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Schools

Teachers Union Ratifies New Contract With Northshore

Union was able to keep teachers without a pay cut.

At a union meeting Wednesday, 651 of the 1,100 Northshore Education Association (NSEA) members showed up to vote on the new teacher’s contract. With 95 percent of the vote, the NSEA members ratified the new contract and are now waiting for the school board to approve it at its June 28 meeting.

“I fully expect they will sign it as well,” said NSEA President Tim Brittell.

Most of the time during the two hour meeting was spent going through the 11 pages of changes from the 2008-2011 contract with the Northshore School District, according to Brittell. There was not a lot of time needed to answer questions Brittell said. “They’re teachers, they’re smart,” he said. The union also voted on the 2011-2012 school year calendar.

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The biggest concern for teachers was compensation. Despite the reduction in state funding, the NSEA was able to maintain the same number of teachers without a cut in pay. The State Allocation Model (SAM) sets the salaries in most districts except for those grandfathered in like Northshore. When the state instituted a 1.9 percent cut, it left Northshore, and other districts, in a lurch. The district administration would have to find the way to solve the problem.

“This is nothing more than passing the buck onto the school districts,” Brittell said.

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The NSEA bargaining team understands the current budget situation and the effect that it is having on the district.

“That’s why we did not go into bargaining asking for the sky,” Brittell said. “We came in very reasonable and simply said we want to continue to do what we have done for the same amount of money.”

The pay for Northshore teachers is a combination of SAM and the Time Responsibility Incentive (TRI) system. The bargaining team asked the district to take the 1.9 percent from SAM and apply it to TRI. This means that the teachers will have to work more, but Brittell said it was things teachers already did without pay and are just now getting credit for.

Statewide education continues to take the largest cuts in the state budget, enormous unprecedented cuts he said. Despite cutting funding, the school districts are required to pay for $14 million in state mandated programs.

Another change in the contract was the creation of institutional quality committee. The committee will develop new evaluation systems starting in the 2013-2014 school year. The committee will be able to guide teachers on ways to improve in the classroom.

“Unions are criticized for protecting bad teachers,” Brittell said. “We don’t tolerate ineffective teachers in our school district.”

Exceptional teachers are already recognized by the district and poor teachers are removed from the profession, according to Brittell. The committee will focus on the educators in between.

Both the NSEA bargaining team and school district worked toward a compromise for a mutually agreeable contract that best serves the students of Northshore.

“I am very proud, to be quite honest, of my union and my school district administration,” Brittell said. “Yet again in face of the worst economic downturn in my lifetime, we continue to do what is right.”

With the NSEA member ratified agreement, the district will not need to do a reduction in teachers. The only teachers that will be leaving are due to retirement.

Brittell recognizes it wasn’t just the school district and NSEA that contributed to the success of the contract agreement. In the last election, the voters approved a levy that helped the district retain teachers.

“I am so thankful to my community,” Brittell said. “Without that money we would be toast.”

The new contract will go into effect if the school district approves it in the June 28 meeting.

 

 

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