A group of playschool directors converged on city hall today to protest budget cuts made to their schools. Mayor Jón Gnarr said the cuts were a part of the collective bargaining agreement and should not have come as a surprise.
Although the city budget has been recovering, balancing it has still meant making spending cuts that otherwise would have spelled much higher taxes for city residents. How and where to cut has been a difficult decision for city council, and there have been no solutions to satisfy all parties.
Case in point: RÚV reports that a group of playschool directors, unhappy with cuts in the city budget to their schools, met at city hall to protest the new agreement with the city. Under the new terms, playschool teachers will not be paid for overtime.
Mayor Jón Gnarr responded that the cuts have a been a long time coming, and that in fact they will lead to pay raises for the teachers.
Ingibjörg Kristleifsdóttir, the director of the Society of Playschool Directors, says that there have been too many cuts made to their budget already – reductions in staff, combining schools, cutting back on sick days and now cutting out overtime pay have all put their strain on the schools.
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