Bargaining Update 8 ---- 7.6.09

BarGAINing
SEA Bargaining Update No. 8
July 6, 2009

BARGAINING NEWS
The SEA and District Bargaining Teams met again on June 25th to exchange and discuss counterproposals. The teams reached agreement on a few more contract clean-up items, but the major issues in these negotiations remain unresolved. The chart below outlines the major differences in SEA vs. District positions on issues related to our three main bargaining goals. (SEA positions on the left.)

BARGAINING GOAL 1: Quality professional development and sufficient planning time to improve and enhance effective instruction

Maintain individual and grading time and provide paid collegial time VS. Increase administrative time and provide collegial time by reducing individual time
Maintain educator-selected professional development VS. Eliminate educator-selected professional development
Provide support for conducting and analyzing assessments VS. No additional support for assessments

BARGAINING GOAL 2: Resources and support to promote student achievement, including reasonable class sizes and caseloads

Increase High Impact/Inclusion funds to support struggling students VS. Eliminate High Impact/Inclusion funds
Maintain paraeducator support for Kindergarten classrooms VS. Eliminate paraeducator support for Kindergarten classrooms
Improve caseload and overload provisions for Special Education Programs VS. Decrease overload support for Special Education classes
Improve overload provisions for Music/PE specialists VS. No change to current contract language

BARGAINING GOAL 3: Fair, competitive compensation and benefits to attract and retain the best and brightest educators

Provide a locally funded LID (Learning Improvement Day) to provide essential non-student time for planning and professional development VS. Eliminate the LID day not funded by the state without adding a locally funded day and decrease SEA member salaries by .55% as a result
Maintain full pay and no loss of sick leave when injured at work VS. Require employees to deplete sick leave balances and provide less than their full salary when injured at work
Maintain a three-year limit on items in personnel files VS. Keep items in personnel files forever
Provide “average” TRI pay in comparison to 10 surrounding districts VS. Unwilling to improve TRI compensation

BARGAINING AND STAFFING CUTS
Some SEA members have been asking why it isn’t possible to bargain to hire our RIF’ed certificated and classified colleagues back, instead of asking for an increase in TRI. There are multiple answers to that question, a few of which are outlined below. It is also important to realize that, since the end of the legislative session in April, SEA leadership has consistently advocated for any necessary budget cuts to be made as far from the classroom as possible.

We have pointed out the types of cuts made in other school districts to avoid laying off teaching staff and suggested spending down some of the District’s $8.2 million fund balance. Nonetheless, District administrators made the decision to lay off teaching and classified staff. Those are not cuts that we can bargain back – there are certain things that are not ‘bargainable.’ However, we can, and we should, bargain the impact of those cuts. (Please also note: by the June 22nd School Board meeting, fourteen of our colleagues had been at least partially recalled; it is likely that more recalls will occur in August.)

 Some things are not “bargainable” – for instance, we cannot bargain that the District reduce administrative staff or make other cuts not related to our contract.
 There is no guarantee that money we don’t spend in bargaining will be spent on staff – we would have to “trust” that this would happen – and that those staff members wouldn’t be laid off again next year. For example, earlier this year, Vancouver firefighters gave up their bargained COLA to prevent layoffs; six weeks later, management decided their budget necessitated layoffs nonetheless.
 Class size and staffing is astronomically expensive – it must be addressed at the state level. Over $2.5 million worth of certificated FTE was cut due to the $3 million reduction in I-728 funds. Even if it were possible to bargain staff back, to reduce class size district-wide by just one student would cost about $1,250,000 - and there would be no guarantee for next year that this staffing would remain.
 Because of the many factors that go into staffing, “class size” is bargained through overload provisions. Our overload provisions are strong, compared to surrounding districts, and the SEA Bargaining Team has been working diligently to protect those provisions. Our compensation is not competitive for our area. SEA members’ salaries rank 10th and 11th of the 11 districts including and surrounding us.
 In our Listening Season and Bargaining Survey, SEA members identified a TRI increase as a strong priority for bargaining. Now that the District budget is strongly in the black, it is important to begin an effort to ensure that SEA members are paid comparably to our colleagues in other districts. We are professionals and deserve to be compensated accordingly.
 We cannot save educator jobs by taking a pay cut – which is what will happen if we do not receive a TRI increase, due to the loss of one Learning Improvement Day. We can ensure that when our RIF’ed colleagues return to Shoreline, they have a strong contract to return to. Moreover, making sure that dollars are going towards services to students and educator salaries – instead of building up the District’s End Fund Balance reserve account – is in the long-term best interests of society and our state’s economy.

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE SCHOOL BOARD
Please take a few minutes sometime this month to email the Shoreline School Board school.board@shorelineschools.org about why our bargaining priorities matter to you. Use the information in this update, and/or the attached talking points suggestions. Our strong turnout at the June 22nd School Board meeting sent a clear signal that these negotiations matter to all of us. Even though bargaining does not resume until August, it is important for us to keep up the pressure!

This Bargaining Update brought to you by the Shoreline Education Association Bargaining Team:
Liz Travis
Donna Lurie
Elizabeth Beck
Sondra Wilson
David Guthrie
Dani Pratt
Kevin Rodgers
Amanda Findley
Tim Nelson