Brecksville-Broadview Heights Board of Education Election 2011: Mike Ziegler

Editor’s note: As part of Brecksville Patch’s local election coverage, we will provide profiles of each candidate running for office. These profiles will include biographical information and other relevant details to help the voters make informed decisions. For more election coverage, check our and like our Brecksville Elections page on Facebook.

Name: Mike Ziegler
Age: 58
Occupation: Retired; previously the CEO of Valley National Gases
Education: Valley Forge High School, bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University, master's degree in Industrial Administration/MBA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University
Political Affiliation: Republican
Office Sought: School Board Member
Previous Political Office Sought or Held: None

Candidate Statement:

Mark Dosen and I are running together as a reform slate, and our positions are stated in great detail and with supporting documentation and explanations at www.markandmike4sb.com. In summary:

Our Goals

• Avoid further staff reductions and improve our financial position through reasonable shared sacrifice
• Establish long-term sustainability by reforming the compensation system
• Work to eliminate the need for new tax levies
• Increase the level of transparency
• Maintain our heritage of educational excellence

The Financial Challenge

• Despite over $6 million in cuts, reducing overall expenditures continues to be a challenge
• Revenue is declining, mainly due to reductions in state funding
• We are deficit spending (expenditures exceed revenues) and using our $10 million cash balance to cover the gap
• Since November 2009, voters have been unwilling to raise taxes

Our Financial Solution -- Labor concessions before new taxes

STEP 1: 6 percent COLA Rollback

• All district staff received 3 percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increases in both 2008-09 and 2009-10 for a total of 6 percent
• Although the Board approved these raises before the recession began, they did so knowing that new tax increases would be needed to pay for them
• With the onset of the recession in the beginning of 2008, most people and even the teachers union acknowledged that these raises were an ill-timed mistake

STEP 2: Two-Tier System

• The main reason costs cannot be brought under control is the speed at which salaries increase
• Most of our teachers "step out" (achieve the highest or near highest salary level possible) in 15 years (one of the quickest in the state) and then remain at those levels until they retire
• A strategically designed two-tier system could put newly hired teachers on a different, more gradual salary schedule resulting in significant long-term savings

STEP 3: Small, Short-Term Tax Levy

• The "STEP 1: 6 percent COLA Rollback" will not generate enough savings to fix our short-term deficit spending issue
• The "STEP 2: Two-Tier System" change will yield tremendous savings over the long-term but will not help much in the short-term
• After securing concessions from labor, the taxpayers will need to share in the financial sacrifice by passing a small, short-term levy to "bridge the gap"