By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

MARION, Fla. – Nancy Stacy, a member of the Marion, Florida school board, sounds like a very passionate advocate for children.

She says there’s too much fat in the school district budget, and a plan to replace 160 first-year, full-time teachers with lower-paid, full-time “certified substitutes” is unnecessary.

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Stacy is spearheading a movement to find other ways to cut costs, so the district can eliminate a $29 million deficit while saving the jobs of the regular teachers, according to the Ocala Star Banner.

More power to Ms. Stacy. We’ve always held to the belief that many school districts have more of a spending problem than a revenue problem. If they focused their available dollars on children, and put everything else on the backburner, there will usually be enough money to meet student needs.

Unfortunately we wonder if Ms. Stacy has chosen the proper ally in her fight. She seems to be ready to team up with the local teachers union, which almost certainly deserves its share of the blame for the district’s deficit and the board’s decision to cut so many teachers.

“Chris, we have a war on our hands and we’re going to win,” Stacy publicly stated to Chris Altobello, president of the local teachers union.

Can Stacy and Altobello really be on the same side?

If you want to find big savings in any public school district, you have to start with union labor costs, which usually take up about 75 percent of the general operating budget.

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That leads to a close inspection of the teacher union collective bargaining agreement, which is generally loaded with expensive goodies – automatic annual raises, free or low-cost health insurance, seniority bonuses, etc. – that drive up a district’s expenses.

Stacy must know that teachers unions generally have the power to stop the layoffs of younger teachers by accepting salary and benefit freezes or cuts for older teachers. Has Stacy and the board asked Altobello and other union leaders to make the concessions necessary to save teaching jobs?

We applaud any school board member anywhere in America who is determined to cut unnecessary spending and preserve more tax dollars for instruction.

We just fear that Stacy may be barking up the wrong tree if she’s counting on the teachers union for help. The unions generally only help when their members don’t have to sacrifice anything. Their idea of fixing school budgets usually involves a local tax increase or a plea for more money from the state.

EAGnews plans to look more closely at this interesting situation, and we promise to keep you updated.