Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home Education Association, which represents School District 55’s certified personnel, will enter contract negotiations with the District 55 School Board at 5 p.m. on April 29.
The bargaining will cover compensation and language issues. The existing teachers contract started on July 1, 2005 and expires on June 30.
Bargaining teams for the board and the union will exchange proposals and have an opportunity to clarify issues, Supt. Larry Horton said.
Teachers union representatives Billy Snow, Dan Swanson and Allen Buzzard, addressed the School Board during its regular meeting on April 14 urging the board to bring teachers closer to the average on a list of 24 other Oregon districts.
“We will have a response to that on that evening,” Horton said. The points raised during the teachers’ presentation will be part of the discussion.
“It can either be a dreaded process or one where we work together to solve issues as best we can,” Snow said. “Though I was not part of the last round of negotiations, the latter part certainly seemed to be the case.”
As a longtime district employee and parent, Snow said he is extremely pleased with the education his youngest two children are receiving and as an employee he is proud to be associated with the district.
“I see the status of the district as pretty healthy,” Snow said. “The leadership, from the board, the superintendent and staff has, I believe, created a School District where people enjoy working and most importantly, kids get a solid education. The district seems blessed with employees who enjoy their work and work place. This same leadership has developed a great series of facilities, much of that through some rather difficult financial times.”
Approaching this round of bargaining, one of the union’s goals was to strengthen its contract, so the district was positioned not only to retain staff but also attract new staff from the pool of available potential employees, Snow said. “With that in mind, our goal remained the same as the previous team’s goal: To try to move toward the average of our comparison group.”
The list of comparison districts is the same as those previously used, including Capital Conference schools, other schools with student populations between 1,500 and 2,500. It ranges into districts with student populations as high as 6,777 students, Redmond, and as low as 1,298, Sisters. Sweet Home has a student population of about 2,300.
The list shows Sweet Home third from the bottom in starting and top salaries and second to last in employer insurance contributions.
Average starting salaries in the comparison group were approximately $30,731. Sweet Home’s starting teacher salary is $29,144. It would take a raise of 5.45 percent to reach average among this group. Maximum average salary was about $57,348. Sweet Home’s maximum salary is $54,070. It would take an 8.9 percent raise to reach average.
The comparison accounted for differences in retirement packages among the districts, Snow said.
For insurance benefits, the district pays $800 per month. The average on this list was $960 per month.
A poll of union members showed a surprising and impressive statistic in the amount of unpaid time teachers commit to their jobs, the union representatives said, demonstrating the commitment of certified staff.
The poll an average of 10.2 extra unpaid hours per week per teacher, Swanson said. That’s the equivalent of 32 extra teachers over the course of a year. Based on salary alone, that’s $1.4 million donated in time by the teaching staff. Counting benefits, that’s $2.1 million.
“We believe that whether you use this comparison group, some variation thereof, or the entire state, the relative position remains much the same, with Sweet Home well below average,” Snow said. “To close, we, the certified staff, understand that you might not share our goal of reaching average. And even if you do, and you might, it won’t happen overnight.
“But we do believe that we all have a common goal, providing the best working environment and contract for all the district’s employees so we can continue to recruit, hire and retain the highly qualified, innovative and energetic staff needed to uphold the district motto of educating the youth of this district for success.
“We believe all parties involved can and currently do this. We thank you for your past support and are looking forward to meeting and discussing ways to make these goals a reality.”