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Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance Discussions public emp benefits editorial 10-9-2009 Editorial: Right-size benefits School districts can sell tax levies by promising to curb overgenerous benefits Friday, October 9, 2009 2:55 AM Most of the school districts asking voters for more tax money on the Nov. 3 ballots could have a powerful, persuasive tool, if only they would choose to use it: a pledge to bring their employees' pay and benefits in line with the marketplace. Like the consultant's study that showed Columbus city employees have far more-generous health and pension plans than most private-sector employees and employees of similar cities, a Dispatch analysis on Monday showed that Franklin County school districts are similarly generous with health-care benefits. Four of those districts -- Reynoldsburg, South-Western, Westerville and Worthington -- have tax requests on the ballot. Seventeen more school districts in neighboring counties also have placed issues on the ballot. All four of the districts in Franklin County offer health-insurance plans significantly more expensive than the average among central Ohio employers. Yet school employees pay far less out of their own pockets for those policies than the average central Ohio worker pays for less coverage. In many districts, most famously South-Western, voters repeatedly have turned down levies and programs have been cut to the bone, leaving students without school buses, sports and extracurricular activities and with larger classes and fewer courses from which to choose. Some teachers' and administrators' organizations have agreed to wage freezes, but many of those still enjoy increases in their paychecks, because of provisions that mandate automatic pay increases tied to years on the job. Many voters who don't work for school districts, meanwhile, have lost jobs or benefits or have had their pay frozen or cut in the past year's recession. These Ohioans understandably are unimpressed with school districts that won't make comparable cuts. School-employee benefits can't b -By Columbus Dispatch 10/9 |
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