The recent and seemingly resolved dramas regarding Pine Bush's teachers' union and school budgets have brought a number of important and interesting issues to light in terms of the Ellenville Central School District, which will have to renegotiate a contract with its teachers early next year.

Pine Bush is struggling with some similar issues, such as an overwhelmingly residential tax-base as opposed to a commercial one, leaving families to pay most of the tax, and a strong union that has negotiated a lucrative baseline over the years, providing its teachers with good salaries and benefits. While Pine Bush schools have a budget of over $100 million, as opposed to Ellenville's $43 million, the largest piece of both budgets are the same: teacher's salaries and benefits.

Paradoxically, the people of Pine Bush are further along in their revolt than Ellenville � paradoxical because Pine Bush residents are demonstrably better off economically than residents of Ellenville. Their budget was nearly rejected; the vote was so close that just 14 mail-in ballots made the difference. Pine Bush's teachers have been without a contract for over a year, which is an indication of how secure the School Board feels in not giving in to union demands. A settlement was finally reached after an all-night marathon negotiation session held before the threat of a looming job action. Clearly, the community is expressing its displeasure with an out-of-control expense.

The demands seemed modest � a 4% raise requested by the union, a 5% contribution to health insurance expenses proposed by the district. In a community where the typical family is on relatively stable financial ground, such changes can be tolerated, and so a compromise was reached.

But here's a big difference: the median Pine Bush teacher's salary (at around $63,000) is nearly the same as the median family income for a Pine Bush School District resident. In Ellenville, however, the median teacher income is much greater than the median family income � by over 50%. One would think Ellenville School District families would be up in arms over such a large disparity. Perhaps the strain of economic distress in Ellenville is so great that the effort to protest cannot be made.

Next spring, ECSD will have to negotiate a new contract with its teachers, and will possibly have to decide how much more to pay them. Without a substantial turnaround in the fortunes of the area, forcing residents to pay some of the highest-paid workers in the community even more will be unfair, and might finally inspire the community to express itself at the ballot box.

There's no doubt that quality teachers deserve quality compensation. But as long as the compensation is paid for by the community, it should reflect in some way the economic status of the families they serve. The average income of many in the community is declining, and people are losing their health insurance because employers can no longer afford it. While a pay cut may certainly not be in order, it may prove prudent for administrators and teachers alike to think long and hard about the impact large pay increases bring upon taxpayers, and prevent the acrimony in Pine Bush from moving further west.

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