Report from General Membership Meeting
Holland teachers given “great news” during district financial update presented at their March 18 General Membership meeting.
The Holland Education Association leadership has recently completed a thorough analysis of the Holland Public Schools audits, as well as completing a comprehensive analysis of teacher costs. The results of this work were shared with the teachers of Holland in a meeting held on Tuesday, March 18.
At this meeting, the Holland teachers were shown how the economic and financial conditions that have plagued HPS in previous years had been successfully managed and overcome thanks to the board’s decision to abandon the highly unpopular “Focus School” concept and reorganize the district prior to the 2006-2007 school year.
“The fruits of that decision by the board are paying off,” said Charles Bullard, Holland Education Association president. “Instead of continuing to be the victims of a declining enrollment trend in Holland, we are now grasping with that reality in a responsible way and accepting the fact that HPS has to adapt to its changing conditions,” said Bullard.
The result of this is a reduction in the escalating non-instructional costs that had occurred over the previous several years. This 5.7% reduction amounts to annual savings of well over $2 million dollars.
The best news of the meeting came when the HEA chief negotiator, Jon Toppen, showed the teachers how the average settlements in Ottawa county for the next 2 years could be obtained in Holland while growing the district’s surplus savings to one of the highest in the county by the end of the 2009-2010 school year. “The taxpayer surplus could easily be as much as 20-22% of revenue by then,” said Toppen. “This figure reflects continued enrollment decline, projections for funding, and insurance costs that the district has concurred with,” he said.
Teacher Patti Arndt said she had always known that better times would eventually come for HPS. “It sure is nice to know that I and my colleagues shouldn’t have to expect a long drawn out struggle with negotiations this year,” she said. Adding, “what a refreshing change this is for our community, our students, and the new beginning we look forward to with Brian Davis.”
The media is encouraged to contact Jon Toppen, HEA chief negotiator for a personal review of the financial information presented to HPS teachers.
