Teachers get deal

MAT-SU -- Teachers have reached a tentative agreement with the Mat-Su Borough School District, but classified employees are in schools this week without a contract.

Saturday the Mat-Su Education Association, representing the district's more than 900 teachers, tentatively settled on a one-year contract that includes a $3,000 raise for all full-time teachers and so-called "step and column movement" that equates into salary increases based on each year with the district and continuing education. The deal provides a $1,600 longevity bonus for those teachers who have topped out on the salary scale.

The agreement also reduces employee out-of-pocket expenses for health insurance from $1,200 to $600 by

increasing the district's contribution to nearly $8,000 per teacher.

In the next few days, MSEA will take the deal to its members for their approval.

"We wouldn't take it to them if we didn't think they'd ratify it," MSEA president Barbara Morris said Sunday.

The negotiating teams had been aiming for a three-year contract, but Morris said they couldn't agree on years two and three. A one-year contract will mean teachers and the district will be negotiating again in November.

"We have to be able to make the financial package continue to be good," she said.

She described the one-year contract as decent and fair.

"It's beginning to take care of some of the retention and recruitment problems," she said.

District officials agree.

"First-year teachers will make more in Mat-Su than in any other large district in the state," Interim Superintendent Bob Doyle said in a press release. "In addition, it helps with our teacher retention efforts. Mat-Su teachers will earn more money than their counterparts in other large districts."

According to district numbers, new teachers in Mat-Su will earn around $35,000, compared to $33,000 and $34,000 in districts such as Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. A veteran teacher will earn nearly $66,000 in Mat-Su, beating out $63,000 and $64,000 salaries in those same districts.

"Now that we've reached an agreement, we can start school on a positive note with a focus on student success," Doyle said.

While this may be the case for teachers, both the MSEA and Classified Employees Association union leaders are quick to point out that the same is not true for the 650 receptionists, custodians and other classified school employees.

"I am very worried for them," Morris said. While teachers may provide the educational program in schools, she said that without classified employees, "those schools aren't going to be clean, those lunches aren't going to be eaten."

"We do different jobs," she said, "but everyone is valuable. We will be working with employees who haven't gotten a contract yet."

Last week, CEA and the district unsuccessfully negotiated for two days. In what the district called its "last best offer," it put a three-year agreement on the table that included 2-percent raises each year in addition to step movement that equates to an additional 5 percent salary increase annually. Those classified employees who have topped out on the salary schedule would receive a $1,000 longevity bonus.

"We're extremely disappointed and surprised by the union's refusal of our offer," the superintendent said in a separate press release. "Our goal was to find resolution for our employees prior to the start of the school year, but this is the end of the process."

Doyle pointed out that the district and CEA have been through bargaining, mediation and advisory arbitration during the past months.

"We've returned to the bargaining table in good faith with a desire to find resolution," Doyle said. "However, both sides have to be willing to reach agreement."

It was insurance that broke the deal, according to CEA president Sheila Dickman. In the first year of the offer, the district would contribute nearly $7,900 followed by $8,200 in year two and $8,500 in year three.

While the first year was an acceptable improvement on the current situation, Dickman said health insurance costs have been skyrocketing too quickly to make the second and third years pencil out. Compared to take-home pay, she said, the out-of-pocket expenses for employees is just too great.

When asked if CEA would have agreed to a one-year contract as presented, she said "We are ready to bargain."

The CEA tried to return to the table Sunday, the day after teachers reached their agreement, but according to Dickman the district's team was a no-show. District officials say they were unaware CEA was ready to go back Sunday and never received any messages regarding a negotiating session.

While Dickman said she was frustrated and disappointed in the district's failure to return to negotiations, she said that doesn't hinder her desire to reach a settlement.

"Even though the district was a no-show tonight, we are still ready to bargain," she said Sunday.

When asked if the teachers' tentative agreement gave her any hope for the CEA process, she said, "It doesn't mean anything for us … they got the contract they were bargaining for."

Earlier this year, teachers in an advisory vote said they would be willing to strike if they didn't have a contract by the beginning of the school year. So far, CEA hasn't held such a vote, but Dickman indicated it may be a possibility.

"We'll visit our employees and we'll have conversations and go from there," Dickman said.