Why Should Delaware Care?
School referendums are the only time that Delawareans can have a direct say in their taxation rate, but they also make it harder for school districts to meet rising costs. Seven months after Smyrna’s failed referendum attempt, the district finds itself approaching a deficit while its educators’ union continues to protest for higher pay.
Months after a failed referendum left Smyrna schools struggling to pay its bills, the school district and its union of teachers and other staff members have been in a standoff over pay.
Educators claim the district has backtracked on promised pay increases, while district officials say they need to ensure their schools remain financially stable.
In all, it has led to teacher protests, a scheduled mediation, and even talks of going back to voters to ask for more money.
“Yes, we’re going to need it. We’re going to need a referendum at some point,” Smyrna school board president Jonathan Snow said. “No, we’re not going right now.”
The drama follows voters’ rejection of a $5.4 million referendum last March that exacerbated existing budgeting challenges. It also increased the tension with teachers over whether they would receive pay raises this year.
The Smyrna Education Association – the union that represents educators – is not legally allowed to strike. But, in recent weeks, members of the union have picketed district board meetings, with dozens of teachers wearing black shirts, and some holding signs that said “Worth More Than 0%.”
The signs referenced the district’s recent decision to not increase the educators’ pay scale.
Last month, the Smyrna Board of Education released a statement in response to the ongoing protests, stating it would be “fiscally irresponsible” to provide raises with “non-sustainable funding” – a likely reference to the failed referendum.
The board also cited recent inflation in its statement, saying Smyrna schools will have to spend $750,000 more this year just to maintain the level of services they previously provided.
“These increases project us to be in deficit spending by the end of this [fiscal] year or next year,” the board’s statement said.
In Delaware, educators’ salaries are funded by a combination of state and local tax revenue, with the state paying approximately 70% of an individual’s total salary.
A failed referendum
If Smyrna’s referendum had passed in March, the district would have collected an additional $5.4 million in the first year following the vote.
Last spring, the district had said that more than half of the money would have paid for staff salaries, with teachers receiving raises during the subsequent two years. It also would have funded extracurricular activities, technology upgrades, utilities costs, and the hiring of additional school constables, according to the district.
The educator salary bumps would have allowed Smyrna’s schools to climb out of the lowest tiers for pay in New Castle and Kent counties.
Despite those promises, nearly 60% of district voters rejected the referendum.
In a recent interview with Spotlight Delaware, Smyrna Education Association President Chuck Welsh said union members understood the voters’ decision, noting that the referendum happened just after Kent County had reassessed its properties, and as the town of Smyrna was increasing its own property taxes.
“The public was like, ‘Look, I’m getting hit here. I’m getting hit here, and now you want me to pass an operational budget,’” he said.
Still, one consequence, Welsh said, is that following the failed referendum, some teachers and other staffers decided to leave Smyrna for neighboring districts with higher pay.
Some are also leaving the district to teach outside of traditional schools, he said.
“We are losing some to the prison system because they pay more than we do,” Welsh said.
Delaware’s largest prison, James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, is located just outside the town limits of Smyrna and still within the Smyrna School District boundaries.
While the school district did not provide raises following the failed referendum, Smyrna Board President Jonathan Snow said it has honored longevity bonuses and raises that teachers and other educators receive as they continue to gain experience.
At the same time, he said Smyrna has cut administrative positions, such as the district’s director of special services, director of operations, and supervisor of finances.
But not all of the money saved from eliminated positions flows back to Smyrna schools, Snow said. The portion that had been funded by the state instead goes back to the Department of Education. Meanwhile, the district is free to use its local portion where it is most needed, he said.
Snow said much of that freed up money has since funded the schools’ purchase of paper, pencils, and ink toner as well as utilities.
“It helps us offset some of that cost,” he said.
‘The offer is zero’
Welsh said the root of his union’s criticisms emerged after voters’ rejected the referendum in March.
The union contract stated that following a failed referendum, the district would meet with educators to negotiate a different pay raise. But, he said, that didn’t happen.
Following the failed vote, the union asked the district and its board when they would meet. In response, the union was directed to submit proposals to the district’s new human resources officer, Welsh said.
To help determine an appropriate pay raise, Welsh and his union asked to see the district’s preliminary budget. In response, he said, district officials told him they must wait until after the schools board approves the preliminary budget.
By July, the Smyrna school board approved the preliminary budget during a board meeting.
Welsh said the union then submitted its proposal later in the month. He did not hear back until mid-August when district officials said to “come back to the table” to reopen negotiations, he said.
During a subsequent meeting, Welsh said the district presented its offer – “zero percent, nothing, zero, and nothing at all.”
Asked about the offer, Snow indicated that the educators union should have turned in its proposal for pay raises before the board’s July meeting. He says that a board member emailed Welsh as far back as April asking for the union’s proposal.
“One of our board members emailed the union president, asking them for their proposals. We were working on the budget. [But] they did not submit one before we had to vote on the budget at our July meeting,” he said.
Snow did confirm that the union met in August with the district staff to “go over the details.” Snow also said that the board had not discussed or approved any offer prior to the August meeting.
“They offered what they were able to offer at that point,” Snow said of the 0% pay-scale increase.
Both Snow and Welsh say the union and district met in September to examine the district’s books in an effort to give the union more insight into its finances.
Welsh said last month one board member spoke about another possible referendum during a staff meeting.
Snow could not confirm what was said during that meeting, but said the district will have to go out for another referendum in the future. Still, for the current fiscal year, the district has not filed paperwork for a new referendum, he said.
But highlighting the continued impasse, Welsh says he cannot go back to his union and have his members vote for a 0% raise.
The two groups were scheduled to meet on Monday to go into mediation, according to both union members and Snow.
