The East Providence School Committee and teacher's union are locked in a battle that affects the City's future and has ramifications for labor agreements across the the state.  The current teacher contract has expired and the school committee has decided to have teachers pay 20% of their health care (up from 0%), end payments of $5,100 for those who don't receive health care, and cut salaries by 5%.  Not surprisingly, the teachers are angry.  The City and union also had an arbitrator attempt to settle the disagreement, but the school committee rejected the proposal.  The case will now be decided in court.

     According to East Providence Mayor Joe Larissa, there aren't many options. 

“East Providence is flat broke,” Mayor Joseph Larisa said, adding, “The options left are a crazy 15 to 20 percent property-tax increase against our hard-hit taxpayers, bankruptcy or finally setting reasonable and fair compensation for all school employees. There is no fourth option.” 

     First, property tax increases are capped at 5%, so a raise of 15% or 20% wouldn't be permissible.  Even if it was, you would probably end up facing a well-deserved tax payer revolt.  As for bankruptcy, that would result in contracts being voided, which would probably result in major concessions from teachers.  It looks like there is an excellent chance that the overly generous benefits are over for East Providence teachers.  The question is whether this change will be the result of a court decision or a bankruptcy.

    Finally, I would like to address a quote from today's Providence Journal. When School Finance Director Jerome Baron talked about the district's $4 million deficit, someone shouted that it was from, "poor management".  They are absolutely correct.  The teacher's contract deserves all the criticism it has received, but we must remember that East Providence agreed to it.  I'm hoping the City is ultimately successful, but in the end, we must remember that they brought this problem on themselves.



Providence Journal 1-14-09
http://www.projo.com/news/content/EAST_PROVIDENCE_SCHOOLS_01-14-09_3QCV103_v27.40c2d3f.html

Providence Journal Editorial 1-13-09
http://www.projo.com/opinion/editorials/content/ED_eastprov13_01-13-09_4SCS40J_v12.3f12b97.html