Central Bucks has yet to announce its proposal, but board member Geri McMullin said details of the pact will be released to the public after Labor Day.... Full text of the article here: Central Bucks, North Penn, Pennridge open school without teacher contracts By Gary Weckselblatt Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, August 31, 2014 12:00 am The day after Labor Day could be the start of labor unrest in the area’s three largest school districts. Teachers in Central Bucks, North Penn and Pennridge kick off the school year Tuesday working on contracts that ran out in June. There’s hope that condition will be short-lived in Central Bucks as a tentative agreement on a four-year deal is in place. The district’s nearly 1,300 teachers were briefed on the proposal last week and plan to vote on it Sept. 8, with the CB school board vote a day later. Pennridge and North Penn are not as close. Though each has a negotiation session scheduled in September, both districts went without a labor agreement for more than a year before finalizing their last deal. “It was definitely a long-term effort,” Pennridge school board President Peter Yarnell said. “There are always people on both sides who are unhappy. Some would say that probably means you produced a fair contract.” In North Penn, the signs may not be as hopeful. Alan Malachowski, president of the North Penn Education Association, said he’s “disappointed we haven’t made a lot of progress in the months prior to this. If the district gets a little more serious, with reasonable discussions, we can get this done quickly.” History is not on the side of a quick resolution. Five years ago North Penn was in the midst of 19-month negotiation that included a six-day strike by nearly 950 teachers and two court interventions. By the time the contract was approved, the district had spent about $225,000 on legal fees and publicity. “The history was less than pleasant,” Superintendent Curtis Dietrich said. Compared to other districts, North Penn teachers did quite well with their five-year deal that included four years of pay raises above 4 percent. Pennridge, on the other hand, had a salary freeze for 2010-11, a 2.63 percent increase for 2011-12, a 2.8 percent increase for 2012-13 and a 2.51 percent increase for 2013-14. In recent years, Souderton is the only other area district with a 4 percent increase, and that followed a 1.6 percent pay cut and a one-year salary freeze. In June, teachers in New Hope-Solebury agreed to a four-year year contract after they worked without an agreement in 2013-14. They received no raise for that year, and will get pay bumps of 1.72, 1.71 and 1.73 percent, respectively, over the next three years. Central Bucks has yet to announce its proposal, but board member Geri McMullin said details of the pact will be released to the public after Labor Day. In North Penn, the school board has been pressing three measures during negotiations, Dietrich said. It wants raises to remain within the Act 1 index, have a shorter-term contract because of economic uncertainty, and include a formula where salary increases could fluctuate based on economic factors. “The board has repeatedly said how much they appreciate our teachers,” Dietrich said. “But the contract must be reflective of the economy and the finances of the school district, and it’s difficult to project the economy.” Act 1 is the 2006 law that limited property tax increases to the rate of inflation but allowed districts to go over that number by applying for exceptions for things like increased pension costs. Had North Penn’s last contract followed the Act 1 index, teachers’ raises wouldn’t have gone above 2.9, 1.4, 1.7, 1.7 and 2.1 percent — essentially cutting their pay hikes in half. Malachowski labeled the board’s position “very regressive.” Asked if he would shake hands on a contract similar to the last five-year deal, he said, “Absolutely. We’re looking to maintain what we have. We are certainly, absolutely in that same ballpark.” He points to the district’s $4 million surplus in its 2013-14 budget, a large business community that limits tax increases on homeowners, and a 2.5 percent pay increase for district administrators in August as proof the district can afford a new pact that resembles the old one. “If (the last) contract was going to break the bank, you’d see a shortfall,” he said. “That shows they budgeted well over five years.” Dietrich said $3 million from the surplus was used to cover a hole in the district’s health care fund, where claims exceeded the budget. The other $1 million was set aside for the district’s growing pension obligation. “Both funds are for the benefit of our employees,” he said. “We did provide some significant increases (in the last contract) and we were able to do that. But it really brought to our attention the need to be extremely careful when extending commitments far into the future.” Pennridge is negotiating more than a teachers contract, as deals for support staff and cafeteria workers have also lapsed. After agreeing to a pact with its administrators earlier in August, Yarnell, the school board president, said “In the investment business they talk about a triple witching hour. Well, this year turned out to be a quadruple witching hour for the district.” From the public’s perspective, having only three districts without a contract might be considered a walk in the park. Four years ago, labor unrest was much more pervasive as teachers in Centennial, Central Bucks, Hatboro-Horsham, New Hope-Solebury, Palisades and Pennridge were without deals. In fact, Dietrich said he’s only seen positive signs from teachers when he welcomed them back to school last week. “The atmosphere was very positive, very upbeat,” he said. “I remain very optimistic there will be a fair contract agreement.” Malachowski contends if Central Bucks’ teachers sign off on their deal it could help grease the skids for a North Penn settlement. “Hopefully the biggest district will sign off and that will help the second-biggest district,” he said.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 13:39:06 +0000
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