SEA President Expresses Teachers
Frustration that School Board's Salary Proposal Does not Value Teachers
September 30, 2008
Click below to watch Eyewitness News
9 Story:
Negotiations Update
September 22, 2008
Several teachers have called the SEA Office to express their
frustration and anger about the information shared in the article that appeared
in Sunday's Orlando Sentinel titled, "Florida superintendents make impressive
salaries - they insist they are worth it."
Click here
to view the article.
As you will recall, the salary increase that Dr. Vogel
received this year has been an issue for us since our very first bargaining
session and was raised in our opening session. His cost of living raise, as well
as his "leadership bonus", continues to be an issue at the bargaining table. The
SEA Bargaining team is frustrated and disappointed that the School Board does
not value and appreciate teachers enough to settle our contract NOW.
We are preparing a counter salary proposal this week and will
return to the bargaining table on October 8, 2008. We will submit a salary
proposal that is mindful of the financial crisis we are in; however it values
and prioritizes teachers as the most critical resources we have. We believe the
district can comfortably afford to settle the contract and do so now. It is our
hope this will happen when we meet on October 8, 2008.
We thank you for your continued support of our efforts on
behalf of all teachers.
Negotiations Update
September 19, 2008
The SEA Negotiations Team did
negotiate with the School Board on Tuesday, September 16 as scheduled. We
received a salary proposal from the School Board. The School Board’s latest
salary proposal results in absolutely no salary increase for teachers this
year. While this, in and of itself, presents a huge problem for the
Negotiations Team, our greater concern is what the School Board’s proposal does
to the current salary schedule and how it impacts teachers’ future earnings and
retirement.
Due to Florida State Statute,
any teacher hired into Seminole County must be placed on a salary step that
reflects their actual years of experience. In an effort to not place any
teacher hired from outside the district higher on the SEA salary schedule, the
School Board’s proposal lowers the value of our salary schedule at every step -
a salary schedule your SEA Negotiations Team has worked diligently to improve
over the past few years.
To be specific, the School
Board’s proposal advances all teachers on the salary schedule, but the value of
last year’s step goes with you. For example, Step 8 last year was worth
$39,355. Step 9 this year will be worth $39,355. This is true throughout the
proposed salary schedule except for Step 0 and Step 1. The School Board is
proposing to pay teachers with one year experience the same as teachers with
no experience - yet another significant problem for SEA.
To view a copy of the School
Board’s salary proposal,
click here.
By lowering the value of the
actual step, teachers lose significant compensation over their career. Here are
two examples.
- Step 8 to Step 9 loss is
$688 this year. This will impact you until you leave SCPS. In addition, any
future negotiated salary increases on this $688 is lost.
- For those of you going
from step 26 to step 27, the impact is a loss of $3845 this year. If you
were planning to go into DROP after 30 years, this delay also lowers your
retirement. For example, if we are only able to negotiate a 2.5% increase
until year 35, this becomes an income loss of $4802.
Your SEA Negotiations Team will
be working this next week to formulate a counter proposal with the necessary
arguments to support the need to ensure a fair and equitable salary increase; a
salary increase that values and recognizes all that teachers do to keep SCPS a
high performing school district.
As
always, we will keep you posted and we thank you for your continued support.
Negotiations Update
September
12, 2008
Last evening SEA, along with the
three Education Support Professional (ESP) locals, returned to the bargaining
table in a joint session. Prior to school beginning this year, both the
School Board and SEA did agree to postpone salary discussions until both sides
felt they had a better handle on the current financial situation given the
significant budget cuts from the state. All other critical issues, most
importantly medical insurance, were agreed to prior to this decision to postpone
salary discussions.
Last week, after careful
consideration, SEA did issue a request to return to the bargaining table.
We did so based on two indicators:
-
The 2008-09 student
enrollment numbers are higher than projected. While we are still down
from last year, we are over six hundred students up from the projected
figure. This decline has been budgeted for by the School Board, and we
believe it should now be made available to settle employee contracts.
-
SEA does not believe the
"soft freeze" on non-teaching positions is being implemented as was promised
during negotiations and budget discussions. When the decision was made
to postpone negotiations, it was made with the understanding that only
"critical and essential" administrative positions would be filled until the
district's budget was finalized. Since this agreement was made, at
least three administrative vacancies have been posted and will be filled.
Two of these positions are at the Educational Support Center and one is at
Maintenance.
For a copy of our request to
return to the negotiations table,
click here.
For a copy of the current
student enrollment, click here.
While the School Board in its
presentation last night did affirm that the student projection numbers are up,
they expressed caution and would not commit to this increase until the October
student count. When questioned about the administrative positions
being posted and filled, they stated these were ‘critical and essential’
positions. We disagree particularly in light of the School Board’s
expressed concern to meet class size requirements. When we evaluate the number
of positions that were cut this year and have not and will not be filled,
coupled with the number of employees who lost their jobs and/or were not allowed
to extend DROP, we are not convinced these positions are essential and we
contend they should not be filled until employee contracts are settled.
Business as usual for school
board initiatives at the expense of all our employees is unacceptable to us.
Increased classroom student load and the continuation of hiring non student
contact personnel has become an issue we can no longer ignore.
In good faith we will return to
the table next week. We will expect a salary proposal from the School
Board.
As always, we will
keep you posted and we thank members for their continued support.
Open Message from Andy Ford, FEA President
and
Gay Parker, SEA President
September 4, 2008
Yesterday, in a unanimous decision, the Florida Supreme Court
ordered Amendments 5, 7 and 9 removed from the November ballot. I believe it is
important that you know without question that FEA and our national affiliates
(NEA & AFT) invested significant time, energy and a majority of the financial
resources utilized in fighting against these amendments. As your President, I
served as the lead plaintiff in the case which was formally known as "Ford et
all v. Browning et all". FEA's counsel, Ron Meyer and NEA's Bob Chanin did a
fantastic job and argued eloquently against Amendments 7 and 9, resulting in the
Court's reversal of the lower court's prior ruling. While we are certainly
pleased to have been joined by Florida's other educational associations in this
suit, it's important that public school teachers and education support
professionals get the recognition that they deserve for leading the fight
against the anti-public education forces that are committed to tax-payer funded
private school voucher schemes. Because of the financial commitment you make to
your union, we are able to fight for you, your fellow educators, students and
all of Florida's citizens in support of strong public schools. Politicians and
other elected leaders should take note of the fact that Florida's teachers and
education support professionals will fight for the principles which we stand
for… in the court of public opinion or in a court of law.
For now, the battle is over. In the coming days, the Court
will issue a complete opinion. There are no further appeals. We won.
There is still much work to be done. Our focus will now shift
toward candidate races as we seek to build a pro-public education majority in
the House and Senate. The work we do between now and November will determine
whether we enter the 2009 legislative session, 2010 election-cycle and 2011
legislative redistricting in a position of strength or weakness. We have
momentum and it's important that we carry it forward to victory. Yesterday was a
good day for Florida's teachers and education support professionals because of
you and the hard work that you do each day in the classroom and for your union.
Negotiations Update - Movement in the Right Direction
August 13, 2008
After several hours of discussions back and
forth yesterday between the School Board and Association Leadership,
significant movement was made toward achieving a contract for the
2008-09 school year. The following joint statement reflects the
cooperative agreement reached among all parties.
Joint Statement Regarding Current Negotiations
Dr. Bill Vogel, Superintendent
Gay Parker, SEA President
Betty Bailey, SECA President
Craig Hopes, NIPSCO President
Ora Lee Alexander, School Bus Drivers’ President
On Tuesday, August 12, 2008 in a cooperative
approach, it was agreed between the School Board, SEA, SECA, NIPSCO
and the School Bus Drivers’ Association to temporarily suspend the
current compensation/salary negotiations until a date to be
determined prior to winter break.
Due primarily to revenue reductions from the state of
Florida, the school district has experienced a significant budget deficit this
year of approximately $29 million. This, coupled with financial uncertainty due
to notice from the Commissioner of Education, Eric Smith, that further
reductions of approximately $8.8 million are anticipated, has made it very
difficult to achieve a salary agreement in negotiations.
It is our hope that once this uncertainty is resolved all
parties will know what the financial reality is for SCPS and an agreement can be
reached that values all our hard working employees.
Further, late yesterday afternoon, a tentative agreement was
reached regarding health insurance for this year. The School District will
continue for the 2008-09 school year to fund all eligible employees at the
United Health Choice Option 2 HMO level. This is the same option that was fully
funded for employees in the 2007-08 school year. Open enrollment meetings will
be scheduled at all schools and work sites soon.
As always, information regarding SCPS budget as well as
negotiations will be provided to employees in a timely fashion.
On behalf of both the School Board and Association
Leadership, we thank you for your continued support of our efforts during these
challenging financial times and wish you all a productive start of school.
Click
here for a copy of the official agreement reached on August 12,
2008.
