Post by crudo on Sept 3, 2005 23:59:58 GMT -5
Empire board, teachers at impasse over raises
District says salaries highest in the county
By JOHN HOLLAND
BEE STAFF WRITER
Teachers in the Empire Union School District pressed their case for a pay raise Thursday night, but the board president said money is short.
Teachers and their supporters crowded the board chambers, warning that the district could lose valued faculty members if the pay lags.
"We seem to be taking giant steps backward instead of forward," said Teel Middle School teacher Kim Davis, vice president of the Empire Teachers Association. "We are now doing a more difficult job with less take-home pay."
The teachers have gone two years without a salary increase and are facing a stiff hike in contributions for health insurance, said David Loucks, the group's president and a teacher at Capistrano Elementary School.
The association represents the roughly 200 teachers in the district, which includes Empire and part of east Modesto. Its three-year contract expired June 30 but remains in effect as negotiations continue.
Board president Nicholas Bavaro said the district has lost substantial state funding because of dropping enrollment. He also cited increased expenses, notably for special education.
"Do we want to give our teachers a raise?" Bavaro said. "You bet. But we are not going to bankrupt the district."
He also said salaries are not "out of whack" with what other districts pay.
The discussion came on the same night the board heard a report on the state's Academic Performance Index. All seven of the district's schools gained from 2004 to 2005, some substantially.
Parent Jolynn Wilder cited the scores in asking the board to boost faculty pay.
"The teachers are doing an awesome job," she said.
Board member Ed Bearden said the district has the highest average salary for teachers — $59,928 a year — among all elementary school districts in Stanislaus County. For example, the average annual salary for teachers in the Sylvan Union School District is $57,516 and it is $57,241 for teachers in the Stanislaus Union School District, according to the state Department of Education.
This is a sign that Empire is retaining experienced teachers, who in turn are helping students raise the API scores, Bearden said.
The union and district have officially reached an impasse, so a state mediator will be called in, Loucks said.
He said some critics of recent union picketing have claimed wrongly that teachers are seeking a 9 percent raise. This figure, he said, refers to an inflation-based increase in state funding to the district, and teachers are asking for only part of it, to boost pay and trim health insurance costs.
District says salaries highest in the county
By JOHN HOLLAND
BEE STAFF WRITER
Teachers in the Empire Union School District pressed their case for a pay raise Thursday night, but the board president said money is short.
Teachers and their supporters crowded the board chambers, warning that the district could lose valued faculty members if the pay lags.
"We seem to be taking giant steps backward instead of forward," said Teel Middle School teacher Kim Davis, vice president of the Empire Teachers Association. "We are now doing a more difficult job with less take-home pay."
The teachers have gone two years without a salary increase and are facing a stiff hike in contributions for health insurance, said David Loucks, the group's president and a teacher at Capistrano Elementary School.
The association represents the roughly 200 teachers in the district, which includes Empire and part of east Modesto. Its three-year contract expired June 30 but remains in effect as negotiations continue.
Board president Nicholas Bavaro said the district has lost substantial state funding because of dropping enrollment. He also cited increased expenses, notably for special education.
"Do we want to give our teachers a raise?" Bavaro said. "You bet. But we are not going to bankrupt the district."
He also said salaries are not "out of whack" with what other districts pay.
The discussion came on the same night the board heard a report on the state's Academic Performance Index. All seven of the district's schools gained from 2004 to 2005, some substantially.
Parent Jolynn Wilder cited the scores in asking the board to boost faculty pay.
"The teachers are doing an awesome job," she said.
Board member Ed Bearden said the district has the highest average salary for teachers — $59,928 a year — among all elementary school districts in Stanislaus County. For example, the average annual salary for teachers in the Sylvan Union School District is $57,516 and it is $57,241 for teachers in the Stanislaus Union School District, according to the state Department of Education.
This is a sign that Empire is retaining experienced teachers, who in turn are helping students raise the API scores, Bearden said.
The union and district have officially reached an impasse, so a state mediator will be called in, Loucks said.
He said some critics of recent union picketing have claimed wrongly that teachers are seeking a 9 percent raise. This figure, he said, refers to an inflation-based increase in state funding to the district, and teachers are asking for only part of it, to boost pay and trim health insurance costs.