My school district is taking teachers off the Reduction in Force (RIF) list after negotiations with the district’s local union, a branch of California Teachers Association-National Education Association (CTA-NEA). Union representatives have agreed to five furlough days, that is, no pay for a break during the fall term.
Unlike vacation days which are included in the teacher’s yearly salary, furlough days save money. Instead of a battle negotiating revision of the pay schedule to lower salaries, furlough days seem to be preferable. Perhaps the union’s thinking is that unpaid furlough days can be eliminated when the funds for schools increase someday. (No way will that happen anytime soon in California!) If the state finally does conquer its budget, another revision of the salary scale would have to be renegotiated. We can see the lines drawn right now in Oakland over salary negotiations in a poor district.
Anyway, due to retirements and resignations in my district 45 third year teachers who were on the countdown list for layoffs were notified last week that they will be working next year. I’m happy for them and my chances of being retained are looking better.
I don’t know what will happen in big districts like Oakland or San Francisco which has a much worse deficit than my mid-size district that has already passed a parcel tax to support its schools. Several parcel taxes-or extensions of parcel tax time limits-will be on the June and/or November ballots this year for a number of school districts up and down the state.
Our superintendent is lucky. We have a PTA and Foundation group that is using every ounce of persuasion to get parents and the community businesses to support the schools.
May 4, 70 businesses in the surrounding shopping areas donated a percentage of their sales for the day to the Foundation. It’s one of those win-win deals. The businesses make money on a slow day and the schools benefit from the community support.
So far the Foundation has raised more than one and a half million $$, mainly so that school faculty and staff aren’t laid off, which would make class sizes larger, fewer librarians and other resource teachers available, and classified support minimal.
On Wednesday May 5 we will commemorate Cinco de Mayo, a festival celebrated by Mexico and Californians of Mexican descent, that honors a single victorious battle in Mexico against the French well over 100 years ago. I hope I will be celebrating the single-handed collection of enough funds to support our school district and keep the rest of us employed.
There are over 6 million students in California. Do voting adults in this state have to be this close to a school collapse before they are willing to put money in the pot for the student education they say they support?