>There are and have been a bunch of obvious ways to save money that nobody wants to touch because they are too politically sensitive:
1. Increase class sizes by 10-20%. I had class sizes of 25-30 kids in the 60s and 70s.
2. Redistrict instead of expanding Ridge and Willard. It’s absurd tht we are spending a big chunk of the bond issue to expand those two schools when we just needed to shift the boundary lines a few blocks and put more kids into underutilized Orchard.
3. Take a hard line in the upcoming teacher negotiations. Demand higher teacher contributions for medical and other benefits. Initiate a differentiated wage scale under which we can pay lower-skilled positions, such as gym teachers, less than tougher-to-replace positions such as math and science teachers. Don’t cave when the teachers threaten to strike. The pain of a short strike will be worth the long-term savings generated for the taxpayers.
4. Figure out ways to save money on special ed, which is now over 20% of the BOE budget. It is an ultra-sensitive topic, but is the biggest line item in the budget after teacher wages and benefits.
