The School District and unions have reached a stalemate. Pegge Erkeneff with the District says they declared an impasse with teachers and support staff during their fourth bargaining meeting, held last Wednesday (April 15th).
Erkeneff: “The big issues for discussions always are compensations, employee benefits, healthcare and then the work environment that one or both sides want to address for possible revisions.”
The District’s one year contract offered to the unions in the FY16 budget included:
▪ Annual movement on the salary schedule for all eligible employees
▪ Certified employees (teachers) receive 1.78% – 4.82%. Average increase is 2.67%
▪ Classified employees (support staff) receive 3.44% – 12.35%. Average increase (after initial step in year one) is 4.12%
▪ A $500 signing bonus outside the salary schedule for all fulltime employees; a pro-rated signing bonus for part-time employees
▪ The addition of a high-deductible healthcare plan option added to the current traditional healthcare plan
Erkeneff said they’ll now turn to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, hopeful that an independent mediator can help both sides agree on what’s fiscally appropriate for the District and its employees.
David Brighton is the President of the teachers’ union (KPEA). He said educators continue to improve every year and their salaries should follow suit, despite the District’s current budget crunch…
Brighton: “Well I think that everyone’s hoping and a lot of experts would agree that oil prices will be coming back up in a year or two. So I think that it’s reasonable for government entities to do deficit spending to maintain a high level of service.”
School Board President Joe Arness said with the State cutting money from the Base Student Allocation and bonus one-time funding, raises in teacher salaries will have to come from cuts to other areas of the budget…
Arness: “It will have to be re allocated from something else, where it’s currently in use. The fundamental law of money is when you run out you can’t spend any more and we can’t.”
The District has previously indicated that their fund balance will be spend in one year if they keep their current budget and the State follows through on a $200 cut to the BSA.