Teachers, board split on base pay increase
Staff writer
Teachers in Marion-Florence USD 408 won one, lost one and got a "no decision yet" on one other matter during a negotiating session with the board of education Thursday afternoon.
Teachers representing Marion-Florence Education Association sought a $600 per contract year increase in teachers' base pay. Both sides in the debate conducted several closed sessions Thursday, and teachers lowered their demand to $400, but the school board's final offer was a $200 increase.
Board member Bruce Skiles, heading the board's negotiating team, said, "I can't bring you four votes (out of seven) for 400 (dollars)." Skiles said the current economic situation was just too bad to justify that move.
Julie Trapp, representing the teachers, said, "I don't have the votes for (to accept) $200." That, plus an increase in health insurance costs, is "just too hard on families," she said.
Members of the teachers' negotiating panel, besides Trapp, are Roger Schwab and Gary Stuchlik.
The two sides were to meet again Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at the District's Central Office for further negotiations.
The board did agree to extend the early retirement window of opportunity for another five years, as teachers proposed.
Teachers said this could save the school district money because the cost of insurance and a new teacher is less than that for keeping a teacher who is high on the pay scale and who is eligible to retire but needs health insurance.
Teachers also asked the board to increase the sick-leave pay from $25 per day to $50, after 75 days of sick leave have been accumulated by a given teacher. The board declined, after discussing the proposal in closed session.
The teachers reasoned that this would save the district $20 per substitute per day and would reward teachers who have made an effort to be in the classroom. "Any time the teacher is in the classroom, the quality of learning is higher," negotiators wrote in a summary of their positions.
Teachers were asking for the $600 hike in base pay because, they said, it would:
— cover the projected increase in insurance costs and help to cover the cost of the increase in the co-pay amount, which, Trapp said, has doubled.
— make USD 408 more attractive to new teachers, assuring a high-quality teacher base.
— cover the inflation (cost of living) rise of 2 percent during the past 12 months.
Superintendent Gerry Henderson said the staff (teachers) was involved in creation of the new agreement, with final agreement pending Tuesday.
The deductible and co-pay amounts on the health insurance are increasing, in order to keep premiums at the same level as last year, he added.
Schwab, during a break Thursday while teachers waited for Skiles, fellow negotiating team member Gene Bowers (school board vice president), Henderson, and Martin Tice to emerge from a closed session, said, "We (teachers) have a good relationship with the board.
"It's always friendly, not at all adversarial." This is his third year as a member of the teachers' negotiation team.
About 30 teachers attended Thursday's meeting
