It’s been a rough school year for everyone all around in the Butler School District, and it became even worse with reports of teachers being furloughed.

The school board tells us that one of the only options to cut the deficit is to increase class sizes while cutting teachers. That may be true, but let’s make sure that’s a last resort instead of a convenient move for the powers-that-be.

When I say “powers-that-be” I am referring to the tax dollar waste the Butler Area School

District is engineering. Did you know the following:

- Interim Butler Area School District Superintendent William Pettigrew is being paid approximately $17,000 a month. You read that correct. How noble of him to accept this post-retirement “interim” position).

- Solicitor Tom King is being paid approximately $24,000 a month for school board counsel, including “emergency” Sunday evening meetings, which are deemed special overtime pay. (Again, it’s great to see the board and this law firm looking out for Joe Taxpayer).

- The board has hired a firm and is paying the firm $6,000-$26,000 to find the next superintendent. Really? Like we couldn’t find a group of qualified volunteers in Butler to come up with a good candidate for free? What a waste of money.

The spending is out of control, especially given the fact that most of the public does not know these facts. The Board has an “OPM” problem that is so prevalent in government. The Board is so careless with the money ... because it’s not their money. it’s OPM — other people’s money.

Cutting teachers who are barely making above $40,000 a year while paying an interim superintendent $17,000 a month is beyond ridiculous.

There are other factors sinking this ship, such as out of control pension and retirement packages for state employees, such as tenured teachers.

But, locally, in the here-and-now, the taxpayers of Butler are being shafted by the school board with the three bullet points you see above.