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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 20396
Registered: 01-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 7:12 pm: | 
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Board passes teachers’ contract
BY DAVID MILLISON, Morristown (TN) Tribune Correspondent
7.19.2008
NEW TAZEWELL —The Claiborne County Board of Education met Thursday night and ratified the teachers’ contract.
The school year will consist of 177 teaching days, 12 vacation days, seven staff-development days, one parent-teacher day and three stockpile staff development days.
The contract states that the county will pay full premium for individual health insurance to include a retirement program and a workmen’s computation program and a family insurance plan are also available.
The board agrees to have technology in the classroom to include training, funding, and participation in the development of curriculum changes or modifications, regardless of age, race gender, or socioeconomic level.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 20391
Registered: 01-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 11:26 pm: |
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Kan. teaching pool can’t stanch leaks
Poor retention rates a major factor in statewide shortages
By Mark Vierthaler / Lawrence (KS) Journal World with reader comments
July 21, 2008
Fighting the looming teacher shortage in Kansas is a bit like taking a swing at a shadow.
You can take potshots into the dark and hope something lands, but until you know the enemy in front of you, there’s no way to mount a good defense. And therein lies the problem, said Kansas University School of Education Dean Rick Ginsberg.
 Wrong. There's a great way to mount a defense. Create schools for The 21st Century Student, computer-delivered instruction that classroom teachers can't compete with.
“The numbers are so vague in this state,” he said. “We don’t know how many teachers are truly needed everywhere.”
What they do know is that record numbers of teachers are nearing retirement age, there is a rising number of long-term vacancies in rural and inner-city school districts, and fewer college students are training to become teachers.
Ginsberg said Kansas universities were faced with the mammoth task of solving the problem.
According to the National Education Association, about 20 percent of new teaching hires in the United States leave the classroom within two years. The NEA said many teachers surveyed claimed they felt overwhelmed by unrealistic expectations and were underpaid.
Possible fixes
Ginsberg said there was a real shortage of high school math and science teachers. The pay — the average starting annual salary for a teacher in Kansas is about $29,202 — is a huge deterrent when the average salary for a chemical engineer in Kansas is around $80,000.
With a weak economy, Ginsberg said it had become harder to convince the younger generation to enter the teaching field. He did say the School of Education had accepted more students this past year than in recent years, but the situation was far from ideal.
KU recently launched a program called UKanTeach, a joint venture between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Education. Through the program, students receive a bachelor’s degree in either math or sciences, along with a teaching license. The program aims to lure more students into teaching math and science.
Other states are looking at ways of simply making it easier to work as a teacher.
Missouri lawmakers passed a bill this spring that would allow anyone with a bachelor’s degree to enter a program where they could receive a teaching license, providing they pass a test within a year showing they have an expert’s grasp on the subject.
Rusty Rosenkoetter, coordinator of educator certification for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said it was too early to say how effective the bill might be, considering it doesn’t go into effect until August. Even then, she said, it would be up to three years before Missouri had any solid data.
The bill has proven controversial. Rosenkoetter said opponents of the bill worry that people without an education background won’t be well equipped to teach children.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions about what effect it will have on the classroom,” she said.
Nailing down the problem
Because it isn’t entirely known why the state has retention issues, officials say it’s difficult to find a solution. And it’s not as simple as saying there aren’t enough teachers, Ginsberg said.
“There’s something like 75,000 licensed teachers in the state of Kansas,” he said. “We only have around 33,000 actually teaching. That should tell you something.”
Ginsberg drew a comparison to a leaky bucket. No matter how much you fill it by recruiting new students, if you can’t retain them, it’s an exercise in futility.
And while rural Kansas school districts often have incentives, including offering financial help with continuing education and English as a second language certification, many districts remain strapped.
Bonnie Deiter, assistant superintendent for Ulysses public schools in southwest Kansas, said that while her district had done well filling positions this past year, the three remaining tended to be the hardest to fill: high school math, middle school math and high school art.
Kent McDonald, a science teacher and coach at Lawrence High School, was a geologist prior to becoming a science teacher. McDonald said he felt that money was a huge factor in turning people off to teaching science.
“I could make three to four times as much as I do now if I wanted to go back into, say, petroleum geology,” he said.
Alan Gleue, physics teacher at LHS and science department chairman, agreed with McDonald. Gleue said it wasn’t just the economics of teaching, but the paperwork and keeping track of student data for the No Child Left Behind act as well.
However, Gleue said it was the sense of duty that kept many teachers in their jobs.
“I still have the quixotic feeling that I make a difference,” he said. “Most teachers who stay with teaching have the feeling they’re contributing something to society outside of receiving a paycheck.”
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 20385
Registered: 01-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2008 - 7:06 pm: |
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New Contract Boosts Salaries For Clay Co. Teachers
School District, Teacher's Union Reach Agreement
WJXT: Jacksonville, FL
July 17, 2008
CLAY COUNTY, Fla. -- The Clay County School District announced on Thursday it has struck a deal with teachers.
The district and the teacher's union agreed in principle on a contract for the coming school years. The contract includes salaries and benefits for all teachers in the District.
It includes a starting salary of $37,800 for new teachers. That beginning salary is almost a $3,000 increase over what it was last year.
In comparison to other counties in Northeast Florida, Clay County now has the highest starting pay for teachers. Duval County came in second with $37,000. Nassau County starts it teachers off at $36,500. Teachers in Baker County start at nearly $34,000.
In addition to an increase in the starting salary for Clay County teachers, the average increase in salaries across the board will be about 3 percent.
“We are in an economic downturn, but the quality of the classroom teacher is the most important element in raising student achievement. Therefore, it is important we help our teachers cope in these difficult financial times,” said Superintendent David L. Owens. “Yes. We have had to cut in other areas in order to give this 3 percent raise, but we value our teachers and it is very important that we retain, as well as recruit qualified, talented teachers.”
Help the teachers in the downturn? What kind of spin is that? The teachers have high paying jobs. They aren't in danger of losing their jobs. It's the people losing their jobs and suffering salary reductions that need help. There's just never a good time for educators to live like the rest of us. Rather, while others are losing their jobs and facing salary reductions, their taxes keep going up so teachers don't have to suffer, po' things.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 20350
Registered: 01-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - 9:55 pm: |
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SD 218 board approves new teacher pact
BY ANGELA CAPUTO / Chicago Southtown Star Staff writer
July 15, 2008
Teachers, administrators and staffers are in line for a 4 percent pay raise this school year under a four-year contract approved Monday night by the Community High School District 218 board.
All told, the pay increases, which are tied to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index over the life of the contract, are projected to cost taxpayers an additional $4.5 million over the next four years.
Teachers at Shepard, Richards and Eisenhower high schools will have to shoulder an additional $1.6 million worth of health insurance premiums, according to the new pact, which will expire in June 2012. Retiree health benefits and end-of-career longevity stipends are also scaled back under the contract.
"We're able to address disparity in starting teacher salaries, but we also have sanity within district (spending by addressing) retirement costs," school board president Michael Stillman said of the new contract.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 20299
Registered: 01-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 08, 2008 - 8:54 pm: |
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Benefits inflate teacher costs in District 158
By Jameel Naqvi | Chicago Daily Herald Staff with lots of reader comments
7/7/2008
For a rare and highly detailed explanation of teacher contract negotiations while in progress, JAMEEL NAQVI wins an Excellence in Education Reporting Award from myshortpencil--an award I haven't given out in some time. Congratulations.
Please observe how the advertised salary increase is frequently far below the real increase in total compensation. Educators know nothing if not how to manipulate appearances to their advantage.
When the teachers union and Huntley Unit District 158 unveiled their contract proposals in April, the gap between the plans seemed large, but not insurmountable.
The district proposal offered salary increases of 4.25 percent for the district's 580 teachers.
The Huntley Education Association proposed salary increases averaging 10.6 percent.
Salaries, however, don't tell the full story - not by half.
A Daily Herald analysis of the two proposals shows differing pension and health care plans combine with salary differences to drive the district and the union dramatically apart.
Look how useful it is to the public to have contract proposals made public. Hey New Yorkers, you want to lower your property taxes? Demand a law that requires employee contract negotiations to be conducted in public--not just for educators, but for all government employees.
When salary and benefits are all added, the district's proposal totals at least $31.48 million, a 4-percent increase over the $30.23 million cost of the current contract.
The union's proposed contract totals at least $37.25 million, a 23-percent increase.
The union's plan calls for the district to pay all pension contributions - an increase of nearly 1,000 percent over this year. This increase alone accounts for about half the $5.77 million difference between the two proposals.
Under the union's plan, the district would spend at least $7 million more next year on teacher costs than it did this year.
The district says its expected increase in operating revenues next year will be only $4.3 million, prompting the district's claim in a recent news release that the union's plan would "bankrupt the district within two years."
The union has not responded to that claim.
Retirement
Differing retirement benefits account for most of the large disparity between the two proposals.
In Illinois, the Teachers' Retirement System requires school districts to contribute an amount equal to 1.21 percent of teachers' salaries toward teachers' retirement funds. Teachers have to contribute 10.24 percent of their salaries.
The district has been paying the 1.21 percent to the pension system, and under its proposal would continue to do so.
The union now wants the district to pay both the required employer contribution and the amount teachers have had to pay, which amounts to a total of 11.45 percent of teachers' salaries annually.
That would be a cost in addition to salaries.
The district's proposal forecasts a pension contribution cost of $341,000 in the first year of the contract, an increase of $14,000, or 4 percent, over this year.
The union's plan would cost about $3.45 million in pension contributions, an increase of $3.12 million - or 954 percent over this year.
Health care
Health insurance is the other major nonsalary item creating the gulf between the two proposals.
The district now pays $2.85 million toward teachers' health insurance.
Under the district's plan, health insurance for teachers would cost at least an additional $85,000, or 3 percent more, next year.
Under the union's proposal, teachers' health insurance would cost at least an extra $852,000, or 30 percent more.
The bulk of the increase would come from increases in the district's monthly contributions toward teachers' health insurance.
While the district would increase contributions by 3 percent next year, the union wants the district to pay 100 percent of employee-only coverage, 90 percent of family insurance and 90 percent of coverage for an employee and one dependent.
The district already pays 100 percent of employee-only coverage but only about 53 percent of family coverage and 62 to 83 percent of coverage for an employee and one dependent, according to the district.
The higher contribution rates account for $500,000 of the union's proposed increase.
A $3,600 stipend in the union's proposal for teachers who opt out of district insurance accounts for the rest of the increase.
The stipend would add at least $374,000 to the contract cost.
And that's assuming that the same number of employees would opt out of the district's health insurance.
There's more ...
Several factors in the union's proposal, including smaller class sizes and strong incentives for teachers to choose more costly health plans, could further inflate by millions of dollars the cost of the union's plan.
For example, the mandatory class size limits in the union's proposal would force the district to incur penalties or hire more than 30 new teachers.
Under the union's proposal, the district would pay a cash penalty to teachers for each additional student in their class beyond required class sizes
This provision would cost the district anywhere from $296,000 to $1.75 million - depending on whether the district takes the penalty or hires more teachers at roughly $50,000 per teacher.
With the cost of reduced class sizes included, total teacher compensation costs would be between $37.54 million and $39 million, an increase of 24 percent to 29 percent over current compensation.
The district and the teachers union have made little progress so far in closing the gap between the two proposals, according to district news releases.
Though the teachers union and the district agreed to issue joint updates on negotiations, the union did not contribute to the bimonthly releases for more than two months.
The district now is waiting for the union to submit a "reasonable proposal," according to the district's June 20 news release.
The sides have been meeting with a federal mediator for a month and will continue to meet with the mediator "to discuss major economic issues, working conditions and the length of the contract," according to the latest update, jointly issued Thursday by the district and the union.
Union contract may raise other costs
By Jameel Naqvi | Chicago Daily Herald Staff
7/7/2008
Any health-care cost increase teachers get in their current contract negotiations with Huntley Unit District 158 will have a costly ripple effect.
The district's contract with the union for bus drivers and other support staff states the employees will get the same health insurance benefits teachers receive.
Oddly, the teachers contract proposal would actually increase the cost of insuring bus drivers and support staff more than it would raise the cost of insuring teachers.
This year, the district will spend $1.1 million on health insurance for support staff.
The district would spend at least $861,000, or 78 percent, more on health insurance for support staff next year under the teachers' plan.
The cost of insuring teachers, in comparison, would rise by about $852,000 under the their proposal.
Most of the increase in insuring support staff would be driven by a $3,600 stipend in the teachers' plan for employees who opt out of district insurance. The stipend would account for at least $659,000 of the increase.
The rest of the increase under the teachers' plan would be fueled by increases in the district's monthly contributions toward employees' health insurance.
The teachers' proposal would probably be even more costly because the $3,600 stipend would create a strong incentive for workers to opt out of district insurance.
The district's proposal would raise the cost of insuring support staff much less because the district's plan includes no stipends and raises monthly contributions by only 3 percent.
The 3 percent increase means the district would spend at least $34,000 more on insuring support staff under the district's proposal.
All told, health insurance for teachers and support staff under the teachers' plan would cost the district at least $5.68 million next year, a 43 percent increase over this year's total of $3.97 million.
The district's proposal would cost at least $4.09 million next year, an increase of 3 percent.
Weymouth seeks override to fund teacher contract
WHDH: BOSTON
July 6, 2008
WEYMOUTH, Mass. -- Weymouth school officials spent more than a year hammering out a contract with local teachers -- and now they want to ask taxpayers for help paying for it.
The school committee is asking the Weymouth Town Council to put the question to voters.
There are actually three questions.
The first option would raise property taxes by $4.6 million to restore the school budget to the original request made by the committee, while the second option would raise nearly $3 million to restore budget cuts made by both the school panel and Mayor Sue Kay.
A third option would raise $1.8 million to cover just the cuts made by Kay.
The questions would raise the average annual residential property tax between $81 and $199.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 20272
Registered: 01-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 06, 2008 - 10:11 pm: |
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