Board adopts LV teachers' contract
Wednesday, September 3, 2003 8:13 AM PDT
By Amy M.E. Fischer and Pat Forgey
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe Longview School Board unanimously approved a three-year contract between the teachers' union and the school district Tuesday, ending three months of increasingly tense negotiations between the two parties and in time for school to start today.
For 2003-2004, the new collective bargaining agreement will cost the district $500,000 above the old contract. That's nearly three times the $185,000 the district offered the Longview Education Association in July after the union requested $3.8 million in contract additions, according to information the district provided, which has since been disputed by union officials.
"The cost of this agreement is beyond what the district included in its budget," said school board member Ted Thomas, who sat on the district's negotiating team. "This is the local taxpayers who make this possible."
How the school board will reprioritize its levy dollars to accommodate the unforeseen expense remains to be seen, said John Vencill, executive human resource's director. Last month, the board adopted a $59 million general budget for 2003-2004, which is $1 million less than the district had to work with last year.
District officials had not yet calculated the new contract's total cost compared to the last one because of changes to the state salary schedule for teachers, Vencill said.
School board president Jennifer Leach blamed the Legislature for the tough negotiating stance the district had to take.
"It's frustrating when the state doesn't fund what needs to be funded, especially the medical benefits," said Leach, who called the bargaining sessions "candid" and "upfront."
Possibly the union's biggest triumph was changing the way teachers are paid for the extra work they do outside the regular 7 1/2-hour workday. Instead of filling out paperwork documenting up to seven days of additional "in-service" time on the job, teachers will automatically receive a stipend of up to $3,300 spread over 12 months.
"I would like to compliment the district for its philosophical change from the in-service compensation model of the past," LEA president Ray Prynne said. "This is a recognition of the professional staff we have in Longview."
The district took skyrocketing health care costs into consideration when hammering out the stipend for extra work, although district officials believe that direct health care benefits are the state's responsibility, according to a joint press release the LEA and the district issued Tuesday evening.
That the district and the LEA settled before school started is "a true testament that both teams worked hard at good-faith bargaining -- especially from positions that started out very far apart," said Vencill, who was also the district's chief negotiator.
"How do you settle when they think there's more money and we don't?" Vencill said.
Contract highlights 
Teachers will receive pay above their regular salaries, which are set by the state, in a new way. Under the new contract, teachers automatically will receive a stipend of up to $3,300 yearly to pay them for the extra time they put in on top of the 7 1/2-hour workday. Stipend amounts are dependent on experience.
Until now, teachers had up to seven "in-service" days for which they could be paid in addition to their 182-day contract --- if they documented their time and submitted paperwork to the district. Late start/early release days have been synchronized for all Longview schools to be on the first Wednesday of every month, with the exception of September and April. (Elementary school kids are released three hours early, and middle-school and high-school kids arrive at school three hours late on these days.) Class-size limits have been placed on special education and middle- and high-school physical education classes. Teachers will be paid extra each month for every student over the set class-size limits. The rate is $120 cash or a stipend of $120 for classroom supplies. Teachers may take a third personal day of leave if they pay for the cost of a substitute. Substitute teachers will be paid a daily rate based on the state salary model. They will receive annual cost-of-living pay increases. A elementary safety patrol coordinator yearly stipend of $7,160 has been added.
The school board also approved a contract with the district's 68 union secretaries that includes raises for all members, up to a 29-cent hourly wage increase for the highest paid secretaries.
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