Yesterday’s webinar about NPS finances with Matt Hills and Paul Levy (hosted by City Councilor Emily Norton) is a must see. In a short presentation, Matt laid out the structural deficit that was created in the school budget with the most recent contract with the Newton Teachers Association. It’s a sobering but realistic look at the problems the budget was facing, even before the pandemic turned the world upside down.
According to Matt Hills, more than half of the City Council and half of the School Committee have heard this presentation.
I was misled to think this is an official document, since it is entitled “State of NPS…” and presented by a City councillor. But it is not, it is an anti-NTA opinion piece from two non-NPS employees. The NTA contract offering parity to our teachers, the same as those enjoyed nationwide and in our region (3%) at that time. I support usiing my tax dollars to pay teachers a PROPER wage (even though they still rank very low in the state) with MY tax dollars.
The voters showed this at the polls, more votes were garnered by SC candidates (top 4 out of 5 vote getters). The voters have spoken — schools are our # 1 priority.
MANY people move here for schools. We support our teachers. Spend more money on our schools, we can afford it we have a surplus.. Property values have held so far — $1M+ ranches flying off the market in days. (Fact). Stop scapegoating them with propaganda not #facts but labeling the current budget optimistic. Paul Levy and Matt Hills do NOT have a crystal ball. No one does. Conjecture and personal opinion I respect. Labeling and presenting it as an offical video is borderline illegal and definitely confusing to those seeing it on FB.
Please relabel this and provide a disclaimer that this is your opinion and not pure facts.
This comment did not age well.
Let’s bring this back to the top so we can be clear that this issue isn’t a surprise to the Mayor or anyone else who has been paying attention.
“Paul Levy and Matt Hills do NOT have a crystal ball. No one does.”
What I love is when people cannot say hindsight is 20/20 when people were correctly predicting things before they happened.
Like Patrick said, this comment REALLLLLY didnt age well.
Fix NPS. stop with the fake equity bullsh!t. Focus on Academic Excellence first and only. Through that lens ALL kids are better off.
Why not, instead, Kim, indicate where you think there were factual errors in the presentation?
Zzzz.
Here we have an obviously comfortable, privileged, overpaid, under-taxed white guy (similar to myself) bemoaning how teachers’ collective bargaining and compensation, OPEBs, and COLAs are bleeding us dry – presented under the passive-aggressive guise of “I’m not saying it’s good, I’m not saying it’s bad – YOU decide!”
It would be great if instead of spouting the same tired fiscal-hawk platitudes about “cost structure control,” we overcompensated white guys would read the writing on the wall and concede that it’s no longer sustainable to continue our greedy ways. The rest of society has clearly had enough.
Wow the trolls come out when threatened with the truth. Costs cannot rise at a faster rate than revenues no matter what your politics.
Listen again, Michael. The contract is the contract. That’s done. The issue is how to pay for it and the city’s other obligations. Are you suggesting we ignore the likely gap between city revenues and costs? I think doing that is imprudent and could cause much harder decisions in the future. This is about arithmetic and making thoughtful plans now rather than facing a cliff this year or next year, not the race or socio-economic status of the messenger.
David Fleishman is paid about $300k/year. Why? Cut that in half and hire 6-7 more aides.
As I said in the video, my kids were just starting out in the schools during the last unsustainable contract. Class sizes rose, social workers were laid off, so principals were doing the jobs of the social workers, rather than doing their job of supporting teachers, and it was a very stressful time for everyone. And that was in a pandemic-free period. And unfortunately it is those with the least who will suffer most. Wealthy families can choose private school, tutors, etc. Non wealthy cannot. And I will remind us that Newton already has a significant racial & income achievement gap.
To emphasize Patrick’s point, the math is the same regardless of your politics.
To quote Matt Hills, “It’s really, really complicated, and it’s also really simple.”
Below is my math, which hopefully is the same as everyone else’s:
2020 Residential Property Tax Rates For 344 MA Communities
44. Newton — $10.44
62. Wellesley — $11.56
78. Needham — $12.49
86. Dover — $12.84
85. Weston — $12.83
128. Lexington — $14.05
135. Concord — $14.23
178. Lincoln — $15.36
284. Sudbury — $18.45
https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/2020-residential-property-tax-rates-344-ma-communities
Emily and Paul, what are your proposals for avoiding fiscal catastrophe?
More than 2,000 Massachusetts educators have received layoff or nonrenewal notices
The vast majority are teachers, says the Massachusetts Teachers Association
By Meghan E. Irons Globe Staff, Updated June 23, 2020
More than 2,000 educators have received layoff or nonrenewal notices for the fall, the Massachusetts Teachers Association said Tuesday.
..other districts with more than 100 such notices include Taunton, Pittsfield, and Newton.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/23/metro/more-than-2000-massachusetts-educators-have-received-layoff-or-nonrenewal-notices/
Micheal,
Over 30% of Newton residents are seniors on fixed income
Not sure how many more overrides they can sustain before being forced from their homes
Can we get @zilles to give a comment about teacher contract? Or did he lose reelection of NTA?
I’m not sure what a comparison of residential tax rates offers in the way of useful information (as the residential rate is a function of so many things, including the extent to which the commercial sector exists and is taxed.). Are you suggesting, Michael, that there is “room” for tax increases in Newton? Certainly, an override vote is a way of testing that. There is a mixed record in this city on overrides. Can you think of how the Mayor and Council could be persuasive about the need for an override? One way *not* to be persuasive is to continue to say that “everything’s going to be all right.”
As we discussed in the webinar, there were notices of 100+ non-renewal of one-year aides in Newton. To the best of my knowledge, those notices were not based on saving money, but on having the ability to select a cadre of aides who would be best suited to the new Covid learning environment.
@Michael: This is the second time this year that I’ve watched you disparage a person on Village14 because of his skin color. Lately, I have seen others on Village14 do it too.
Obviously: Paul Levy’s skin color has no connection with his values, empathy, intellect, and capacity to love. I have always found his contributions here to be positive and constructive. You don’t know the man. I recall that he is married to a woman of color.
When you use skin color as a basis to treat people with disdain, you embolden the worst elements of our society to do the same.
When you disparage somebody for being a “white guy”–as if that were some kind of sin–you insult the partners, husbands, sons, and fathers of many people of color whose cause you pretend to champion; you insult the victims of a dozen terrible dictators, the Soviet bloc, even the Holocaust; you insult people persecuted for their sexual orientation, faith, or politics; you insult people who are disabled or infirm; you insult many of our nation’s poor; you insult people who are doing their level best to build a more equal society; you insult people who, like most humans, are loving and have served their communities and country faithfully.
Having white skin does not give you license to disparage others for having white skin. If you want to self-flagellate, that is your right. But leave other people’s skin color out of it.
Bugek, I’m pleased to say that property tax increases are a complete non-issue for that demographic!
Newton has a great tax deferral program for seniors on fixed income (<$85,000/yr.), and the interest rate is, get this:
a whopping 3%.
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/assessor/programs.asp
Not even the most persnickety of heirs can complain about the impact of a measly 3% cost of capital on the overall value of their estate. Not that we should be worrying about the heirs, of course, since they ought to be counting their lucky stars to be inheriting even the most decrepit Newton real estate in the first place.
Paul,
Absolutely! But I still look forward to hearing your preferred solution.
Michael Singer,
That was heartwarming and unnerving at the same time, but I was actually referring to Matt Hills, and the fact that as a privileged white male he, like myself, owes much of his success in life to his birth characteristics.
Consequently, he (and I) ought not bemoan the comparatively minuscule salaries and benefits being paid to the key enablers of that lifestyle, e.g. the educators who educate his children and/or his employees’ children, increase demand for Newton real estate thereby inflating his property value, etc.
@Kim Smith-
I can’t imagine how you were “misled” in any way when both Matt and Paul were so clearly identified and introduced by Emily, and the source of the data comes from the City of Newton. Paul and Matt analyzed the data which was perfectly obvious.
Once again, no good deed goes unpunished. Gheesh.
@Michael–If you think every person who shares your skin color is “privileged”, then you have not visited Appalachia or listened to Bruce Springsteen.
I grew up in an old coal-mining town on the Appalachian Plateau. There were kids who did not have running water in their homes, whose parents hunted to put food on the table. Today the median income there is $28,000. Only 25% percent of my high school class was able to go on to college. The other 75%–most of whom happened to be white–were certainly not “privileged”. You know nothing about the hardship they faced. You have no right to call them “privileged” because of your simplistic notions about skin color.
Unless you know the biographic details of Mr. Mills and Mr. Levy, I don’t think you are in any position to judge them either. It possible that they overcame difficult odds and deserve all that they have in life.
@Lisap
Matt Hills and NTA have always been on very, very poor terms, and his presentation was highly biased in favor of continuing the cuts to NPS he started
Many of the commenters here seem to want to talk about their personal impressions of the presenters rather than what they presented.
Their presentation boiled down to this:
The current NPS budge is unsustainable because it’s growing significantly faster than the city’s revenue
That only leaves two options over the next few years:
1. Raise city revenue (i.e. override) – never politically popular
2. Cut the budget – not practical since 86% of the budget is already negotiated salaries. Making cuts elsewhere to make up the difference would be draconian, not politically popular, and very destructive to the school system.
That analysis was made pre-Covid19 and the fiscal outlook has only got worse since then.
Now maybe you think one of those statements is incorrect. If so, which one and why?
If that analysis is correct then the city indeed better begin planning now to chart a way out of this rapidly approaching fiscal hole.
@Jim-
If that’s your take-away you’re entitled to your opinion. My take away, apart from the very obvious fact that we are in a serious economic downturn, is that we cannot rely upon the state and federal aide that has historically helped us to balance the budget. The numbers speak for themselves apart from any commentary. Deficit spending is not sustainable in my opinion.
Here we go again. The budget gets tough, time to blame the teachers. Their “unsustainable contract” is the first arguably fair contract they’ve had in years.
Unless you think it’s fair that few teachers can afford to live in the community they teach in anymore.
How do you cut the budget when 86% is salaries?
There are no supplies. Parents buy paper, pencils, paper towels, kleenex from K-12. I have purchased reading books (Romeo and Juliet) for my middle and high school aged kids. There is nothing to cut. NOTHING.
Parents pay huge fees for busses, band, theater, sports, everything.
But we have a serious problem. The city needs money to pay police, fire fighters, librarians, school nurses and teachers.
BUT, to kick the can down the road, (like we have for funding pensions) is not the way to go. We are paying for past mistakes. I don’t want my kids to pay for our mistakes.
We have a rainy day fund, but it is raining buckets. I don’t think that is the answer either.
But we can’t cut SPED. We can’t cut salaries. 14% leaves us nothing to cut. You can’t cut the text books. I haven’t seen a new text book in years. We can’t charge more for buses ($350/kid is steep).
But we have to educate our kids.
There you go again, Bryan. No one here is blaming the teachers. They were well represented in their contract negotiation, and the contract was approved by the School Committee. Never, since that moment, has anyone in authority in the City Government or the School Committee suggested that the city will be unable to meet the terms of the contract.
No, the problem is one of silence. As I stated yesterday:
“We are conducting this webinar because we believe that the Newton Public Schools are about to face extreme financial pressures. We think that the public has not been made aware of the extent of those stresses. We think it is important for the public to have knowledge of these matters so they can be active and positive participants with their elected officials as tough choices are made.”
When asked if I thought the contract should be re-opened, I questioned why the NTA would even consider such a thing given that there is no hint from the City that there will be any problems meeting its terms or that the City will face any pain in otherwise meeting its obligations and carrying out its priorities. So the solutions have to come from elsewhere. Michael, above, has asked what those solutions should be. That question is premature: You have to acknowledge that there is likely to be a problem before you move on to solutions.
A final point. Some people like to throw around the terms “anti-NTA” or “union busters” when someone disagrees with the union or suggests that the terms of a contract will cause financial difficulty for the city. That was the case regarding me when I first raised the affordability issue back in September. https://village14.com/2019/09/25/i-have-2-who-will-give-me-3/#axzz6QEcMduNV. And, here, one commenter has even suggested that the race and socio-economic status of Matt is part of the issue. That is simply disgusting. While personalizing disagreement through stereotypes can be a self-satisfying organizing technique, it is simply an attempt to deflect public attention from the kinds of issues we documented yesterday. I hope that people see through that approach.
Jerry Reilly’s summary is exactly on point. Re-read that. Argue with our conclusions; present other evidence; disagree if you like. Meanwhile, ask your Mayor, City Councillors, and School Committee members questions and give them your suggestions. But hold them accountable: They are the ones who are being paid to come up with solutions.
@Bryan – I don’t see anyone blaming the teachers. I see people asking the questions that need to be asked and answered if we’re going to have the schools that all of us – the teachers, the students, and parents want.
I have no problem with the teacher’s contract so long as we have a credible plan to pay for it over the next few years. Otherwise the gap in city revenue will inevitable lead to dire circumstances that none of us want.
If you don’t believe that, please point out which piece of their analysis you think they got wrong.
I must once again point out that, as the statistics above demonstrate, Newton taxpayers are undertaxed in contrast with taxpayers in comparable communities. Though the value of my house has increased at least eight-fold since I purchased it in 1981, my real estate taxes have increased perhaps by 125%. If you take into account that the taxes I paid in 1981 had relatively higher value, my taxes have barely risen at all. Unfortunately, because of Proposition 2 1/2, raising taxes takes a great deal of political effort. Remember that seniors and those on fixed income, fortunately, have means of diminishing their real estate taxes.
Teachers are not at fault for the long-term challenges facing Newton’s public schools and should not be singled out as the solution, either through laying them off or demanding pay cuts to negotiated contracts. When I worked in the Newton schools, the slogan for much of my tenure was the “Centrality of the Classroom.” Yet somehow new and highly paid administrative positions kept appearing, and we weren’t always sure what many of these people did. I know, the troops always grumble about their officers, employees about executives, and so forth. But we teachers always felt that in hard times administrative spots should be cut in equal measure with teachers, at the very least. I hope that we were not being merely petty.
Don’t misunderstand me: I loved my work and was treated fairly throughout my time at Newton South. I am deeply indebted to the residents of Newton, which I will continue to repay through my volunteer work in the community. I just supposed that it might be worth while to hear a teacher’s perspective on the webinar (I attended) and the fiscal problems it addressed.
@Lisap
My opinion is based in the fact that:
– NPS was ranked 84th in teacher pay in the state before this contract
– NPS teachers worked under no contract twice within the past decade
– We expect our schools to be in the top quartile of MA schools, surely not 84th
There’s a wide variety of places where cuts can be made, and I know challenging decisions will need to be made, but claiming we spent “out of our means” on education when this contract really does the bare minimum is silly.
I’ve thought for a while that any time someone’s position on a generous teachers’ contract is espoused for local political reasons, they should also have to give their position on an operating override to go with it. Being in favor of the former but not the latter is (and has been since well before COVID) some combination of a political convenience, an intellectual inconsistency, or a naive approach to the financial realities of Newton’s budget. (For the record, I am in favor of both in the current situation, though I could see a scenario where I’d be against both. I like to think that evaluation is independent of whether I have a kid in NPS, which I will in a few years, and more about the overall obligation of and to the community.)
This is particularly true when some substantial portion of the budget, the “wiggle room” that you might otherwise have, is subsidizing the taxpayers of the past via catch-up payments on underfunded benefit plans and work to update neglected infrastructure. COVID just exacerbates all of this, as the various catch-up budget items become an even larger % of tax receipts and as the salary growth numbers baked into the unions’ contracts get compared to revenue reductions, never mind the baseline growth that they were already outpacing.
I… don’t think that this should be super controversial? What we should do about it, sure, big political debate, but not the numbers and the situation. It’s all pretty apparent with a quick perusal of the city budget presentations and the big few city union contracts.
(Oh, and the fee situation that was mentioned a ways up in the thread is kind of insane to me. The town I grew up in has a median HHI literally half that of Newton, covers a few times the land area, and manages to bus all of its kids to school without shaking the parents down. It provides basic sports and activities with no supplemental charges. These kinds of things being crowded out are not a sign of “our fiscal situation is super healthy and balanced”!)
Per Jerry: “The current NPS budge(t) is unsustainable because it’s growing significantly faster than the city’s revenue.”
Dense apartments bring in less tax revenue per household than a single, 2 or 3 family home. How does the “Yes” for Northland vote look now? We should all get slapped with another override…while big development gets a ride on our backs; laughing all the way to the bank.
@Jim-
The length of time it took to negotiate contracts in the past is irrelevant to our present situation. I did not say we “spent beyond our means” – so kindly don’t attribute quotes to me that I did not say. We already have massive unfunded pension liabilities and that’s a can we have simply kicked down the road – repeatedly. I didn’t say the contract was excessive, that the teachers don’t deserve the pay or that salaries should be cut. The irrefutable fact, however, is that when this particular part of the budget was inked as a contract, there was no way to anticipate a devastating pandemic with far reaching financial implications. Whatever happened in the past, those are the current realities. And we can wear rose colored glasses but it is highly likely that the current financial difficulties will last for quite some time, especially if we see a very probable second wave.
Now we can pretend that all is fine and rosy. We can pretend that we will get the same level of Chapter 70 reimbursements, Cherry Sheet aide and unrestricted aid from the state. Or we can anticipate the more likely scenario that our revenue will see a significant reduction in
at least state reimbursements, and that the economy will not recover quickly.
So we can kick the can down the road some more and run at deficit spending, or take a close hard look at the proposed budget in light of the very likely scenario that growth will be low and that we are in a recession. This is painful but ignoring our financial well being is not in the best interests of the City. And to be clear, the contract has been signed. I haven’t heard anyone here argue that it should be renegotiated. To the contrary, the NTA has absolutely no incentive to do that. But short of printing money, the projected numbers look dire to me, and it would be irresponsible to ignore mounting debt upon debt. These issues won’t simply disappear if we pretend they don’t exist.
@All: The City in their own documents has projected gaps between revenue and expenses. It’s time to hold our City leaders accountable and make them acknowledge the challenges ahead, focus on planning for our collective future, and be transparent on how we move forward.
I want to preface my comment by saying I did not view the presentation, so forgive me if I am repeating information.
For those of you that have been on this board for 5 odd years I am going to sound like a broken record. The previous mayor found $5 million in cost savings by zero based budgeting the cityside budget. He didnt touch the schools side. I am guessing he had pressure from the parents not to do so. He found $5 million without effecting city services. One of the things he discovered thru Zero based budgeting is by changing toilet paper (you read that correctly, toilet paper) he could maximize the city’s buying power and that move alone saved the city $750,000. I know that a lot of cr@p, right??
If they ZBB and made promises not to touch services in the school side, maybe they can find cost savings and weather the storm for awhile.
When the 2013 operational override passed, it was well accepted that it would serve the city for 5 years or so, then the structural deficit would begin to grow again and the city would need an infusion of new revenue.
Most of the presentation wasn’t new information to people who follow the city budget. For those who don’t follow the budget, it was a good primer. The school committee and most of the city council, on the other hand, had already heard the information before either individual presented it to them. My only complaint about the presentation was that the data wasn’t contextualized.
What I’d expected to hear about when I registered was new information about how COVID-19 would affect the budget in the next few years. That issue was not addressed.
Jane, re: “What I’d expected to hear about when I registered was new information about how COVID-19 would affect the budget in the next few years. That issue was not addressed.” As you pointed out yourself in a post a few days ago, the full guidance from the state about re-opening has yet to be published. All we’ve had so far is a statement from the state as to the requirements about PPE and cleaning, which are clearly additive to the budget. As I noted during the webinar, if the state requirement leads to split sessions or other such mechanisms to reduce class sizes, then we could also expect changes in transportation costs and other things. Without knowing more, we can’t be certain; but I can’t imagine anything on the horizon with regard to education under Covid-19 that reduces costs. Can you?
Recently, while viewing a 1977 edition of the Newton Graphic on the https://archive.org/, I read an article about Newton debating a new residential tax rate. Indeed, I discovered elsewhere, that residential tax that Newton approved for 1977 was $16.44, a value unadjusted for inflation; per https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm, the adjusted amount is a whopping $72.05! While I realize property values have skyrocket in the last couple of decades, I’d argue that Newton’s property tax rate is quite low, as was exemplified by the tax rates Michael listed in his first post in this thread.
Involving Matt Hills on this topic matter is absurd. Bring in outside voices other than him and Levy into this conversation. They are unquestionably biased. Thus, this activity is profitless. Regardless of their credentials, they both find unions to be loathsome and thorny. As stated above “Matt laid out the structural deficit that was created in the school budget with the most recent contract with the Newton Teachers Association.” It’s expedient to villainize unions, cast generalizations, and make sure to use all the scripted language to hammer home that Jimmy Hoffa is the embodiment of how organized labor functions. This is what happens when two diametric worlds collide. Hills is involved in banking and private equities. The NTA is asking for its members to be treated fairly. It is a wonderful rendition of David verse Goliath.
As far as I can observe whenever taxes increase significantly,
our city leaders spend excessively. The old Horace Mann school
was budgeted for a complete renovation for a city owned
preschool program. When I asked my school committee person what the annual cost to run the school would be I could never get
an answer. The renovation was to be over $15 million.
In Newtonville square the village road way was to cost $1 million.
The current cost is $4 million. In West Newton the original roadway renovation was to be 2 million now after it is finished the cost is $6 million.
If there is a tax override the city will simply go haywire spending on their wish list. The teacher raises were excessive for
our lack of revenues. Newton has plenty of money but it over spends. Newton North cost over $200 million plus debt service.
Angrier, Zervis, Cabot cost $150 million. Aquinas cost $15 million to buy and $20 million to renovate. Carr school cost $20 million
to renovate. The list goes on. Newton leaders are big spenders.
Paul, as Jane stated, Matt’s presentation didn’t offer much in the way of enlightenment to anyone who had been following the budget. Could you please provide clearer insight into your proposed solutions, rather than cryptically repeating that your service is alerting everyone to a problem?
At the end of April the mayor and the city’s chief financial officer gave a detailed and what I believe was a better-informed and more timely presentation (and I say that not as a criticism of Matt’s presentation but just in recognition of the fact that he’s no longer in city government and obviously doesn’t have access to the same data and intel that the mayor and the CFO do).
The mayor’s and CFO’s discussion provided very useful insight into likely changes to Chapter 70 funding and unrestricted state aid, the probable lack of new growth going forward, and other financial challenges.
The budget discussion starts at around 1h28m:
https://vimeo.com/412498853#t=1h28m52s
In contrast, Matt’s presentation seems to have largely ignored the current macroeconomic considerations in favor of his
assignment of blameunderlying theory that:The city’s budget = mostly the school department budget
The school department budget = mostly school personnel
School personnel = mostly teachers
Teachers = mostly union members covered under collective bargaining
“Really, really complicated but also really simple”
…accompanied by praise for those who were courageously willing to take a hard line in contract negotiations (including himself).
Aside from the unsurprising effect of alienating teachers and their supporters, I’m not sure what the presentation added to the overall discussion, especially since you seem to be very evasive in presenting your proposed solutions (aside from repeating that we need to acknowledge that we have a budget problem, when nobody with any sense is denying that).
Also, I feel as though the timing of this effort to assign fiscal responsibility to the teachers’ union is quite ill-timed and insensitive as it distracts from pressing issues of social justice, including calls to reform and defund municipal police departments – something that’s quite relevant to your concerns yet I didn’t hear it brought up by you or Matt.
By way of example I would note that in this forum there had been an active discussion of systemic racism in the Newton Police Department, and that discussion has now been shelved in favor of this discussion about the cost of teacher’s collective bargaining.
Assuming for just a minute that anyone who has been paying attention to the budget and/or reading the newspaper is fully aware that Newton is facing significant fiscal challenges, could you and Matt please clarify your agenda and what it is you hoped to achieve?
@wza-
Wow! We are so fortunate to have a mind reader in our midst who can look into the brains of individuals and project their thoughts, to wit, “they both find unions to be loathsome and thorny”.
Classic deflection; attack the messenger and not the message. Yes indeed, math certainly does attract the trolls!
Such a pity when an important financial issue draws out small minds offering nothing more than vacuous ad hominem. It would be so refreshing if people could stick to the issues at hand but oh so sadly, that seems to be asking too much of some here.
@Paul Levy and Matt Hills- if you are still reading here – and I would not blame you if you were not – THANK YOU for taking your own time to present information concerning the financial prognosis of NPS. And @Counsilor Norton, my thanks and appreciation to you for organizing this webinar.
I know I shouldn’t bother responding to an anonymous comment that I “find unions to be loathsome and thorny,” but the comment is itself so loathsome that it calls for an answer.
My record with regard to labor relations is an open book. I was head of two state agencies, the DPU (1978-1979 and 1983-1987) and the MWRA (1987-1992), that were part of collective bargaining agreements with several state employees’ unions. To the best of my knowledge, our relations were friendly, cordial, and mutually respectful. Those union members were among the most valuable members of our teams and contributed mightily to the success of those two agencies.
While at the MWRA, too, I initiated and signed the largest project labor agreement in the history of Massachusetts, to govern the working conditions of the multi-billion dollar Boston Harbor Cleanup Project. The signatories to that agreement included 14 local and 14 international trade unions, making the project totally a union job. Over a decade of labor harmony followed. We were opposed in court by the non-union contractors, and the agreement was ultimately ratified in court cases leading all the way to the US Supreme Court.
As Executive Dean for Administration at Harvard Medical School (1998 to 2002), I was a member of the team that negotiated a contract renewal with the HUCTW. That experience, plus other interactions with that union, created very strong bonds between us.
My one “thorny” experience with unions occurred when I was CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (2002-2011), where I opposed an effort by the SEIU to substitute an undemocratic form of a labor organizing on the hospital and its workers. For five years, the SEIU ran a corporate campaign against me, our board, and the hospital to try to ram through that approach. They ultimately walked away from that attempt.
Now, let’s get back to the current issues.
For anyone seeking a C-level blueprint for how to effectively stand up to labor unions, I strongly recommend the best-selling book:
“How a Blog Held Off the Most Powerful Union in America” by Paul Levy.
The blurbs include this one from a professor of organizational behavior at BU:
And this one from a “recently-retired long-time senior health care association executive and public servant”:
A healthcare company CEO writes:
And a doctor in Boston dramatically chimes in with:
Exactly, “a well-financed union corporate campaign that sought a neutrality agreement and card check,” just as I said. An attempt by the SEIU to bypass the normal election process in trying to organize workers, i.e., trying to force the hospital to permit an undemocratic form of labor organizing–totally in contrast to the open and free culture that existed at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. This was a true David and Goliath story: The SEIU had hundreds of staffers and tens of millions of dollars to spend, while we had just come through a financial turn-around and were intent on spending our money on taking care of patients. So I used a blog to expose their playbook and present our principles.
By all means, read the rest of the book and make your own judgement. I’ll donate all proceeds from book sales this month to the Newton Food Pantry. I’d be delighted if you could indeed make it a best seller!
An interesting story, but totally irrelevant in every way to the issues facing the city of Newton. How about getting back to those?
Paul, you have got to be absolutely sh^tt^ng me.
Fellow suckers, we’ve just been snookered by somebody who literally wrote the book on how to use low-cost blogs like this one to manipulate opinion against labor unions. He literally wrote the book on it.
Seriously, this is absolutely infuriating.
WTF Paul?
Thank you, Michael.
Paul – If you’d listened to several recent SC meetings related to the budget, you would’ve heard a discussion about how the shutdown has affected the budget and that might have in some way informed your presentation, at least to the point that the issue could be included in the presentation. The meetings can be viewed on NewTV.
COVID-19 will result in expenses and savings in ways that are difficult to project. That being said, when a budget presentation never addresses the first global pandemic in 100 years and focuses instead on teachers’ salaries, you should expect a portion of the audience to view the presenters as having an agenda.
It’s just math, people. How about getting back to the math rather than personal attacks on the presenters? Though of course, personal attacks is the essence of this blog, which is why I stopped participating.
Michael,
Your attempt to twist what I have presented as my involvement with unions over the years into some devious attempt to misstate the issues facing Newton is off base and sad.
Maybe it’s time for you to tell us who you are (full name) and whether you live in Newton, so we can better understand your perspective.
Jane,
Your point is what? Mine is that Covid will likely increase costs further in the fall and beyond. Do you agree?
Man o man
There was sure a lot of bits spilled above with precious few of them discussing the issue presented.
Let me try making it simpler still.
In the coming couple of years, as expenditure outstrips revenue in the city budget what will be your preferred way of dealing with it.
A. Raise taxes via an override
B. Cut the hell out of city services
C. Fill in the blank.
Personally, mostly in the interest of protecting our schools, I’ll go primarily with A.
What about you?
Paul,
I wouldn’t spend any effort in trying to have a discussion with Michael. In a post a while back he told me I was a child abuser for letting my son play tackle football. That’s the type of “discussion” you will have with him.
Thanks for taking the time to help organize the presentation. As a Newton resident with a kid still in high school, it was informative.
Lisap,
Are you confidently stating that human beings don’t act, think, or make decisions based on varying biases? Stop acting like this is a linear equation that can be solved quickly. The human mind has an unprecedented capacity for convincing oneself of THEIR (or the group they represent) truth. Look around the world to see that corruption is nearly always tied into money. I am not saying this corruption has a role in this process. However, are these two men looking at this problem from different angles? Oddly, the NTA is mentioned in a three-sentence description of the event. Matt Hills’ heart doesn’t beat for organized labor unions. Paul, you may have vast experience working with unions. This doesn’t preclude you from sharing Hills’ sentiment.
@Jerry – I prefer some combo of A & C – with the C being: determine how much we should be sacrificing current services for future financial ease, AKA how much do we really need to keep funding OPEB during the crisis (I do agree with the long term plan to fund it).
@Paul – I’ve literally never heard of the union battle you’re talking about – but SEIU is a great union that protects some of the most vulnerable workers. Is card check the governance structure you’re talking about? Because card check is how unions should work. It’s literally just majority rule.
This thread reminds me of John Adams quote “Facts are stubborn things…” OR recent statements from Governor Cuomo in his daily COVID-19 briefings that facts & data should be the starting point for policy decisions.
Councilor Norton showed tremendous leadership by organizing an event to give all Newton citizens an opportunity to hear the presentation that Matt Hills has already delivered to a number of Council and School Committee Members.
I hoped to listen to the June 3rd presentation to the City Council that was scheduled and ultimately cancelled – http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/103998
If a massive State & Local aid package is not passed by the Federal Government, the budget pressure on NPS and the City will be will be enormous. The pre-COVID fiscal deficit Mr. Hills outlined will only get worse. Of that, there should be little doubt.
Further, the City Administration remains unwilling, a noted in the presentation, to follow the examples of cities & towns in all compass directions from us and assume a decrease in MA state funding for local education.
Councilor Norton, Mr. Hills and Mr. Levy thank you for helping this citizen and father of two NPS students be better informed on this critical issue.
Oh, Bryan, this isn’t the place to get into the merits of card check versus elections. We can do that elsewhere some day. Let’s try to get this discussion back to the issues at hand.
The Council approved the School Committee’s and the Mayor’s budget last night, essentially kicking the can down the road to the time we run short of cash. In so doing, they missed an opportunity to–at a minimum–require that a contingency plan for a shortfall in Chapter 70 money, or a contingency plan based on the DESE’s recent guidance about the PPE and sanitation plan costs, or any other contingencies be explicitly provided for. Also, they missed the chance to require the Mayor to “feather in” other structural changes now rather than face a cliff in the future. Why? Are they all such optimists about the forthcoming structural + Covid-related deficits? Do they want to let the Mayor make the choices and take the blame for the future cuts in services, or the bigger class sizes, or what? Four councilors voted no. Their foresight will become evident in the coming months.
Paul,
Sorry about the blockquote formatting.
Paul
At what classroom size would keep finances in ‘ok’ shape?
Current target is 25. If its 29 then it’s probably within acceptable compromise given the exceptional circumstances.. what would we be looking at?
The thing that baffles me is that as recently as two weeks ago Mayor Fuller, who is on the School Committee and understands budgets and projections better than anyone on the committee, wrote to us that the city’s finances are “rock solid.” If I were Mayor Fuller and I saw budget problems on the horizon, I would manage expectations downwards ASAP to avoid suprises. Certainly, I would not approve a new NPS administrative position (although a couple hundred thousand per year is peanuts relative to the broader problem).
Perhaps Mayor Fuller knows something that Matt does not and she is not at liberty to reveal it.
With respect to Bugek’s question about class size, it’s not a straightforward question to answer in advance. There is little possibility of avoiding painful staff reductions unless we bring in new revenue every year (i.e. pass annual overrides, and I’ve worked on 3 overrides beginning in 2002 and it’s very difficult to get even one passed). It’s an NPS structural deficit that grows each year.
So if we are lucky and get past FY21 with a lot of new federal money to cover our structural deficit and any further reductions in state aid and COVID expenses, the pain from the structural deficit will likely hit us the following year. At that point the School Department will need to determine how to balance teacher and other staff reductions among elementary, middle and high school as well as transportation and central office. There may not be layoffs as it’s possible that the reductions come from not hiring to replace teachers who retire, but that still is a reduction in the number of teachers and other staff.
The math really is straightforward—if we have a structural deficit and most of the budget is staff, most of the cost reductions will come from having less staff. That is sad and painful, and I say that as a devoted NPS parent with four kids who were K-12 at NPS. And I say that as a School Committee Member who lived through this a decade ago and it was incredibly painful to get to the other side of this problem.
The situation doesn’t suddenly stabilize at a specific number for class size. Every year the structural deficit needs to be fixed with more revenue or less cost, so each year the class sizes become larger. There may be some chances to reduce costs other than in teaching staff, but teaching staff is where most of the budget is so unfortunately that is where the changes will need to be focused over a few years.
@Emily Norton, Matt Hills and @Paul Levy your math is based on a negative/disastrous prediction. A big IF – that we don’t get the promised funds from the state. You left out the $7.8M Covid Cares some of which can be used for distance learning & SPEd Costs. So your OPINION (not fact) is that the budget and the teacher’s contract is setting us up for doom and gloom. YOUR MATH IS BASED ON AN ASSUMPTION BASED ON YOUR OPINION NOT FACTS. (As of now, we are getting those funds, real estate values have held, the second wave isn’t here yet, etc.) Am I saying all blue skies ahead? No. I’m just saying your opinion is not mine. Your opinon is only that, not a fact, not the only math.
I trust, as the person above said: Mayor Fuller, who is on the School Committee and understands budgets and projections better than anyone on the committee, wrote to us that the city’s finances are “rock solid.”
Emily when you say “the last unsustainable contract” you imply this one is too.? Your motivation in making this video and your statements above making your position abundantly clear. This webinar is not objective, it your POV and is an old story blaming the teachers contracts for our budget woes, and quite frankly the parent are tired of hearing it.
Only time will tell who is right and wrong and what we value as a community.
No one here has a crystal ball.
John Adams wrote: “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
Or, as my co-counsel at an 8 week trial told me repeatedly, “the facts are the facts”.
The lens through which we perceive facts and the evidence which allows us to draw conclusions from facts is individual, but not all are equal.
So yes, @Kim Smith, we have an analysis which interprets facts – data, known budget shortfalls and projects future budget short falls. These are called “inferences” when one takes a known combined with compelling evidence and draws a conclusion.
You assert that the Mayor knows the budget better than anyone on the school Committee. Perhaps I watched a different presentation when the Mayor’s discomfort with budgetary questions was on display. Your opinion is that the Mayor has expertise and understands the budget; I drew the opposite conclusion.
Likewise, you seem to suggest that the Cares Act will provide a healthy infusion of funding. The Dept. of the Treasury has guidelines for the use of those funds (indisputable fact which can be established by reviewing guidelines). The funds provided to government entities have limitations on what they can be used for – COVID related expenses (verifiable fact) and are limited to a set time frame when expenses are incurred (3/1/2020-12/30/2020 – verifiable fact). I infer based upon the facts known about the relief that if any funds are distributed to Newton, they will at best offset unexpected COVID related expenses to help minimize, but not rectify, the budget shortfalls the city knows and has known about for years.
Now as to opinions, not all are equal. Some are based primarily upon blind devotion to an ideal while others are based upon training, education and experience. In this instance, I find the conclusions- or as you prefer “opinions” of Messrs Levy and Hills to be compelling, particularly where both are highly fluent in the language of budgets, and Matt Hills has particular insight from spending 4 terms on the school Committee during both good and bad economic times. And as someone with hands on budgetary experience having worked directly with our prior mayor and superintendent, he clearly understands how, where and why there are shortfalls in the current and projected revenues. We are all of course entitled to choose what we take away from that information.
However, at bottom, any time a member of the public goes out of their way to try to provide information to the public as a public service, whether we agree or disagree, I believe that person should be thanked for their efforts. Giving away one’s time, experience and expertise is a fine example of civic and civil behavior which I do believe you purport to champion with your Newton Civic Debate Facebook Group (which I do not belong to). But I would hope that your “civic” debate includes civil discourse and not unnecessary SCREAMING CAPITAL LETTERS.
Have a nice day all.
We can debate this till we’re all blue in the face but ultimately it comes down to, “is there enough funds in the account to pay the bills?”
The fact that at 115 (teacher layoffs), Newton is among tops on this list. Does not bode well for the Mayor’s boast of “rock solid” finances (or perhaps parting with our lowest paid teachers is how she got there).
https://www.wcvb.com/article/more-than-2000-educators-in-mass-receiving-layoff-notices-union-says/32955232
Paul – My point is that you never addressed COVID-19 in your presentation, so why are you bringing it up now? If you wish to explain how COVID will affect the budget, please do so. But as yet, you haven’t. You sell yourself as an expert, so I’d expect you’d have some ideas on the topic. Rather than being evasive, let us know what you think will be the impact.
As for Emily, at least she’s honest that the point of the presentation was to express her displeasure with the recent teachers’ contact.
Jane, your comments confound me. As you yourself have made clear on Village 14, the specific requirements for the fall re-opening have yet to be issued by DESE, and yet you wish me to estimate the cost of those requirements? What DESE has issued are a set of guidelines with regard to cleaning and PPE, and it has offered cost estimation spreadsheets for districts to use for those items. It has not yet decided what restrictions should be on class size, for instance. My only point with regard to the Covid-19 requirements is that they are likely to add costs whether than reduce them. I haven’t heard of anyone projecting cost decreases. Do you disagree with that?
As for “selling” myself as an expert, well I do have some experience with budgeting and management. But I’ve made a simple point with regard to this issue, as I stated in the introduction to the webinar:
“We are conducting this webinar because we believe that the Newton Public Schools are about to face extreme financial pressures. We think that the public has not been made aware of the extent of those stresses. We think it is important for the public to have knowledge of these matters so they can be active and positive participants with their elected officials as tough choice are made.”
What part of that do you find distasteful? You are so focused on thinking that I’m trying to undo the contract that you are missing the big picture. The contract is done, Jane. There is no reason to think otherwise.
Now, please recognize that the numbers indicate a high likelihood of a mismatch between revenues and expenses for the school system. The last time that happened, there was a lot of pain for everyone involved. If we start to plan ahead, rather than trying to assume the problem away, maybe we can avoid some of the pain. And, in my view, engaging the public in the types of choices that could be made is a good idea. In that fashion, we can help maintain public support for the schools rather than face an avalanche of criticism.
You claim to represent the teachers: Don’t you agree that having an informed public is a really good way to help maintain that support? If an override ends up being part of the answer, for example, I’d rather go to the public explaining what was done to fix the problems than just saying, “Trust us, we need the money.”
Michael, your cynical view that “this discussion, the Zoom video, and any other accompanying elements are disingenuous attempts to strategically manipulate public opinion” is deeply offensive. While participating in the discussion (extensively), you simultaneously try to discredit these legitimate attempts by Newton residents to have a civil and open conversation. This is called democracy. You can’t both choose to play in the sandbox and say the sandbox is polluted. Make your choice, but please cast aside aspersions as to motive.
@Michael: I am amazed that someone who does not live, work, vote, or pay taxes in Newton would spend so much time on this site. By your own account, your only contribution to Newton is to the wear and tear on its roads. Nobody in this city is accountable to you. You have insulted people for their skin color, called them child abusers, and tastelessly questioned the motives of anyone who differs from your cynical worldview.
Does Needham have a website like this? Maybe you could start one.
Paul, noted with thanks.
If, after learning the title of your book, Newtonites can’t see this campaign for what it is — with its embrace of videoconferencing technology (an important digital step-up from the simple blogosphere strategy of the last decade); its strict two-day adherence to “facts” and “math” underscored by cryptic terms such as “I’m not saying it’s good, I’m not saying it’s bad, it is what it is” or “it’s really, really complicated but it’s also really simple”; its feigned agnosticism and consistent refusal to present an actual solution while the plebeians duke it out; its “Maneuver X” in which the readers/listeners are presented with a zero-pressure space that they must affirmatively cross before espousing the target opinion; and of course its climactic, revelatory above-the-fray pronouncement by Matt –then as a Needhamite I could not care less. Go ahead and cut all the Newton teachers’ positions that you want. I’ve got security cameras and my rich-person police force is standing by at all the bridges to protect me from the social fallout…at least until one of the Needham Select Board members reads your book.
Quick question, have you made “How a Blog Held Off the Most Powerful Union in America” available from any outlets other than Amazon, Walmart, or their subsidiaries? As I’m sure you can understand, I don’t do business with either company.
@Jerry Reilly on June 24, 2020 at 5:24 pm
Firstly, this does not call into question or otherwise assert a more important sorting of priorities than yours. A) I don’t know your sort, even merely an unweighted cardinal order; B) going “there” too quickly would seem to defeat the opportunities of the moment which at least some earnest Newtoneans seek to engage.
I prefer “1, 2, and 3” (for those into alphabetizing, numerals sort before letters …)
Speaking to some residents’ desire for “radical” change, the way to get at that would be to:
1. Re-understand the fundamental needs modern citizens, property owners, and businesses in Newton for government services. The exercise is to “reimagine” the “what” people must get out of government services first, before worrying about the “how much” and at what “standard of performance” each component service. Then, measure people’s weighted priorities for how much of those services they are willing to pay for (ever hear of rotated/permutated conjoint analyses?)
2. Redesign the activities — i.e., what city employees actually do at a task level — of our municipal corporation (‘cuz that’s what the City of Newton is, a corporation) to maximally service those same citizens, property owners, and businesses within their willingness to spend AND to not do anything that is no longer defined “in”
3. Dispose of all the rest from city government … leave it to the private sector or undone
Some would recognize such an exercise as “zero based budgeting”, “corporate strategic alignment”, etc.. Much of the discourse seems to have been framed on the assumption that the current condition is a zero-sum-game, with the expected choosing of sides. Instead, the “radical” idea might better be understood as “getting back to basics” and doing those very very well for citizens, owners, and employers.
Oh and b.t.w., expenditures already “outstrip[s] revenue in the city budget”, but we use accounting fiction to shield ourselves from the reality of that to various degrees. So “your future is now”, I think …
@Michael Singer-
The word that comes to my mind for interlopers like Needham Michael who have no “skin in the game”, no clear basis for participating, and no vested interest in the outcome but who do roil the pot is “troll”. Best not to feed them.
I’m immediately skeptical of the political agenda of a webinar on the school budget that doesn’t involve any current school committee members, who are dealing with these issues in real time.
Let’s retreat from the ad hominem attacks on people’s characters and the impugning of their motives and instead look at the contending ideas. Those that offered the Webinar believe, sincerely it seems, that the city is unprepared for a school budget shortfall that could be painful in the near future. Others believe that Mayor Fuller’s assertion that city finances are “rock-solid” should be believed until proven otherwise (I hope that she is right, and she has done a terrific job during the Pandemic IMHO). Still others believe that the Webinar failed to address a fundamental emerging issue: the potentially disastrous effect on city revenues of the Pandemic.
If the debate is to continue, please present “stubborn facts” in support of the various propositions. I have no idea myself which way the facts lean.
Be as skeptical as you want. But this information is public and available on the city’s various websites. I had done some of this analysis myself along with another Mason-Rice parent earlier this year. We came to the same conclusions.
The city needs multiple overrides or the situation will become dire. You don’t have to like it to believe it.
It is very easy to do your own research. Pull the budget for the school department and the city itself and plug into excel. It isn’t magic. You can do it.
Thank you to Paul, Matt and Emily for spending so much time and thought in sharing this information with us. I feel as if we are going deeper and deeper into a world where if we don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. We need to get real and creative before we are in too deeper.
Matt is providing an incredible public service by presenting data to the public. Let’s figure out where we stand. Mayor Fuller’s office should reconcile her “rock solid” pronouncement with Matt’s data. If the differences come down to assumptions, we should know the assumptions.
The Initial Return to School Guidance was published today by the state DESE. Here’s the link to the DESE Covid-19 home page: http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/ Key point:
“All guidance in this document is based on the best information we have as of mid-June. We will carefully monitor the data in the coming weeks and months. Districts and schools must be prepared to be flexible and ready to pivot if circumstances change significantly. For this reason, districts and schools must plan not only for in-person learning, but also hybrid learning models (in which students learn in-person for some of the time and remotely for some of the time), and also full remote learning. Remote learning may be a necessary option in the fall for some students who are unable to return to school due to underlying medical conditions and potentially for all students if COVID-19 forces widespread school closures in the future.”
On the money front, DESE says, “For planning purposes, districts and schools should assume a “level service plus” budget in order to bring students back in person; in other words, additional funds on top of their projected budgets to manage additional costs associated with health and safety preparations.” Then there is a listing of sources of state funds that will be provided to help out. This document notes the need for “additional resources targeted to our historically under-resourced communities.”
On state funding:
• An additional $202 million from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CvRF) for a new grant round to support school reopening. Of the $202 million, $182 million will be formula grants ($225 per pupil) and $20 million will be available at the Commissioner’s discretion for distribution to districts with unmet needs. [My note, with 12,600 students in Newton, that amounts to about $2.8 million.] In accordance with federal rules, these funds must be spent by December 30, 2020 for COVID-19 related expenses.
• $25 million available for remote learning technology grants through which the Commonwealth will provide a 100% state match to districts for their remote learning needs.
Much more in this document, including physical distancing requirements. Worth reading. And there are more guidance documents (e.g., athletics, transportation) to come in the coming weeks.
Matt Hills: Very tough choices ahead for Newton Public Schools | Village 14
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