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Monday, May 3, 2010 | 5:47 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Recruiting blitz on even as teachers await layoffs (4-27-2010)
- Clark County teachers sweating out the budget crisis (4-22-2010)
- ‘Almost catastrophic’ budget cuts on horizon for Clark County schools (4-22-2010)
- Clark County teachers face peer pressure on furloughs (4-9-2010)
- School Board rejects moving schools to nine-month calendar (3-26-2010)
- Year-round schools could face calendar shift to save money (3-16-2010)
- Teachers resist increasing pressure to accept pay cuts (2-5-2010)
- Budget crunch puts shorter school year, teacher pay cuts on table (2-4-2010)
- Gibbons: School districts should brace for 10 percent cuts (2-2-2010)
- State budget comes up $800 million short (1-22-2010)
- State budget director: Prep for another 10 percent cut (12-15-2009)
Sun Archives
Beyond the Sun
The Clark County School District has hammered out a tentative, three-year agreement with the support employees’ union that both sides say will save jobs in the midst of massive budget cuts.
In a memo sent today to the School Board and central office administrators, Superintendent Walt Rulffes said a deal was close to being finalized with the Education Support Employees Association, representing more than 11,400 custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, clerical staff and other support employees.
The deal calls for freezing salaries and delaying step increases that otherwise would have been mandated by contract. The district and the union also agreed to use the existing ESEA medical contribution fund to cover a half-percent increase in the cost of employee retirement contributions as well as increased medical costs for current workers.
In the memo, Rulffes also indicated that the district was close to an agreement with the teachers’ union, which represents the majority of Clark County’s more than 18,000 licensed personnel, accounting for 67 percent of the district’s personnel costs. Similar to the agreement with the support employees, the CCEA deal would call for the Teachers’ Health Trust to cover any increased cost in medical benefits.
If the two deals are finalized, it would take care of $25 million of the remaining $28 million budget shortfall for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins in July. The district has already announced plans to cut $117 million through a variety of means, including increasing class sizes. Additionally, the district expects to save $13 million in general fund costs by converting its 76 year-round elementary schools to nine-month calendars.
In a letter posted on the union’s Web site, ESEA President Belinda “Bo” Yealy said the only cost to support employees would be the short-term freezing of the step increases.
“No salary cuts or furlough days!” wrote Yealy, using capital letters for emphasis.
Because of the change to nine-month calendars, which takes effect in August, some support employees will be reassigned to new positions. But the large-scale reduction in force that took place last year – affecting more than 400 support employees – won’t be repeated, wrote Yealy.
Rulffes told the Sun he believed the public – as well as state legislators – would be appreciative of the willingness demonstrated by teachers and support employees to “share the sacrifice.”
Negotiations are still ongoing with the union representing the district’s 1,300 school administrators and the union representing the 160-officer School Police department, which combined equal about 5 percent of the district’s workforce of more than 38,500.
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The only way to "share the sacrifice" is a state tax on all everyone with a job. A small 1-2% tax.
The superintendent is still "two-stepping" around the compensation that he gave to the "fab 5". Why give bonuses to the people who are the farthest from the classroom? it still stinks Walt!
the kids sacrificed...
the kids lost...
period...
end of story...
wait til next year...
your pound of flesh will be due!!!
fire the fab 5!!!
Kudos to the Trustees and the union for reaching a compromise. Let us hope for the sake of the community at-large, the other governments will follow suit.
Brian, since the founding of this country the school system has always cried for more money. Poor test results, not enough money. Poor graduation numbers, not enough money. Poor SAT score, not enough money. Funny how 50 years ago the per student spending on a per capita basis was 1/4 of what it is today, and yet they graduated much smarter and much more respectable well behaved students.
More money is not the answer. Raising taxes is not the answer. I have a fundamental belief that we already pay enough in taxes. They need to quit wasting the tax money on worthless programs and administrators.
School systems have cried for more money because they have been "since the founding of this country...", underfunded. 50 years ago parents sent students to school ready to learn. Today an unfortunate majority of students arrive at school with attitudes similar to Noindex's. Like Noindex stated, high scores or low, schools haven't had enough money since our country's founding. Why do schools need to cry for funding? What are those crying school systems crying for? Give schools money, what will it hurt? The future of our nation's youth? Hey Noindex, you sound like a Boston Red Sox fan crying about a marked difference in World Championships between the Sox and rival New York Yankees. Maybe you're right, it's not fair, the Yankees spend money and win. Would it hurt if education followed suit? Spend money, higher the best talent, achieve at the highest level. Stop whining, stop putting education on a back burner so you can save a few tax dollars.
Whoever was the jackass do gooder who created the concept of "free and appropriate public education"(FAPE) can take responsibility for the demise of public education. It basically made it "a right" (liberals like to call everything their right... what a joke) for students and parents to abuse and take for granted the public education system. You could pay teachers a million dollars a year and the same students would be flunking out because either they just don't care, or they come from unbearable living situations where they are forced into survival mode not learning mode when they arrive at school. Alot of parents, not all, act like teachers are their kids babysitters, so until the parents have to "put up or shut up" it will be difficult, if not impossible to stem the tide of low graduation, high drop out, and poor test results...and it's NOT because teachers don't care, most of them do more than the parents and students but they are not miracle workers. I don't like to be so pessimistic, but if you have any actual classroom experience in many parts of Clark County you would know what i am talking about unfortunately. People and politicians have no clue when they run their mouths about reforming public education. I say to them "get in the classroom if you think you can do better"....OR SHUT YOUR TRAP you don't know jack
Any organization is only as good (or as bad) as the people belonging to it. The CCSD is no different. You've got hispanic kids that as a group bring down the district's results with their poor learning skills, due to a language disparagement, and bad parental participation. That's one big problem.
Kudos to the School District and Union for working together on the budget problem. The sooner more of us recognize that we're all in this together and begin working together instead of at cross-purposes, the sooner we'll get through the Great Recession. Politicians - are you listening?
Brian, how is an income tax going to "share the sacrifice," especially if the recipients of the tax increase (government employees and private contractors with the government) will get far more than they ever pay in?
JPDVegas, FAPE is about special education, not regular education. Incidentally, it requires public schools to pay private school tuition if the public schools cannot provide the special needs student an appropriate education. Perhaps ironically, many of the private schools that serve special need students around the country actually cost less than the public schools.
We can't afford what we're paying now, and the only things the union will give up are increases? How does the pay scales of these (non-teacher) employees compare to the same jobs in the private sector? Surely there can be a direct comparison in the case of janitors and clerical staff. I want to see those numbers before I'll say this is a fair compromise.
Patrick R Gibbons,
I do not know where you pull your facts from, but you are way off on the cost of private schools serving special needs students. The cost of a private school serving most special needs students is nearly twice as much as in public schools.
boftx...
So, even though this agreement squares the budget for the moment, you would advocate trying to take pay from workers anyway because it might accomplish some other goal that you have to lower salaries in general to meet some mythical "comparison" to private sector pay?
Sorry, that's not how collective bargaining works.
Actually, that is how bargaining works. But from what I've read the County has idiots for negotiators. And this does not square the budget, it makes it better, but not balanced. My own opinion is that public sector employees should not have collective bargaining. But I don't have a formal argument yet to support that opinion so I'll let it go til I do.
Brian..No more taxes. Please. Those schools never have enough money. They are in charge of educating people. Why don't they learn to get along with what they have.
CCSD is not meeting the need, and I don't believe it's due to funding. The educational model is no longer working, and throwing money at it won't fix it (more bureacracy or fancier buildings aren't going to do anything for student achievement). The model must change -- but it can't so long as we have the same people managing it. Time for a change...