Mat-Su teachers vote to accept new contract with district

PALMER — The majority of Mat-Su Borough School District teachers recently voted to accept the negotiated contract with the district, despite a less-than-hoped-for salary increase and the lack of a guarantee from the district on future class sizes.

“This tentative agreement was literally signed in the 11th hour of our last day of mediation,” Mat-Su Education Association President Tim Walters said before teachers voted on the agreement last week. “It reflects the best deal we were going to get out of the mediation process.”

The contract includes no increase in salaries for FY18 and a 1 percent increase for FY19; a two-year contract for 185 working days each year; a cap on the district’s insurance contribution for FY18 at $1,706 per member per month, and a $38-per-month increase in contribution for FY19; an increase in accrual of personal leave from seven days to eight; and a cap on working hours per day at 7.5.

Just getting the district to the bargaining table was the most frustrating aspect of this contract, Walters said.

More than 300 teachers squeezed into the Dec. 6, 2017 school board meeting to protest the district’s request for general health claims data from the Public Education Health Trust as the district was investigating the idea of becoming self-insured to save money.

MSBSD Superintendent Monica Goyette reported that insurance costs for certified employees of $38 million are now higher than the entire payroll for all non-certified employees.

“One of our concerns with the Health Trust is their lack of transparency so we don’t know what the costs are,” Goyette reiterated during the district’s Facebook Live event during the Budget Open Houses with the community earlier this month. “We’re just trying to get the aggregate data such as how much we’re spending per year on prescriptions. We already deal with medical records for workman’s comp. We’re already self insured for that. So we already deal with sensitive information.”

The district had filed an Unfair Labor Practices complaint against the union with the Alaska Labor Relations Agency for not supplying the health claims information and this complaint still stands as the district continues to look into ways to cut insurance costs.

Walters said this sticking point was not part of the mediation process, however. He had said he felt the district was holding up the bargaining process in the hopes the Health Trust would release the health data.

Several teachers spoke during that January board meeting and carried yellow signs that said “HANDS OFF MY HEALTH CARE.”

Tuesday Walters was busy rounding up MSEA members again for the Feb. 27th Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting to advocate for increased funding for schools.

Faced with an $11.2 million shortfall last spring for the 2018 school year because of a lack of government funding at all levels, the district made the tough choice to cut 87 full-time classified, certified, and administrative positions, driving up class sizes at the secondary level from 28 students per middle school teacher to 30 and from 30 students per high school teacher to 32.

Additional cost-saving measures included decreases in nursing, the loss of foreign language courses, an increase in meal costs and activity fees, and the reduction or elimination of staff travel out of state.

The school board and district staff are encouraging teachers, parents and other community members to talk to borough and state decision-makers about the importance of increasing funding levels that have fallen flat over the last couple of years. Flat funding has contributed to the district’s current $7 million deficit.

Goyette said she is encouraged by Borough Mayor Vern Halter’s push for an Education Funding Committee that would look into solutions going forward.

“Education in the Mat-Su Borough should be worth as much as in other districts,” Goyette said, adding the district’s No. 1 priority is keeping class sizes down. “The status quo in funding really impacts us because of the increased costs of salaries and utilities. Our district grows every year and yet we’re not receiving the funds to cover that. We’re funded about $2,900 per pupil and Fairbanks gets $7,500.”