Fair contract with school staff good for students

In a recent opinion column in this space Mat-Su schools Superintendent George Troxel gives lip service to valuing the work of education support professionals, but his actions tell a different story. The district’s classified employees have been trying unsuccessfully to negotiate a new contract since February 2009.

Who are the education support professionals? We are the 800-plus employees who make it possible for schools to stay open, for teachers to teach and children to learn. In all of our job categories, we put students first every day. We are the classroom and library aides, the secretaries, custodians, food service workers, special education aides, technicians, school safety assistants and physical plant and warehouse workers. We are proud of the work we do and proud to be represented by the Mat-Su Classified Employees Association.

In his column the superintendent puts great stock in the Outside arbitrator’s opinion. The arbitrator makes much of the district’s increased cost of doing business. But he disregards the fact that employees are struggling under the same rising cost of living. One in five CEA employees earns less than $16,000 a year. Three in five earn less than $30,000. Superintendent Troxel rightly reports that employees at the top of the classified salary schedule make more than $70,000 a year. What he neglects to tell you is that CEA has exactly six such employees. Five are highly skilled Internet technician workers and the other does high-level work in district administrative offices.

Let’s put this round of bargaining into perspective. There is no fiscal crisis in the school district, in the Mat-Su Borough or in the state. With oil selling at $80-plus per barrel, Alaska and Alaskans have fortunately been spared the economic upheavals of many other states. There are no wholesale layoffs in Alaska, of teachers or support staff. The arbitrator, who lives in Oregon and spent all of one day in Alaska, is perhaps confusing our state with his own, which is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Up here the Armageddon scenario just isn’t playing out.

The Mat-Su Valley is the fastest growing region in the state. With steady increases in student population, the district has been building a new school about every two years. Funding from the state coming into the district has been growing every year. This is not to say that the district doesn’t have to watch its expenditures with great care. Classified employees, on a regular basis, come up with ways to save money in our schools.

Ironically, the district did not argue during the arbitration that it does not have the ability to pay its classified staff. Is it really reasonable to ask that CEA’s 800-plus members subsidize the district’s wish list by accepting drastic cuts in their take-home pay? We don’t think so.

We are looking forward to going back to the bargaining table in the near future.

“Bargaining” a contract in the media breeds an unseemly he-said/she-said climate that doesn’t reflect well on the school district. After all, we are the adults here, and we should be setting an example of civility as we do the challenging work of reaching agreement on a new contract. That’s what would truly be good for the students of the Valley.

Rick Byrnes is president of the Mat-Su Classified Employees Association.