Why I'm Disappointed in Phil Andrews

By Eric Luedtke. Eric is a classroom teacher in MCPS and a member of the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Education Association but writes here solely on behalf of himself

You may have read on the Washington Post’s Maryland Moment about the Wednesday evening meeting between County Executive Leggett, members of the County Council, and the executive boards of the county employee unions. I can tell you that the discussion was both very honest and very depressing. We have very real budget issues that we’ll need to address over the next few months. But I was encouraged at the fact that the meeting was taking place, and that the unions and our elected officials have agreed to keep open lines of communication and to work together on solving the budget difficulties. That gives me hope.

I was, however, deeply disappointed in Phil Andrews. The Post account notes that he was the only official present who described our salary increases as, “unsustainable.” It leaves out the full tenor of his remarks.

Before I go any further, let me say that I have deep respect for Phil Andrews. Growing up in Gaithersburg, he was my Councilman, and I’ve always appreciated his advocacy on behalf of average Montgomery County residents. But on the issue of the budget and public employee salaries, he is simply wrong.

Andrews says his belief that the salary increases should be cut or eliminated rests on the idea that the burden of solving budget difficulties should rest equally on taxpayers, recipients of county services, and county employees. The flaw in this argument is that cuts to the salaries of county employees are, effectively, reducing county services. Providing good services rests on our ability to recruit and retain good staff. This is true in the school system, in the police and fire departments, and in county government. High salaries are the reason we have been able to build a strong workforce across county government. And reneging on negotiated salary increases which help county employees to keep up with the cost of living in Montgomery County will undermine that workforce.

I’m a teacher, so I can speak to this best from the perspective of the school system. You may be surprised to hear this, but in Montgomery County, one of the best school systems in the country and one of the highest paying systems in the area, we never have enough teachers. In certain content areas, and most often in special education, the school system is operating under a permanent shortage. Even in the current hiring freeze, and more than halfway through the school year, the MCPS vacancy database currently lists more than a hundred unfilled full and part time teacher and para-educator positions.

There are a number of reasons for this shortage. But among the biggest is this: approximately one third of MCPS teachers leave within their first five years. Some leave because it is a difficult profession. Some leave because of other life choices. Many leave because even with the county’s commitment to good salaries, a commitment Councilman Andrews questions, the cost of living in Montgomery County is simply too high for many young teachers. So good teachers move and work elsewhere. Or they abandon teaching for a more lucrative profession outside of public service. Cutting employee salary raises will make this problem worse, and losing more good teachers undermines our ability to continue to provide a world class education for MCPS students.

But his flawed argument aside, what most offended me was Councilman Andrews’ condescending lecture to those of us at the table about what public service means. Sitting at a table with dedicated and hard working teachers, administrators, support service professionals, and county employees, and with the police officers and firemen who daily risk their lives for public safety, Councilman Andrews told us that public service is a “privilege.” The implication was that this privilege of public service should be more than enough for us, and that we should therefore humbly accept reduced salary increases. For people who have sacrificed the ability to become wealthy for the sake of careers in community service, this is a slap in the face.

I do feel privileged, every day, to work with the extraordinary and talented children that walk through the doors of my school. But that privilege doesn’t put food on the table. That privilege doesn’t pay my mortgage, which is a stretch on two teacher salaries. That privilege isn’t going to cover the thousands of dollars my wife and I will be paying for day care for our son, who is due at the end of March. Councilman Andrews is out of touch with that reality, the financial difficulties experienced by many of our public employees.

We have real budget problems in the County, and we face the difficult task of limiting the burden on taxpayers while continuing to provide high levels of services. The public employee unions get that, and will be sitting right there at the table working to find places to improve the county budget. But to attack the salary agreements of county employees in the media as if we are the reason for the budget problems is disingenuous at best. And to lecture public employees on the privilege of public service while ignoring the sacrifices they make to serve the public is simply arrogant. This is why I’m so deeply disappointed in Councilman Andrews. I expected better from him.