AEA BUILDING REPS’ NEWSLETTER

April 13, 2005

STRS Board Election: Remind members that our endorsed candidate is Mary Ann Flannagan. Voting is still going on…post flyer in lounge or on AEA bulletin board.Thank you.

New Office: The new office building is smoke-free. In addition to the parking spaces on the premises, there is on street parking in front of the building on both sides of the street if we have overflow traffic. IF YOU PARK AT THE REAR OF THE BUILDING, PLEASE BECAREFUL BACKING OUT…WE DON’T WANT ANYONE TAKING OUT THE A/C UNITS!

60% Off Everything: We have many items of value still for sale at the old office. Prices have been drastically reduced to 60% of the original marked selling price. We will continue the sale on Sunday, April 17, from 12:00 until 4:00.

Budget Cuts: The Board has not announced budget cuts as of yet. The unexpected $2 dollars from one of the surrounding JEDD’s helps to reduce the budget deficit, but does not eliminate it. The Board is expected to decide on cuts by early May.

Negotiations: Three sessions have been held to date and two additional meetings are planned next week. So far, talks have been amicable, but no “tough” issues have been addressed yet. As expected, the Board has proposed cost shifting in virtually every area of our health care coverage, no wage increase for next school year and only reopeners for the last two years of the contract. There are a host of other proposals which concern us to the extent we did not expect to see them in an “interest based” bargaining atmosphere. Keep in mind that all proposals are starting points and that no real discussions on finances have or can occur until the budget has been approved for next year and we see where the state is going with its budget. Our goal will continue to strive for a fair settlement and our posture on non-cost issues has been and will continue to be “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

ITitle I Teachers/Tutors: Because teachers remain on the layoff list and more are likely to be laid off for next year, buildings will not be able to replace retiring Title I teachers, nor will they be able to fill a vacancy created by the transfer out of a Title teacher with tutors. Funds which remain after preserving teaching positions may be used to hire tutors.

Buildings may appeal this agreement between AEA and the Board to the Professional Problems Committee.

Coalition for Public Education: You may have heard part of the Coalition’s radio ad campaign on “Keeping the Cap” on the number of charter schools permitted to operate in Ohio. Currently, the cap is at 225 and it expires this year. There has been discussion of raising the cap, but we are hopeful that a bill just introduced will merely extend the cap rather than increase it. There is also some evidence that the CPE’s efforts are beginning to pay off…there is talk of legislative measures to make it more difficult for current charter school operators to expand their number of charters by holding them to as yet undefined accountability standards. More on this as information becomes available.

Reality Hits Home: Ohio’s version of No Child Left Behind is starting to impact schools having difficulty reaching acceptable academic standards as defined by the law. Keep in mind that the state offers a menu of items to address this failure. They are: replace staff (reconstitute), reopen as a charter school, secure an outside manager, contract with a non-profit entity to operate the building and turn operations over to the State Department. We have dodged these bullets so far by applying under a catchall “other” category to follow different strategies for improvement. These have been OK’d so far, but there is no guarantee that the trend will continue.

State Budget: The budget process at the state level has included some discussion on statewide health care coverage for all school (public??) employees. Needless to say, we consider this a potential disaster waiting to happen. One amendment proposed over the weekend would have required school unions to negotiate if the district requested negotiations for financial reasons. The amendment did not pass. More as the process continues.

 

Golf May 21 at Brookledge

AEA Night at the Stadium May 27 at the Jake

 

Please promote these events in your building