Everett Superintendent of Public Schools Gary Cohn (salary and benefits $301,000), says he plans to ask for a bailout from the state legislature when lawmakers meet in January.

The shortfall stems from a spending agreement he made with the Everett teachers union in negotiations that concluded in September.

The union pay agreement will boost District spending by $41 million in the coming year, by raising salaries by 20% for older teachers and by 8% for younger ones.  Average teacher pay in Everett, not counting the planned increases, is $87,000 for a ten-month work year, plus $30,000 in benefits, making Everett public school teachers among the highest paid in the state.

Now Superintendent Cohn says he plans to lay off clerical staff if he does not receive a bailout from state taxpayers.  This foreseeable and avoidable budget crunch was caused by the Superintendent’s apparent inability to manage his District’s $322 million budget.

The repeated and endemic budget crisis in many school districts, despite steadily rising revenues, helps explain why so many parents want alternatives to the narrow choices offered by traditional schools.  In response, popular charter public schools have opened in many areas, with more opening in coming years.

Expanding family choice in public education is the best way to reduce strikes, conflict and bailouts in public education, and to make sure children don’t end up stuck in schools, like those in Everett, that chronically short them on learning resources.