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Questions and Answers on SEA, SESPA contract negotiations

Q: What are the most significant areas of discussion between the District and the Shoreline Education Association (SEA)?

A: The state’s cost of living adjustment (COLA) percentage for the 2007-08 school year is 3.7 percent. The state does not, however, fund the COLA for supplemental workdays or the professional stipend, nor does the state fund the COLA for the base salaries of employees the District hires with local levy dollars, grants and federal programs.

All districts statewide have to reduce or forego extra programs and staffing, or reduce the district’s reserves, in order to afford the COLA for supplemental days and stipends and to afford the COLA on base salaries of employees not funded by the state.

Q: What is SEA asking for?

A: For a one-year contract, SEA is proposing:

• 4.3 percent increase in base salaries

• 4.3 percent increase in compensation for supplemental work days

• 4.3 percent increase in the professional stipend for work/responsibilities outside the basic contract

• $24.46 per month per employee increase in the employer contribution to health insurance

• Full district coverage of the 4.6 percent increase in the state’s HCA tax on public employee health insurance

• Continuation of the $29 per month per employee the district pays above the state amount for health insurance

• An increase in individually-directed work time and a decrease in employer-directed work time (non-student days)

• No reductions in amounts of money committed in the contract, even if those amounts are not related to employee salaries or insurance benefits.

Q: What is the cost of what SEA is asking for?

A: The total cost of the SEA proposal is approximately $1.49 million more than the District would spend at last year’s rates. Of this amount, $1.06 million is covered by increases in state funding. The deficit for the District to be able to afford this proposal is $429,000.

Q: What is the District offering?

A: The District has offered to meet the SEA requests for increases in compensation and increases in individually-directed time if SEA will help us redirect a portion of the non-salary money committed in the contract to help pay for the $429,000 deficit.

Q: Why doesn’t the Shoreline School District simply make the reductions or program shifts that other school districts are making?

A: The Shoreline School District has no reserves whatsoever, but rather, a negative ending fund balance of an estimated $1.7 million for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2007. The District has already made significant reductions and program shifts, including the closing of two schools and the relocation of programs, in order to save more than $7 million during the past two years. Members of our community who were involved in the DACPO and BTAC process or who have attended board meetings over the last two years are very aware of the painful cuts that have been implemented.

All of our employee groups and community constituencies, including SEA members, have sacrificed to keep the District moving forward over the past two years. None of the previous deliberations over program cuts or shifts, however, included a discussion of program or financial commitments made in the labor agreement with SEA, because that contract was not open until this year.

Q: Has the District refused to pay the COLA?

A: No. The Board adopted a salary schedule for SEA employees in June that includes a 4.3 percent increase in base salaries.

Q: What are the types of other non-salary money committed in the contract?

A: The District and SEA have agreed over the years to provide many unique educational and extracurricular benefits to students and workload reductions to teachers that have become a part of the excellent Shoreline School District educational experience. These agreements between the District and SEA have been memorialized in the contract and, now that we are in tough financial times, cannot be suspended, reduced or modified without agreement from SEA. All of these expenditures have been good for students and good for teachers. The District and SEA, however, must decide how to prioritize these unique features of the Shoreline contract among all the many potentially valuable uses of District funds, including increases in compensation beyond what the state provides.

Some examples of non-salary money committed in the contract include:

• sabbatical leaves for teachers; • stipends and additional prep time for high school department heads;

• more than $600,000 for student activity, extended-learning opportunities and leadership assignments at schools above basic educational responsibilities;

• money and paraeducator assistance provided to teachers whose class sizes exceed trigger numbers that are lower than surrounding districts;

• and $700,000 to provide support in the classroom above what the law requires for students with disabilities and other students with a high impact on classes.

Q: What is the timing of the negotiations between the district, SEA and the Shoreline Educational Support Personnel Association (SESPA)?

A: The present three-year contract expires August 31, 2007. A re-negotiated contract would begin September 1, 2007. The District has been in negotiations with both groups for several months. We are committed to bargaining in good faith and reaching a settlement that will both meet mutual interests and allow the District to regain financial stability. We value our teachers and support personnel and their service to our District.

Q: How many years will the new contract cover?

A: The length of the new contract is under negotiation.

Q: Whom does the contract cover?

A: It covers salary, benefits, and working conditions for more than 600 SEA certificated employees (teachers and others with a teaching certificate) and 330 SESPA members, which include office managers, secretaries and paraeducators throughout the district.

Q: Are there other non-financial issues on the table?

A: The District and SEA bargaining teams have worked together to craft agreements in language or concept on many other issues such as self-directed professional development, the impact of the District’s technology initiative, elementary assessments, elementary conferences, laptop insurance, the school calendar, and support for national board certification.

Q: What is the District’s current financial situation?

A: The District estimates it will have a $1.7 million deficit at the conclusion of the 2006-07 fiscal year August 31. We are under binding conditions from the state to present a non-deficit budget for 2007-08, with the expectation we will begin to build an ending fund balance as well.

Q: What is an ending fund balance?

A: The fund balance is our reserves, like the money in your savings account. It is also that money you have for emergencies that always hit family budgets. But unlike the family, a school district cannot spend beyond its means with a credit card or a loan. Ideally most Districts would have an ending fund balance of four to five percent, or approximately $3-4 million.

Q: What happened to cause our District to be in the red?

A: A combination of spending beyond our means, overstaffing, and not adjusting for declining enrollment over the course of the last 10 years.

Q: What has the District done to date to cut expenses?

A: The District has made more than $7.1 million in reductions over the last two years, including:

• $4.7 million in staff levels (administrators, teachers and classified staff)

• $1.4 million by closing two elementary schools

• $600,000 by returning to the six-period day in the middle school

• $200,000 for program consolidation

The 2007-08 budget includes further reductions, including:

• reductions in the District’s print shop operation,

• elimination of the traffic safety program,

• suspension of C teams in athletics,

• and efficiencies in transportation, including a reduced number of routes and bus stops.

Although the District’s efforts to reduce expenditures and decrease spending are ongoing, the District’s financial infrastructure is headed in the right direction.

Wherever possible we have made reductions as far away from the classroom as possible, and have made the commitment to maintain the average class size for the 2007-08 school year.

Q: What about cuts to administration?

A: Included in the reductions is the elimination of 8.0 administrative positions, resulting in savings of more than $800,000 not directly connected to the classroom. Shoreline’s ratio of 560 students for each administrator is higher than Edmonds (533 students per administrator) or Northshore (488 students per administrator)

Q: Can funds for the District’s laptop initiative help with the deficit or the contract?

A: No, by law capital funds from the bond passed in 2006 may not be used for general fund expenses.

Q: What are the next steps in the process?

A: A state mediator is working with the District and SESPA this week to help achieve a settlement. The first session with the mediator was held Monday, August 27.

After a bargaining session Sunday, August 26 between the District and SEA, the District has asked for a state mediator to help facilitate those contract discussions. A mediator was appointed on August 27.

Mediators are appointed by the state Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC).

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