BOE Recap: Staff Cuts Avoided After District Bargaining Units Renegotiate Contracts

A month-long discussion between administrators and the district's seven bargaining units has culminated in renegotiated contracts, which school officials said if ratified will allow the district to avoid staff and program cuts while staying under the two percent tax cap in the 2012-13 budget.

The district's proposed 2012-13 fiscal plan, which officials called a rollover budget, had an increase of about 3.2 percent. It needed to cut $1.5 million to stay under the two percent cap. School officials were prepared to cut staff — about ten teachers, ten teacher's assistants, a comparable number of aides as well as other positions — to get under it.

If ratified, school officials said the renegotiated contracts would save the district $1.4 million and avoid staff layoffs. Another $100,000 was cut from the budget after the Board of Education conducted its line-by-line review.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. William Johnson said the renegotiated contracts have not been finalized — bargaining units still need its constituents to agree to the new terms — but he is hopeful that it will get done by the end of March.

"I'm hopeful that the teachers and their leadership will reflect the same willingness of the bargaining units," he said.

If the units' constituents don't agree, Johnson said the district will move forward with staff cuts to get under the cap.

Johnson said there is two years left on the teachers' contract, and the renegotiated one would extend it for two more years. For it to be finalized, the teachers' bargaining unit would have to draft a Memorandum of Understanding then ratify it, he said.

Other bargaining units that Johnson said he hopes will agree to new terms and extend its contracts are the office staff, custodians, maintenance, security guards, teachers' aides and nurses. Each of those units are either in the final year of a contract or have one year left. To finalize the extended contracts, those units would also need an MOA and ratification. Johnson said the goal is to extend the contracts by three to four years.

The district's administration will also have a new contract for next year that will require an MOA and ratification by the unit, Johnson said, but it won't cost the district additional money next year.

When asked what the financial ramifications would be for each of the units if they agree to the extended contracts, Johnson said that "proportionality is the rule."

If all seven bargaining units ratify the new contracts, Johnson said the district will maintain its staff, programs and class sizes will stay at 25. He noted that even with new contracts, some staffing will be reduced through attrition.

If the district presents a fiscal plan that stays within the two percent tax cap, it would need 50 percent of voters to approve it. Under the new tax cap law, if the budget is defeated twice, the district must adopt a contingency budget with a zero percent increase.