SRTA Negotiations Update - March 1, 2019

​This post was originally sent just to membership. The decision has been made to post it publicly for full transparency.

Dear SRTA Members,

Thank you for all of the solidarity we have been seeing at board meetings, Blue and Gold days, Red for Ed, and many other events. Keep showing up to speak at board meetings, and participating in actions. The pressure WE are putting on the district has allowed the Negotiations Team to make progress at the table.
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The SRCS and SRTA Negotiations teams met on Wednesday, Feb. 27, from 9 am to about 3:15 pm. The district proposed a two year deal, covering the 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 school years. The offer from the district is a shift toward our shared goals -- to provide the best possible learning environments for our students, but we are not there yet. We have more to talk about at our next negotiations date on March 7th.
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Please mark March 7th on your calendars as a  Blue and Gold  day in support of the Negotiations Team.

What Issues Are We Near Agreement On?

• Compensation
  
  • Maintain two Professional development days, adding them permanently to the salary schedule (about 1%, already on the salary schedule)
    
• More paid work time for secondary counselors (195 days/yr)
  
• Caseload limits for special educators, and overages if limits are exceeded
  
• 25:1 class size for 9th grade Math I and 9th grade science courses
  
• 25:1 class size limit for middle and high school ELD courses
  
• 16:1 class size limit for middle and high school Newcomer courses
  
• 33:1 class size limit for CTE classes
  
• 3 release days or 18 paid hours to move classrooms if a member is transferred or reassigned involuntarily, either on the same school site or to another school site.
  
• Endeavoring to schedule IEPs and 504s during the contract day, with pay for meetings held beyond the contract day
  
• Leaving graduation attendance as an adjunct duty, not a requirement
  
• The possibility of paid adjunct duty if a site needs more hours than the contract requires members at that site to provide

What Issues Still Need To Be Negotiated?

• Salary and medical benefit increases for all unit members.
  • The District's current 5.5% over two years proposal is movement from the initial SRCS verbal offer of 1%, but we are not at a ratifiable agreement. The January start dates for salary increases are problematic. SRCS says if we want a July start for salary increases, the percentages would be lower. SRTA does not want to create a “new normal” of January salary increases.
  • SRTA counter proposed a 6.5% salary increase for 2019-2020, starting August 2019.
• Dental benefit increase
  • SRTA asked for $1000 additional district contribution for dental starting July 2019 and countered with $750 on Feb. 27. The District is still proposing $0.
• Medical benefits  for all unit members.
  • SRTA proposed $2000 additional district contribution for medical, starting July 2019 ($7300/yr)
  • SRCS has proposed $1400; $700 July 2019 and $700 July 2020 ($6700/yr)
• SRCS proposed early release days and common planning time at all school sites, and required participation in collaboration
• SRTA Proposed Lead teacher positions for our special educator groups at the elementary level.
  • These would be similar to the secondary department chairs and allow for more open lines of communication and problem solving.

What Happens Next?

The Negotiations Team is going back to the table on March 7th, and we hope for more positive movement. We will remain diligent until we reach a ratifiable tentative agreement that moves us Forward NOT Backward.

What Can You Do?

• Give us your feedback about our progress on the form below.
• Come to the Rep council meeting on Tuesday, March 5th at 4:00pm at CTA to hear the Negotiations Update.
• Participate in  Blue and Gold  days to demonstrate solidarity. 
  • Next is March 7th
  • Get SRTA gear at bit.ly/SRTAstore through March 15th
• Stay vigilant to support SRTA's Forward NOT Backward and Student Advocate campaigns until they are both successfully resolved.
• Support your leaders who are working hard to represent you.

The Negotiations Team welcomes your questions, concerns, and input. Please contact us with the following link SRTA Member Input for Negotiations Team.

Your Negotiations Team and Officers,

Lead Negotiator Kathryn Howell, Danita Haynes (Home and Hospital and ISP), Ginger Matich (Special Services), Dan Swedenborg (Elementary), George Peterson (Middle School), Maddie Doyle (High School), Will Lyon (President), Tawni Johnson (Vice President), Kris Ackerman (Secretary), Margie BradyLong (Treasurer).