Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home teachers want equal pay.
The teachers union opened negotiations with school district administrators April 7, requesting that its members’ pay be brought to the level of “average” compensation among similar school districts.
Allen Buzzard presented a study of 25 school districts to the District 55 School Board’s bargaining team. The study placed Sweet Home at the median point in terms of population and student enrollment. The median is the point where half of the sample is larger and half smaller.
In compensation, at minimum and maximum salary and in insurance benefits, the study showed Sweet Home at the bottom of all 25 school districts.
The study included Capital Conference districts, Grants Pass, Astoria, Junction City, Lebanon and more.
It showed Sweet Home’s starting teacher pay at $26,998 per year. The highest was Grants Pass at $31,149 per year. Teachers at the top of the pay scale with maximum pay for education receive $50,088 in Sweet Home and $64,659 at Central Point. District contributions toward insurance premiums ranged from $550 per month in Sweet home to a maximum $1,087 in Klamath Falls, which has a graduated insurance rate based on family size. Under the current contract, District 55 contributes $617 per month based on savings from teachers opting out of insurance benefits.
The average starting wage among the 25 districts was $28,875 per year. The maximum salary among the districts was $54,540. The average insurance contribution was $776.
The current teachers’ contract expires on June 30.
The teachers’ bargaining team includes Molly Tenbusch, Joyce Baugus, Allen Buzzard, Alan Temple, James Sundell and Rob Younger.
The board’s bargaining team includes Ron Wilson of the Oregon School Boards Association, Supt. Larry Horton, Business Manager Kevin Strong, Curriculum Director Jan Sharp, Director Diane Gerson and School Board Chairman Scott Proctor.
The teachers requested a three-year contract. The district is proposing a two-year contract based on the state funding cycle.
“Our members feel they need and deserve a package that brings them up to average,” Temple said.
“What course will Sweet Home School District choose to follow?” union representative Sundell asked. “Will you show the licensed staff that you respect them? Will you balance the budget (or increase the ending fund balance) on their backs?”
The teachers’ initial proposal requests a raise of 2.25 percent plus the U.S. city average consumer price index, urban, each year of the contract. For 2005-06, the increase would total 4.95 percent. Those eligible would receive step increases.
Insurance benefits would be increased from $550 to $775 per month in 2005-06. In 2006-07 and 2007-08, the teachers would receive $775 plus 90 percent of any premium increases.
For 2005-06, this would increase starting teacher wages to $28,334 per year and maximum teacher wages to $54,808 per year.
“We recognize that you have to ask both as professionals and (as) a union,” said Wilson, of the Oregon School Boards Association. “We also recognize you know as well as we do that” proposed state education budgets do not maintain current service levels.
“In at least the last four negotiations, we’ve talked about our shared frustration in K-12 education,” Wilson said. “The reality is we don’t control how much money we receive for our district. We’re faced with a difficult choice at times.”
This district has chosen to be fiscally conservative and invest in better working conditions, such as smaller class sizes and more classified support in classrooms, Wilson said. The district’s salary schedule is not above average and neither are its resources.
Districts with similar financial situations “are pretty much in the same boat,” Wilson said. “The challenge is to work through these limited finances to do what’s best for kids. That, I believe, is a shared goal.”
The board’s bargaining team has not had a chance to consider the teachers presentation and proposal yet, and Wilson said he hoped the teachers would recognize that the district’s proposal is “an initial proposal.”
The district does not want to parade false expectations before the teachers, and it must balance its budget, Wilson said.
“We are looking forward to having a collaborative discussion with the association on many of these issues.”
“What we want to do, what we can do probably aren’t the same thing,” Proctor said. “We do want to attract and retain the best employees we can. Hopefully we can get to a point where most folks are satisfied on most things.”
The district proposed a 1 percent increase plus steps for those eligible in the 2005-06 school year. In 2006-07, the district proposed step increases with possible additional compensation increases based on a revenue trigger point of $27.5 million for the 2005-07 biennium, not counting the district’s transportation grant. Funds in excess of $27.5 million could be applied to salaries, up to 3 percent, or to the district’s contribution toward insurance premiums.
The bargaining teams will meet next at 6 p.m. on April 26. Additional meetings are scheduled for 5 p.m. on May 19, June 1 and June 14.