As a retired educator, I take a keen interest in the welfare of town employees. I’m disappointed and concerned that our educators don’t have a new contract as we start the new academic year.
As I previously wrote to you, Belmont has been playfully described as the town with a champagne appetite and a beer budget. We have enough money for capital projects containing all the latest bells and whistles, but when it comes time to pay our town employees a competitive salary, those in positions of authority wring their hands in consternation. Why? Our town employees didn’t create the town’s fiscal situation; it was those in authority who did, and it is irresponsible for those in authority now to attempt to shift the fiscal rescue of the town onto our underpaid employees. Our rank-and-file educators are the reason why the Belmont Public Schools are so highly regarded and why they are so highly rated when compared to other schools in the commonwealth.
It defies logic to think talented educators will accept positions in the Belmont schools when they can earn far better salaries in neighboring communities. In addition to checking Belmont’s salary schedule, I have checked the educator salaries paid by Brookline, Concord-Carlisle Regional, Lexington, Lincoln Sudbury Regional H.S. (fiscal year 2025), Newton and Watertown (fiscal year 2025).
When I voted for the last override, it was not “to preserve our way of life” as one mailing I received in support of it stated. My overriding reason was so the town would have the necessary funds to pay our town employees, the bedrock of our quality of life, the competitive compensation required to survive economically.
Please end the unnecessary stalemate, a duplicate of the last round of contentious negotiations, when educators had to demonstrate at least twice before a contract was signed.
Richard Madden, Pleasant Street