Ongoing budget crisis

Since my last report the Negotiations Team has met several times. As the dust settles on recent events, the district still needs to address the concerns caused by and surrounding the ongoing budget crisis. We have scheduled negotiation dates into the summer. As things look at this moment, it doesn’t seem possible that we could close a contract this year. What does that mean to us? Let me begin by saying that we have a contract until June of 2003. Usually, we ratify an amendment to that contract with the business we’ve addressed as well as a salary increase. As you know, that did not happen. The tentative agreements made this year (as were explained in previous Negotiation News articles) will stay in a holding pattern for all intents and purposes, until we have a ratification. Until we vote on it, the contract has not changed. The existing Evaluations Article is still in full force and is unchanged. That means that you need one objective, 2 observations, and you have the option to write a 100 word summary of your evaluation if you choose to. You do not need to use the Standards for the California Teaching Profession, and should not use any form of test results as evidence of having met your goal. While we have put many hours into the rewriting of the evaluation article, it would be impossible to implement it for the 2002/2003 school year at this point, and you should anticipate hearing more about it for the following school year, prior to ratification. The salary schedules remain unchanged, and while there is much ado about the budget for the coming year, we have not closed negotiations on this year or next year. Regardless of what changes there are to the district’s budget, Step and Column increases are secure and the possibility of a raise, at some point, still exists. As we close the school year, it is frustrating to have so many unanswered questions about the budget at both the state and district level. Next year, we will be negotiating a limited contract, meaning that we can only open one article, the district can open one article and if BTA and the district agree, open as many articles as we agree on. When you receive the bargaining survey , it is important that you write up each of your concerns. We tally the surveys as a means of prioritizing issues. We will continue to work on behalf of teachers and children.