mlea newsletter

8/4/2019 MLEA Newsletter

1/6

The Med ical Lake EA

Welcome back,everyone, to another year oflearning here in MedicalLake! We wanted to provideyou with this newsletter togive an update on the situa-tion surrounding bargaining

and the state budget, as wellas give you a reminder re-garding the members of theBargaining Team, your Build-ing Reps, and the MLEA Exec

Board.

The new construc-tion at MLMS and Hallettlooks great, and we wereable to get fair compensationfor all the teachers impactedby the projects. Compared tolast year there are only twoteachers who we werent

able to bring back to the Dis-trict, and in this era of layoffsand continual financial crisesthats something we can all

be proud of.

Around the stateweve seen teacher strikes inTacoma and Bellingham; theissues in Tacoma have takenthem into their 7th day out asI write this. Last week ourfriends out in West Valley

had an incredible turnout forone of their school boardmeetings, because like us

they are also working without

a contract right now.

The news out ofOlympia is pretty ugly, too, asthe state is faced with an-other enormous budget defi-cit. Theres a chance theymay call a special session tomake more mid-year cuts tothe schools, at which pointwe would all need to organizelike mad and make sure we

get heard by the legislature.

Its going to be an

interesting year for us all.Please look to your email, aswell as the blog for moreinformation, and know thatyou can always call me on mycell phone at 951-1290 if

you want to talk.

In solidarity,

Ryan

Volume 1, Issue 1

IT S A NEW SCH OOL YEA R!

September 20th, 2011

Special points of inter-

est:

Contract Negotiations are

Ongoing

The status of the 1.9% pay

cut is still up in the air.

We are holding to the

current language on classsize.

The next bargaining meet-

ing is September 29th.

YO U R B U I L D I N G RE P S T H I S YE A R A R E .

At Michael AndersonElementary: LindaPortwood and Melanie

Kilgore

At Hallett Elementary:Sharon Smith and

Sheila Overman.

At Medical Lake Mid-dle School: Terry Kingand Sam Petersen

At Medical Lake HighSchool: Vikki Hernvall

and Tim Martin

For Itinerant Staff andSpecial Services: KimBrock and Brenda

Baughman

Day 21Working WithNo ContractYour MLEA Execs Are:

President, Ryan Grant

Anderson Elementary

Vice President, Kate Mills

Medical Lake Middle School

Secretary, Carol Tyson

Hallett Elementary

Treasurer, Cheryl Spilker

Hallett Elementary


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Do we have a new contract yet?Regrettably, no. The two issues that are outstanding are related to class sizeand how to handle the 1.9% pay cut that was passed on from the state. Mostevery other issue that you may have heard about, from overload pay tochanging layoff language, has either already been agreed upon or removed

from consideration.

Wasnt the 1.9% pay cut from the state already settled? Why is that a bar-gaining issue?The painfully blunt answer is cowardice on the part of our elected officials.

When the legislature decided they wanted to cut teacher salaries in order tosave money, it quickly became apparent that they couldnt do that them-selves because it would be considered a cut to basic education and violatethe Paramount Duty clause of the state constitution. Instead of taking the hitand risking lawsuits they went ahead and cut the funding to the Districts, around-about way of washing their hands of the situation and giving Superin-

tendents around the state a giant headache.

Does the District have to make up the 1.9%, then?No. We actually have pretty clear contract language that our salary will followthe state salary schedule, which was adjusted downward. Thats the situa-

tion Central Valley is in, where all 700+ of their certificated staff are takingthe cut. Other districts have found a way to make it right by their teachers,

though, notably Cheney and Pullman.

What are the financial implications of the 1.9%, for both me personally andthe District as a whole?The folks who would feel the pay cut the most are those who are maxed outon the salary schedulefor you, the hit is about $1,200 a year. Those loweron the scale who are still seeing their step and lane increases will see less ofa dramatic impact on your base pay, but the difference between what youllsee and what could have been is between $700 and $1,200 dollars depend-

ing on where you are on the schedule.

For the District to make that difference up would cost about $100,000, ac-

cording to figures weve been given at the bargaining table.

Page 2

WH AT S G OI N G O N WIT HBARGAINING?

The two big

outstanding issues

are class size andhow to make up

the 1.9% pay cut.

Volume 1, Issue 1


3/6

But how would the District pay that money? Things are already tight, andyoure telling us theyre going to get worse.This is where the differences of opinion get stark. As of the August schoolboard meeting the unreserved fund balance was slightly more than $1.5million dollars. Were asking that they take $100,000 of that and spend it on

certificated staff.

Beyond that, though, weve also seen money come out of the general fund topay for construction and to pay for the purchase of the new Alternative HighSchool. Whats done is done, and most everyone would agree that the AHSneeded to be replacedwe would just like a sign from the District that people

matter as much as infrastructure.

But what would that do to the overall financial health of the District?It would be a hit, absolutely. Last year the state cut K-4 class size money, the

pittance that was left of I-728, made profound cuts to what they fund for al-ternative programs, and slid this Trojan horse across the table at the sametime. Feedback that Im getting from the WEA says that levy equalization(LEA) is at risk again, despite a committee that just looked at LEA saying itwas a great program. Further, at the Federal level, the deficit reduction com-mission that Patty Murray is chairing could take a whack at impact aid. If wewere to lose LEA and impact aid, its not overstating the issue to say that thefuture of the Medical Lake School District as a going concern would be

cloudy, at best.

Given all that, how can we possibly ask for the District to spend more?First, the termswere not asking them to spend more, were asking them tospend what they would have spent.

The District has tied the 1.9% to increasing class size, and thats the rub. Tocompletely make up the difference in lost salary would be about 25 hours ofper diem; the last offer we got from the Districts hired negotiator was for 14

hours of per diem, but only if we raised the class size caps.

What has the District requested regarding class size?The first, initial proposal was to increase class size in grades 2 through 6 by 2

students in each grade; they later came back and asked for kindergarten andfirst grades to be included in that as well, then dropped that request as thesummer bargaining sessions went on. Were we to accept their proposal,

those class sizes that would change are as follows:

Page 3

The District has tied the

1.9% to increasing class

size, and thats the rub.

2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6thCurrent 23 24 25 26 26

Proposed 25 26 27 28 28


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Would that be a permanent change?What was offered was a letter of agreement where the class size caps wouldbe raised for a period to be determined (it could be a year, it could be three

years) in return for the additional per diem.

What would the savings to the District be?Its hard to say. The average cost of a teacher in Medical Lake is $75,000. Ifraising class size allowed them to not hire a person, thats where the savings

would be.

But what about overloads? Could we potentially take the higher class sizes,and still be faced with overloaded classes beyond that?Yes. At this moment in the District we have 6 overloaded classrooms, plus anunbalanced combination class. The overload language isnt changing, so youcould conceivably be over your old limit by three or four students instead of

the two that are requested.

You mentioned the I-728 money earlier; Ive heard that the District used all ofit for class size reduction. Since it went away, doesnt it make sense thatclass size has to increase?Not really, no. The chart below shows you the history of the class size limits

in Medical Lake; the dark line after 1999 is when I-728 was passed, in 2000:

Page 4

WH AT S G OI N G O N WIT HBARGAINING? (CONTI NUED)

At this moment in

the District we

have 6 overloadedclassrooms.

Volume 1, Issue 1

1977 1981 1985 1988 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 PRO

Pre School 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13/20

k 25 25 25 25 24 23 23 23 22 22 22

1 25 25 25 25 24 23 23 23 22 22 22

2 27 27 27 27 25 24 24 24 23 23 23

3 27 27 27 27 26 25 25 25 24 24 24

4 32 30 30 30 29 28 28 28 25 25 25

5 32 32 32 32 31 30 28 28 26 26 26

6 32 32 32 32 31 30 28 28 26 26 26

7 and 8 32 32 32 32 32 31 30 30 30 30 30

9 through 12 32 32 32 32 32 31 30 30 30 30 30

PE 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40

Combos 24 23 23 23 23 23 23 23


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So what does that all mean?Since I-728 passed in 2000 class size limits have decreased, absolutely. The

trick is the where and the why.

Take 2nd grade, for example. The District is asking us to agree to allow 25kids in a classroom, but that not only takes us back to 1999, when the limitwas 24, but instead all the way back to the 1990 agreementa full decadebefore I-728. Its the same in third grade, where the ask is to allow 26 kids,

where we were 21 years ago, not the 25 that we had in the year before I728.

The other moving piece here is the overload language. Where some believethat the class size number is a hard cap, there are scores of instances whereindividual classrooms have gone over that number in every grade from pre-school to high school. In an environment where overloads happen, its hard

to look at class size as a factor that is bankrupting the District.

Compared to others, dont we have really, really good class size limits?Absolutely:

Class size is one of the things that makes Medical Lake special as a district,so the question becomes this: At what price would you be willing to sell it?The bargaining team has been operating on the belief that conversation

about class size can't even begin unless the full salary is in place, and eventhen it's a hard road to go down. Our responsibility is to bring you a contractthat you can ratify, and my sense is that the District hasnt made a proposal

that meets those needs yet.

Page 5

At what price would you

be willing to sell one of

the things, class size,

that makes Medical

Lake special as a

district?East Valley West Valley Central Cheney Mead

Medical

Lake

K 23 24 22 23 20 22

1 24 25 25 23 24 22

2 25 25 25 23 24 23

3 25 26 25 23 26 24

4 26 27 26 27 26 255 28 28 28 27 30 26

6 28 28 29 30 30 26

7 30 31 29 30 31 30

8 30 31 29 30 31 30

High School 30 31 or 31 32 30 31 30


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Did the District spend money on an outside negotiator?Yes. His name is Kay Frizzell, and hes been a management negotiator for anumber of years, working for a variety of school districts throughout the area.Hes also the superintendent of record for the Great Northern and Steptoe

school districts.

What are the next steps?Our next bargaining session with the District is set for Thursday, September29th. Were hopeful that at that meeting well be able to get the differencesthat we have remaining ironed out, then we can come to you the first week ofOctober with a presentation about the changes and get the agreement rati-fied well before the October school board meeting. If that meeting doesnt go

as well as planned, well have to re-evaluate where we are as an Associationand have a thoughtful conversation about what to do next.

What can I do?Keep in touch! Were posting updates when we can on Facebook, and if youhave any questions please ask the member of the Bargaining Team who is inyour building. Youre also always welcome to call me at the number I put on

the first page of the newsletter with any questions you might have.

Depending on how things go we may have to do some more organizing to

communicate our beliefs and get our message out. This could include writingletters, attending meetings, and other strategies as required. If the situation

suggests that more work is needed, youll hear from us!

As I said in the opener, its going to be a trying year. This Great Recessiondoesnt show any signs of letting up, and in a state where we couldnt evensustain a tax on soda pop the chance of additional revenue coming in is sus-pect, at best. As MLEA president I need your input more than ever, so if you

have thoughts and ideas Id love to hear them!

With thanks,

Ryan

Page 6

WH AT S G OI N G O N WIT HBARGAINING? (CONTI NUED)

The next

bargaining session

with the District is

set for Thursday,

September 29th.

Volume 1, Issue 1

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