School Employees Forgo (sic) 5% Raises

Well, that's one editor at The Washington Post who needs to go back to school! This is the headline for an article in today's paper (Page B1). It's "forego". It's also not Woodstock.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, teachers and other school employees gave up a 5% raise, saving the school system $89,000,000 and allowing it the school system to balance its budget for the school year starting in July 2009. The superintendent and other top administrators lost annual raises, too.

It's called Recession, the reality of what's happening in the U.S.A. Leaders of four employee "associations" (unions?), representing 22,000 school employees, agreed to giving up contractual raises.

Will this happen in Woodstock, where huge expansion of District 200 has occurred? Will the new schools have the enrollment that was the basis of all the new schools? They surely didn't have a crystal ball when the public input was sought and found to put the growth in place.

The question now is how to manage it. With the general population expecting tax revenues to decline over the next few years, adjustments need to be made now. What adjustments are to be made to serve the students in District 200 over the next 2-3-4 years?

Are schools and governments planning to increase tax rates, so that they still receive current levels of revenues? Will the public stand for that?