Teachers’ union questions direction of budget talks

No layoffs proposed, but cuts in pay and benefits
discussed
by NATHAN WRIGHT, Staff Writer
Time may be running out for the Windsor Unified School District
to negotiate budget reductions with its teacher’s union. That’s the
opinion Pete Stefanisko, president of the Windsor District
Educators Association (WDEA), shared at the Feb. 3 meeting of the
school district’s Board of Trustees.
The district’s Board Budget Advisory Commit-tee is working to
develop specific recomendations for cutting $840,000 from next
school year’s budget. Some of the recommendations under
consideration involve items in guaranteed teacher contracts. If the
district is to implement the budget committee’s recommendations, it
will need to negotiate those reductions with the teacher’s
union.
“The district’s going to have to do some work to put it
together,” said Stefanisko. “We haven’t seen any specific proposals
for any of it.”
According to Stefanisko, the teachers union wants guarantees
that proposed cuts will be made up to teachers in future years if
the budget situation improves.
“We realize that we’re in a position where we could give up
something that is contractually protected, but that would be better
for the district,” said Stefanisko. “I would rather that they came
with a proposal with some details on what they’re actually
proposing. What worries me is in the last three years there’s been
very little of that.”
The budget committee is looking at several budget reductions
that would need to be negotiated. One such possibility is to freeze
the regular increase in pay to which each teacher is entitled from
year to year. If teachers agreed to a one-year salary freeze, the
district could pick up $382,000 for next school year’s budget,
almost half of the $840,000 it needs to cut to balance the
budget.
The budget committee has also discussed freezing for a year pay
increases that teachers receive for advancement in their own
education. There is less support for this proposal, and it would
save the district only $45,000.
Perhaps the least popular proposal is an adjustment in funding
for teachers’ medical insurance. In this recommendation, teachers
would pay more out-of-pocket for their insurance coverage, saving
the district as much as $439,000.
Also discussed was the elimination from the school calendar of a
paid teacher workday, yielding a savings of an additional
$70,000.
The four proposals, if fully implemented, would result in more
cuts than are needed, but Stefanisko said the impact on teachers
would be severe.
“I added up all the cuts, which could mean a 5 to 10 percent pay
cut,” he told the school board. “That’s a pretty significant cut.
My concern is that we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves in
this process. I would hate to see the BBAC (budget committee) spend
all this time meeting and have to start again at the
beginning.”
The school board hopes to finalize cuts by its March 2 meeting.
According to Stefanisko, the WDEA is currently scheduled to
negotiate with the district only one time before that meeting.
Board of Trustees President Sandy Dobbins asked at the Feb. 3
board meeting for more negotiating sessions, but Stefanisko said
none have been added yet.
“I’m trying to guarantee that if the negotiations fail that it
won’t be because of the lack of ideas or participation from the
WDEA,” he said. “We’re not just going to sit on the contract and
tell them to make cuts elsewhere.”
District officials would only say that the problem has been
broached, and talks will continue.