If we could implement the same split on health care in the school system that we have in other city departments, we could save 16 percent of the school budget,” Gatsas said, according to the Union Leader. “That’s enough to hire 80 more teachers and reduce class size.”

The mayor understands that the teachers’ generous benefit package is simply unaffordable, and shouldn’t come at the expense of teaching jobs and quality instruction. Gatsas realizes the city could and should do more with its current revenue, before considering a tax increase.

The new site notes that some parents are upset about teacher layoffs and rising class sizes, and have proposed an override on the city tax cap to hire more teachers.

“But a great deal of this frustration is based on the myth that the school budget was cut,” the editorial points out. “It was not.”

Thankfully, Gatsas and the Union Leader realize that tackling unaffordable benefit expenses, and asking teachers to contribute their fair share toward benefits, should be the top priorities for the school budget.

Now it’s a matter of convincing union officials to agree to do the right thing.