Questions and Answers About Contract Negotiations in the Shoreline School District
Q: Who are SEA and SESPA members?
A: The Shoreline Education Association (SEA) includes about 550 teachers and other certificated employees. The Shoreline Education Support Professionals Association includes about 330 paraprofessionals, office managers and other school support staff. Both unions’ contracts with the Shoreline School Board expire Aug. 31. Members of the two unions are working together and supporting one another in their quest for contract settlements.
Q: Why isn’t there a contract settlement yet?
A: Both unions have been negotiating with the school board’s bargaining teams for more than seven months. From the beginning, the board has pursued major cuts in both the SEA and SESPA contracts. At the bargaining table and elsewhere, the board has acknowledged it has targeted teachers for at least $429,000 in cuts. For example, the district’s latest proposal would eliminate about $400,000 in funding for classroom assistance that benefits students with special needs. SEA members oppose the school board’s efforts to cut services that directly benefit students. The school board has targeted support professionals for at least $140,000 in cuts, including cuts in the number of work days and their professional pay stipends.
Q: What do Shoreline school employees want?A: They seek contract settlements that make students and staff the top budget priority. They oppose further cuts to their contracts and students services. They want to protect salaries and benefits. Teachers seek additional individually directed non-student time for planning and other work. Educators are unwilling to continue to pay the price after years of fiscal mismanagement and poor budget decisions by the Shoreline School Board.
Q: What is the salary COLA?A: Like educators in every other Washington school district, SESPA and SEA members will receive the voter-mandated cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 3.7 percent funded primarily by the state. The COLA merely keeps up with inflation and is not a salary increase. The Legislature also approved an additional 0.6 percent salary equity increase for certificated staff, for a total increase of 4.3 percent.
Q: What’s happening with employee health care?
A: The school board has refused any improvements in locally funded health benefits for employees. For SEA members, it appears the Shoreline School Board will:
• Pass through state allocation of $707 per full-time employee per month, a small increase from last year.
• Continue existing district contribution of $29 per full-time employee per month.
• Employee assistance program with four sessions per employee and family (a reduction).
• The board’s proposals would increase out-of-pocket costs for SESPA members.
Q: What role does the Shoreline School Board’s fiscal mismanagement play?
A: By the district’s own admission, the board is guilty of “spending beyond our means.” For the last 10 years, members of SEA and SESPA have helped the board balance its budget by sacrificing pay, benefits and other provisions. The Shoreline School Board has hired eight superintendents in the last nine years. For example, the board bought out Supt. Jim Welsh’s contract for $113,000, money that could have been spent on kids in the classroom.
Q: What is the Shoreline School Board’s role in this dispute?A: The five elected members of the Shoreline School Board are ultimately responsible for the district’s budget and finances. They are accountable to the community for their decisions. Three of them are up for re-election in November.
Hold the Shoreline School Board accountable for its actions
President Mike Jacobs, mike.jacobs@shorelineschools.org, 425-776-3191
Debi Erlichman, debi.ehrlichman@shorelineschools.org, 206-365-6632
David Wilson, knossosd@verizon.net, 206-546-5177
Dan Mann, dan.mann@shorelineschools.org, 206-542-3221
Jim Leigh, jim.leigh@shorelineschools.org, 206-363-2942
Superintendent Sue Walker, sue.walker@shorelineschools.org, 206-361-4203
Q: Does the Shoreline School Board have alternatives?
A: Yes. Throughout the course of negotiations, the SEA and SESPA Bargaining Teams have offered suggestions for balancing the budget without making the cuts the school board’s bargaining team insists upon. For example, the district could save approximately $150,000 in general fund money by using ASB money to cover more of the cost of ASB activities. District administrators have rejected such common-sense solutions. Here are other budget solutions the Shoreline School Board should consider instead of cutting the SEA and SESPA contracts:
• Eliminating program manager position.
• Eliminate or reduce athletic director and public information officer positions.
• Reduce administrators’ perks.
Q: Will the state take over the district?
A: The board’s warnings about the state taking over the school district are misleading and unlikely. With assistance from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the board is in a voluntary plan for fixing the district’s finances and budget. OSPI does not “take over” school districts because their school boards can’t budget properly. And even if it did, the Shoreline School Board bears the ultimate responsibility for the budget decisions it makes – not SEA or SESPA members. That’s why the community elects its school board members.
Q: What role does the state mediator play in contract negotiations?A: A state mediator is involved in both contract negotiations. The mediator does not have the power to force either side to do anything. The mediator’s role is to help facilitate a settlement.
Q: When are the next mediation/bargaining dates?
A: SEA and the school board’s team have bargaining scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and SESPA likely will meet with the board’s team on Sunday or Monday.
Q: Will Shoreline teachers and education support professionals go on strike?
A: Shoreline educators seek contract settlements that keep the cuts away from kids and the classroom. They don’t want to strike. They will, however, decide what actions they will take to achieve contract settlements they can ratify. That decision is made collectively, and each person has a voice and a vote.
Q: Who are SEA and SESPA members?
A: The Shoreline Education Association (SEA) includes about 550 teachers and other certificated employees. The Shoreline Education Support Professionals Association includes about 330 paraprofessionals, office managers and other school support staff. Both unions’ contracts with the Shoreline School Board expire Aug. 31. Members of the two unions are working together and supporting one another in their quest for contract settlements.
Q: Why isn’t there a contract settlement yet?
A: Both unions have been negotiating with the school board’s bargaining teams for more than seven months. From the beginning, the board has pursued major cuts in both the SEA and SESPA contracts. At the bargaining table and elsewhere, the board has acknowledged it has targeted teachers for at least $429,000 in cuts. For example, the district’s latest proposal would eliminate about $400,000 in funding for classroom assistance that benefits students with special needs. SEA members oppose the school board’s efforts to cut services that directly benefit students. The school board has targeted support professionals for at least $140,000 in cuts, including cuts in the number of work days and their professional pay stipends.
Q: What do Shoreline school employees want?A: They seek contract settlements that make students and staff the top budget priority. They oppose further cuts to their contracts and students services. They want to protect salaries and benefits. Teachers seek additional individually directed non-student time for planning and other work. Educators are unwilling to continue to pay the price after years of fiscal mismanagement and poor budget decisions by the Shoreline School Board.
Q: What is the salary COLA?A: Like educators in every other Washington school district, SESPA and SEA members will receive the voter-mandated cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 3.7 percent funded primarily by the state. The COLA merely keeps up with inflation and is not a salary increase. The Legislature also approved an additional 0.6 percent salary equity increase for certificated staff, for a total increase of 4.3 percent.
Q: What’s happening with employee health care?
A: The school board has refused any improvements in locally funded health benefits for employees. For SEA members, it appears the Shoreline School Board will:
• Pass through state allocation of $707 per full-time employee per month, a small increase from last year.
• Continue existing district contribution of $29 per full-time employee per month.
• Employee assistance program with four sessions per employee and family (a reduction).
• The board’s proposals would increase out-of-pocket costs for SESPA members.
Q: What role does the Shoreline School Board’s fiscal mismanagement play?
A: By the district’s own admission, the board is guilty of “spending beyond our means.” For the last 10 years, members of SEA and SESPA have helped the board balance its budget by sacrificing pay, benefits and other provisions. The Shoreline School Board has hired eight superintendents in the last nine years. For example, the board bought out Supt. Jim Welsh’s contract for $113,000, money that could have been spent on kids in the classroom.
Q: What is the Shoreline School Board’s role in this dispute?A: The five elected members of the Shoreline School Board are ultimately responsible for the district’s budget and finances. They are accountable to the community for their decisions. Three of them are up for re-election in November.
Hold the Shoreline School Board accountable for its actions
President Mike Jacobs, mike.jacobs@shorelineschools.org, 425-776-3191
Debi Erlichman, debi.ehrlichman@shorelineschools.org, 206-365-6632
David Wilson, knossosd@verizon.net, 206-546-5177
Dan Mann, dan.mann@shorelineschools.org, 206-542-3221
Jim Leigh, jim.leigh@shorelineschools.org, 206-363-2942
Superintendent Sue Walker, sue.walker@shorelineschools.org, 206-361-4203
Q: Does the Shoreline School Board have alternatives?
A: Yes. Throughout the course of negotiations, the SEA and SESPA Bargaining Teams have offered suggestions for balancing the budget without making the cuts the school board’s bargaining team insists upon. For example, the district could save approximately $150,000 in general fund money by using ASB money to cover more of the cost of ASB activities. District administrators have rejected such common-sense solutions. Here are other budget solutions the Shoreline School Board should consider instead of cutting the SEA and SESPA contracts:
• Eliminating program manager position.
• Eliminate or reduce athletic director and public information officer positions.
• Reduce administrators’ perks.
Q: Will the state take over the district?
A: The board’s warnings about the state taking over the school district are misleading and unlikely. With assistance from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the board is in a voluntary plan for fixing the district’s finances and budget. OSPI does not “take over” school districts because their school boards can’t budget properly. And even if it did, the Shoreline School Board bears the ultimate responsibility for the budget decisions it makes – not SEA or SESPA members. That’s why the community elects its school board members.
Q: What role does the state mediator play in contract negotiations?A: A state mediator is involved in both contract negotiations. The mediator does not have the power to force either side to do anything. The mediator’s role is to help facilitate a settlement.
Q: When are the next mediation/bargaining dates?
A: SEA and the school board’s team have bargaining scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and SESPA likely will meet with the board’s team on Sunday or Monday.
Q: Will Shoreline teachers and education support professionals go on strike?
A: Shoreline educators seek contract settlements that keep the cuts away from kids and the classroom. They don’t want to strike. They will, however, decide what actions they will take to achieve contract settlements they can ratify. That decision is made collectively, and each person has a voice and a vote.
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