What are teachers allowed to bargain for?
The big three negotiable items are wages, benefits, and working conditions. Fortunately there are a lot of things that fall under these headings.
What are teachers asking for?
The top three items being negotiated for are curriculum, smaller class size, and less standardized testing. Surprising right? If you just watch the news or read the PSD updates, you would think all teachers care about is pay. However, salary and benefits don't even make the top three. Teachers are more worried about things that fall under the heading of "working conditions." It just so happens that a teacher's working conditions are also your child's learning conditions. What teachers are actually fighting for (and willing to strike for) are better learning conditions for your children.
But I thought teachers asked for an 11% raise?
This was a symbolic gesture meant to raise awareness of the legislature's failure to fund schools while giving politicians an 11% raise. It was meant to be a starting point towards a much lower pay raise. The district responded by offering a .004% raise. That's just four cents more for every thousand dollars earned. That's about ten cents a month. What kind of symbolic gesture is that on the part of PSD?
Will teachers still be paid if they go on strike?
The school year must be 180 days long. So whether it starts on September 1st or some later date, teacher pay will remain the same. Teachers are paid one twelfth of their annual salary every month. So they will still receive the same paycheck regardless of the number of days worked in September. Any days missed at the beginning of the year will be made up later on.
Will students be missing school?
If teachers decide to strike, this could delay the beginning of the school year. However any days lost will be made up at some point during the year.
Some smaller districts are able to carry on classes during a strike by hiring substitutes. This will not happen in Pasco. There are not enough subs to fill the jobs on a regular school day even with most of the teachers at school. There is literally no way PSD could find enough people to fill all of these positions if teachers choose to strike.
Won't it be difficult for parents who have the extra expense of daycare?
School is 180 days no matter what. Parents who usually rely on day care should still only need daycare for the same number of days, not matter when those 180 school days fall on the calendar.
Will teachers lose their health insurance?
Health insurance premiums are paid a month in advance. So September will be covered. Issues could arise if the strike lasts longer than a month. No one anticipates the strike lasting anywhere near that long.
Is a strike legal? Can teachers be fired?
Teacher's can not strike while under contract, but the current contract expires on August 31st. If a new contract agreement isn't reached by then, it is perfectly legal for teachers to strike. No teacher in Washington has ever been fired for going on strike. Leslie Caul of PSD made a public statement saying the current contract will still be in force after it expires. This is simply not true.
Can the district afford teacher demands?
Absolutely! PSD's own budget shows that far too much money is going to administrations jobs and pet projects, when it should be going to building more classrooms and buying textbooks. PSD has tens of millions of dollars set aside for things voters never approved.
What can we do to help this come to a resolution before a strike is necessary?
Call the school board members and Saundra Hill and ask them to negotiate in good faith. Let them know that curriculum, class size, and less testing matter to you.
Write a letter to the editor. Inform you neighbors.
Come to the budget meeting and learn for yourself what is going on.
Call a teacher and let them know you support their efforts.
Where you state "Can the district afford teacher demands?" the response to this is vague and lacks the details of some of the other details.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the pet projects, or at least a couple examples?
Can the district really afford to build more classrooms with the money they have right now?
How much money will it cost to build the classrooms the teachers want?
Is the district hiring just administrators and not new teachers?
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DeleteChad, these are great questions and I am going to attempt to answer them.
DeleteTo answer your first question, using the district’s own numbers,they actually have almost 22 million in reserves and 15 million in new money provided by the state and at the federal level this year. If you refer to Pasco school District’s final proposed budget for 2015-2016, by their own estimations at the end of the year and with all anticipated monies spent, there will be almost 19 million dollars remaining and still available. This budget anticipates spending much of what the teachers are already asking, so yes, there is more than enough to afford what the teachers are asking, even without considering the already existing reserve funds.
They actually have almost 22 million in reserves and 15 million in new money provided by the state and at the federal level this year.
You can see the district’s proposed budget here:
http://www.psd1.org/cms/lib4/WA01001055/Centricity/Domain/1014/Budget%20Workshop%20July%2028%202015%20Final%20for%20web%20site.pdf
To answer your second question, the first pet project that comes to mind is the currently proposed pre-school center proposed on the budget, indicated by Pre-K on page 19 of the budget proposal, under capital funds. In 2011, the district asked voters to approve a bond that had a pre-school center in the language, but this bond lost by over 50%. In 2013 the bond that did pass did not have a preschool on it. The district and school board have been talking about this project for years, even though the voters rejected it. At last glance, they asked Olympia for matching funds of 7.5 million (even though they have not indicated where our own 7.5 million are coming from) but were denied matching funds. They seem to have decided to build this school anyway. They will not give up on this idea, which is what we call a ‘pet project’. I also consider the multiple trainings and retreats done at the higher administrative level to be pet projects, as they have no obvious benefit for the students, except perhaps tangentially. I realize you may disagree with this, which is fine.
You can read the content summary of the bonds here:
http://ballotpedia.org/Pasco_School_District_Bond_Measure_(April_2011)
http://ballotpedia.org/Pasco_School_District_Facility_Construction_Bond_Proposition_(February_2013)
To answer your third question, yes and no, the district can afford the class space the teachers are asking for, but they may not have authorization to build them. On the yes side, the district is spending 3.5 million on several portables this year, to be placed at various school campuses. We can reason that if there is an additional 15 million dollars available in the capital funds project for a preschool, this money could instead be used for multiple portables, or, an additional 2 million could be spent to build another full K-6. This would alleviate the overcrowding and add classrooms the teachers want. On the no side, the school district should not start large capital projects without voter approval as that would undermine the bond process.
DeleteHowever, the process for reducing class size can actually be done without simply building more buildings. The administration simply has to manage current resources better.
To answer your fourth question, that is actually unknown. All Pasco schools are at or over capacity for the original design but the growth in pasco continues, and combined with the shortage of teachers, the actual number of new classrooms needed is not clear at the start of the school year. Though it becomes more clear throughout the school year, it still changes (usually up) year to year. Building new buildings for the currently enrolled students must be a priority to address this, in addition to obtain new staff and retaining the teachers already employed here. I know this doesn’t really answer your question, but this is the best I can do right now.
For your last question, the district is always hiring teachers. Last year over 70 teachers left the district. This year the number is already over 100. This high turnover, combined with the constant growth, means PSD is always, always hiring teachers. The problem is not that the district hires administrators not teachers, the problem is the number of administrators we have employed here, both relative to the number of teachers and the size of the district. Kennewick School district has 8 main administrators and Richland has 14. Pasco, by comparison has 23, with multiple undersecretaries and assistant administrators, with new positions being created year by year. We may argue that Pasco school district is larger than either Kennewick or richland, but it is not 64% larger than Richland, nor is it almost 300% larger than Kennewick. Additionally, Pasco is relatively poor compared to both of these other districts. The wise course would be to have fewer administrators who concentrate their duties to save funds. The opposite is true in Pasco, where duties are spread out through multiple assistant superintendents and other administrators, which seems to result in no one having authority or responsibility over their supposed areas of expertise, despite the relatively high salaries of these administrators.
Very good reply, thank you.
DeleteVery good reply, thank you.
DeleteI agree with Chad and I appreciate that he brought these points up.
ReplyDeleteSmaller class size doesn't have to mean build more classrooms. It could mean hiring more support staff to help lower the ratio of student to teacher.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDidn't the state already authorize a raise for all the teachers and this .004 is for an additonal raise from the district?
ReplyDeleteIsn't also true that the legislature has not received any COLA for 8 years and has NEVER received ANY step increases or education increases that teachers have been receiving all along? And isn't it true that a legislature, who is one of a few people shaping our State's direction, makes far less than an average teacher? And isn't it true that the legislature did not vote themselves raises, but an independent third party made the decision because Washington State legislature pay was so out of alignment with other states? Doesn't your so called "symbolic gesture" to "raise awareness" about a greedy legislature and your mischaracterization of teachers pay increases make your statement look more like a child's temper tantrum? Especially in light of the fact that teachers have been receiving step increases and education increases all along and are set to receive a COLA increase to boot? You would be hard pressed to find anyone in private industry who receives years of service increases + COLA increases + Educational increases. Also your statement about how it is the press that is making this about money carries no weight because your districts statement about the strike demands the increase - the signs from the strike this spring demanded "fair pay" - You can say it is symbolic but the rhetoric from the teachers does not back it up. If teachers are frustrated with common core, standardized testing, not being free to really teach (and I am sure they are) then don't muddy the waters with all the pay demands! Make it about that. But as long as everything is tied with pay increase demands I struggle to believe the "it's not about the money" rhetoric and I will struggle to believe the union is more for kids then it is about garnering as much money and power as they can.
ReplyDelete. As for class size the legislature provided an enormous increase to fund smaller class sizes through the 6th grade for this year. The money to do that has to come from somewhere and it comes from our collective pockets. As teachers have been stating for some time their salaries are very precious to them and they want the government to give them more. Well for those of us not in a government position it has also been challenging - we don't have automatic COLAS, or STEPS, or educational increases. And on average we make far less than the average teacher. We do not want more money out of our pockets to pay for more education. Money isn't the problem. We as a spent nearly 40% of our entire budget on education in this state far outpacing the national average and we just added millions more. I can't afford that - sounds like you can't afford that so maybe there is a better way. I support having education removed from the federal governments hands and limited state involvement. I support having authority placed in the hands of local people educating their kids. I support the de-emphasis of standardized testing and funding tied to results of standardized testing. I support teachers being given a wide range of freedom to be teachers and use innovative techniques and given some freedom to fail to truly educate our kids not just get them to pass a test. I support the revocation of No Child Left Behind and schooling that helps our children stretch themselves and be the best they can be rather than everyone reaching the lowest common denominator. And I encourage that we, the public, be way more involved in supporting our teachers in their jobs of educating our children by 1) encouraging our kids, grandkids, neighborhood kids to study well, respect their teachers and peers - it truly takes a village and intentional involvement with our kids or we are going to lose them. 2) Support your teachers by volunteering, helping provide for classroom supplies, sending a note of encouragement 3) Providing a wave of support for teachers who are voicing concerns around common core and intrusive government involvement. What if our teacher's hands were untied to be what they were truly meant to be - not standardized test givers but real educators seeking to bring out the best from every child they have opportunity to teach?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great questions. Dialogue is the only way to reach great solutions. I have tried to address as many of our concerns as possible and the answers can be found here:
Deletehttp://pascotruth.blogspot.com/2015/08/faq-teachers-vs-politicians.html
Thank you for all of the information. Your association has the support of many of us!
ReplyDelete