Budget Productivity Defined and Examined

Productivity is the increase in the number of services or products of the same quality delivered to the buyer, and/or the increase in the quality of the same number of services or products for the same or lesser cost.

Janet responded to my request for ideas to increase productivity by suggesting that Madison work with neighboring towns to “regionalize” appropriate services. An excellent idea. Two years ago the Madison Property Owners’ Association (MPOA) held a public forum on the topic of regionalization with presentations by guest municipal leaders who had successfully accomplished money saving projects with neighboring communities. Local leaders smiled and nodded their heads approvingly, but where are the follow up actions?  Recently, Madison and Guilford regionalized their Probate offices and services. However, that effort was mandated by the State, not a voluntary agreement initiated by the 2 towns. Combining individual local fiefdoms into a single entity utilizing the best practices and personnel of each is not easy, but it is possible for courageous and visionary politicians.

Sadly, here in Madison we have some examples of “reverse productivity” – in other words, “paying more for less.” The most egregious and costly example I believe to be the ongoing “glitch” in the Madison Teachers’ Contract which began over a decade ago and continues today. When Madison switched from the 2 semester system to the trimester system, one rule was not updated to fit the new trimester system – and the error has been continued in every contract since. Here is a quotation from a Madison’s Teachers’ Contract that has never been corrected.

“The following provisions shall apply for a trimester class schedule at Hand High School: ………..
1. No teacher shall be required to teach more than the equivalent of four (4) teaching periods per day in any given trimester.......
3. No teacher shall be required to teach more than ten (10) sections in a given year..........."

When the two semester system was in effect, the rule meant that a high school teacher would not be required to teach more than 5 classes per school day per semester. In the trimester system, the rule has been translated to mean that a teacher would not be required to teach more than 4 classes per day in any one trimester, nor to teach more than three classes per day in each of the other two trimesters. (For the mathematics of the change, see the explanation at the end of this blog)

The result of this “contract error” was immediate and devastating for taxpayers and students. High school teachers could teach several hours less per day for increased pay on the effective day of that contract and continue to receive annual increases in wages and benefits thereafter. Actions taken by the Administration to cover the unfilled teaching hours included: increasing class size, hiring less experienced additional teachers, and paying the continuing staff additional monies to “volunteer” to teach an additional class. Even worse was the possibility of an adverse impact on student performance. Shouldn’t this long lasting reduction in productivity at the high school be addressed before the town even considers adding full day kindergarten?

Why have Madison’s political leaders and voters allowed this to continue? Most voters probably don’t know about it (until now). The First Selectman at the time was concerned not only about the permanent budget increase, but about the lack of reasonable funding remaining for other projects. Eventually he believed it was not possible to confront “dug in” unions or to enlist public support for responsible productivity.

Regionalization and correcting past errors are just two ways to improve productivity and reduce Budget increases in Madison. Are there others? Respond to this article in PATCH and let us know your ideas.

Here’s the arithmetic of the reduced teaching hours for high school teachers as a result of the change to the trimester system:

In the two semester system the 180 day school year is divided into two 90 day semesters. A teacher was not required to teach more than 5 classes per day per semester. Therefore, a teacher taught 5 class periods per day times 90 days or 450 class periods in the first semester. And the teacher also taught 5 class periods times 90 days or 450 class periods in the second semester – for a total of 450 + 450 class periods equals 900 class periods for the school year.

In the trimester system the 180 day school year is divided into three 60 day trimesters. In the first trimester a teacher may teach 4 class periods per day times 60 days or 240 class periods. In the second trimester the teacher teaches 3 class periods per day for 60 days or 180 class periods. And in the third trimester the teacher teaches 3 class periods per day for 60 days or 180 class periods – for a total of 240 + 180 + 180 equals 600 class periods for the year.

So the "required" teaching load at the high school dropped from teaching 900 class periods per year under the two semester system to teaching 600 class periods per year under the trimester system.    This meant that additional teachers had to be hired to teach the 300 missing hours of each full time teacher, slightly offset by larger class sizes and by extra pay to teachers who volunteered to teach 4, 4 and 3 class periods instead of 4, 3 and 3 periods.