There’s no denying our nation is facing some tough economic times, and with those tough times, we’re all being forced to make tough decisions. From the boardroom to the kitchen table, decisions are being made on how to scrimp and save money to make it through these tough times, and our elected officials on the national, state, and local level are facing tough choices of their own.
In South Milwaukee, the process of making those tough decisions has begun in earnest. The South Milwaukee school district faces an estimated budget deficit of $633,127 for the 2009-2010 budget cycle, and among the many cuts proposed to close that budget deficit is a proposal to freeze the salaries of the top 17 administrators of the South Milwaukee school district. Freezing those salaries would save the school district an estimated $48,000 next year; however some members of the South Milwaukee school board have expressed a reluctance to freeze the salary of South Milwaukee school district administrators at current levels. To put the proposed salary freeze for the South Milwaukee school district administrators into perspective, it’s important to note some administrators within the South Milwaukee school district have received generous raises in the past few years – raises that in some cases were in the neighborhood of five to six percent.
Freezing administrator salaries won’t solve all the South Milwaukee school district’s budget issues, but such a freeze is an important step in the right direction – and it’s a step other elected officials are taking. On January 15, 2009, Governor Jim Doyle announced state employees should not expect to receive any pay raises for the 2009-2011 budget cycle, and just days ago, President Obama announced his senior staff would be subject to a salary freeze as well. These are the kinds of tough choices that must be made until our economy improves, and it’s a choice the South Milwaukee school board must make. Now’s not the time to give administrators pay raises as the school district struggles to find ways to save money and close a budget deficit. If given the choice between freezing administrator salaries or making deeper cuts to teaching positions and extracurricular activities, I’d rather freeze administrator salaries.
What’s more, not only should salaries for our school administrators be frozen, but they should remain frozen until the South Milwaukee school district’s budget issues are resolved.
Zach, are you trying to be a compassionate conservative now that you are putting on a fake front with your run for School Board?
Even your blog posts have toned the liberalism down. Your votezach.com reads as if you were a fiscal conservative instead of the liberal that you and proud of as you have put it.
Fake, fake, fake. Tell the people the truth Zach!
It was not to long ago that freezing pay for government workers vs private sector had you saying this on the right view wisconsin.
“Zachary says:
September 24th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Oh, and as for those folks in the private sector who have pay freezes, I’ll just say that’s the chance you take working in the private sector”
Do you thing people are that dumb not to see through how fake you are pretending to be? You really make us laugh!
Jeff, tell me what’s untrue about what I said in September. When one works in the private sector, pay freezes, layoffs, and cutbacks are always something that can happen when the economy takes a turn for the worse. The same is also true for public sector workers as well, as evidenced by Governor Doyle’s statements that state employees shouldn’t expect a raise for the 2009-2011 budget cycle, but state employees benefit from protections that many private sector employees don’t have when it comes to things like layoffs.
And for what it’s worth, it’s no secret I’m a liberal, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in fiscal responsibility. I can’t spend beyond my means here in my household, and neither should my school district, and I would have thought you’d appreciate someone who’s a proponent of fiscal responsibility. I know you want to believe all liberals are “tax and spend liberals,” but that’s simply not the case. I don’t like paying taxes any more than the next person, but I believe that if I’m going to pay taxes, I should get the most “bang for the buck.”
As always, thanks for your input Jeff!
I’d like to know how much these administrators are making in comparison to surrounding school districts…do you have any numbers Zach?
The post was about freezing pay in the public sector. Zach go back and reread it on RVW.
Nice try with claiming fiscal responsibility. All someone has to do is read your posts and see you are a tax and spend liberal.
Again nice try!
Anon, I’m in the process of gathering that information, but from what I’ve been told, the South Milwaukee administrators got raises totaling nearly 13% over the past two years. Obviously I could be wrong on those numbers, considering that’s just what someone “in the know” told me, but hopefully I’ll have some concrete proof soon enough.
Thanks Zach. I do know JSonline.com has data on how much people are paid for most of the cities in Milwaukee County for a variety of different municipal jobs. The problem is South Milwaukee seems to be the only municipality missing. I’ve noticed SM doesn’t have a lot information easily accessible which in my opinion reduces accountability.
I went back and took another look at JSonline and the salaries of the South Milwaukee School District employees are listed. I’m shocked at how much they (administrators and teachers) are getting paid. Go take a look… Now I understand why my property taxes were over $4000 last year for my little and old house. It’s outrageous.
Anon, I’m glad you brought that up, because I had forgotten all about those databases. Here’s some information I was able to cull from one of the MJS’s databases:
In comparison to Ewald’s salary, Sara Larsen, the Oak Creek-Franklin Superintendent, makes $134,649, while Bill Szakacs of the Franklin school district makes $125,454. James Heiden, the Cudahy District Administrator, makes $120,000. What I get from looking at those numbers is that Ewald is near the top when it comes to administrator pay when compared to surrounding school districts.
He also makes more than the WA-WM school district administrator. I’d like to know how the SMSD can justify paying the administrator such a high salary when the school district is so small…not to mention there are many teachers who top over $70000 plus benefits. Don’t we (South Milwaukee) have a new high school to pay for??
Anon, that’s why I believe South Milwaukee’s administrator salaries can afford to be frozen for this year, because it’s not as if David Ewald is sorely underpaid.
They can afford to be frozen for more than one year. These high numbers should raise concern in the taxpayers. It should also make one curious as to what the other municipal employees are making. Why are they excluded from the data base on JSonline.com? Did the city refuse to supply that information? SM seems to have an accountability problem.