New Haven Teachers Bargaining Efforts

The following communication went out to all members of the New Haven Teachers Association on Friday, March 22nd. Many neighboring districts have gone on strike or are in the process of going into a strike. A strike would be a catastrophe the community, our students, and our school system. But no district is being offered nothing as an increase in compensation. As teachers we want to keep the community informed as best we can. If you have any questions you can post them here, or message me, and I will answer as quickly as I can.

FROM the NHTA to all its members:

Please read the following as we head into Fact Finding:

The NHTA Bargaining Team has been the moving party in negotiations since last spring. At the end of January, the team asked to move to impasse in hopes an appointed mediator would help move NHUSD off their steadfast offer of 0%. On March 5, the mediator certified the parties to fact finding after less than 4 hours of mediation efforts.

As negotiations continue toward a resolution, NHTA has received questions regarding the process and other important issues. Below are answers to some of them. NHTA meetings being held at school sites will generate more questions regarding the budget and a possible strike. Those questions will be addressed in future updates.

Q: Do the 4 contract employees of the district negotiate their own contracts? If so, did they negotiate raises for themselves?
A: Yes. The Superintendent, Chief Personnel Officer, Chief Business Officer, and Chief Academic Officer negotiated 3 year contracts running through 2020 that include yearly raises of 3%. In addition, they negotiated 'me too' clauses. These employees get 3%, plus whatever increases NHTA negotiates with NHUSD. In effect, NHTA unit members are bargaining salary increases for these 4 employees.
EX:
In 2017-2018 the 2% negotiated by NHTA was added on top of their $200,000+ salaries. The contract employees also received $600 one time money. The lowest salary of the 4 in 2017-2018 was $203,789 + 2%, + $600. This year the 4 employees are getting their negotiated salary increases, plus whatever NHTA negotiates with NHUSD.

Q: Is the district spending less on teachers and more on administrators this year?
A: Yes. For many years the district has been divesting in NHTA members while increasing spending on administrators. In 2013/14, 51.4% of the districts budget when towards NHTA members and 5.8% went towards the administration. In the 2018-19 budget projections, 44.8% would go towards NHTA members and 7.6% towards administration. Since adopting the budget in June, the district is projecting to spend 1.65% LESS on certificated teachers (-$994,221), and 4.13% MORE on administrator salaries (+$407,970).

Q: Did the district project $6 million in undesignated reserves last year and end up with $12.5 million?
A: Yes. In its 2017-2018 adopted budget, NHUSD projected $6 million in reserves. After settling with NHUSD for 2% and $600 one time money, the district ended up spending $1,413,141 LESS for teachers than it had projected for the year, and had $6.5 million MORE in undesignated reserves.

Q: Did the cuts impact certificated staff?
A: Yes. The NHUSD School Board set its budgeting priorities for 2019-20 school year. On March 5 they voted to release 32 NHTA members from their contracts: 25 multiple subject teachers, 2 counselors, a teacher librarian specialist, an English Teacher, a Science Teacher (Physics) a Foreign Language teacher (Spanish), and teacher on special assignment (TOSA).

Q: Will NHUSD lose Grade Span Adjustment (GSA) funding by increasing grade 1-3 class sizes from 24-1 to 30-1 next year?
A: Perhaps. The CA Dept. of Ed. legislation language says districts still get GSA funding for higher ratios if the collective bargaining agreement has other language agreeing to it. The current contract has 30-1 contract language, but it also has language stating “K-3 class size will be maintained at legal limits for K-3 class size reduction program, as long as State funding continues and the District participates in the program.”

Q: Is the School Board holding $1 million in a special account this year?
A: Yes. Beginning this year, the School Board is assigning $1,000,000 in Board Priorities 9780. It is unrestricted money that can be spent on anything the School Board deems is a priority. $1,000,000 is equal to a 1.45% increase to NHTA.

Q: If fact finding fails to produce an agreement is a teacher strike imminent?
A: Fact finding is the last stage in negotiations. If the parties fail to reach an agreement and the NHTA membership has voted to authorize the NHTA executive board to call a for a strike, the executive board will evaluate if and when a strike may be necessary. Given the current timelines, a strike action could be called as early as the end of May.

Q: When will the Fact Finding Hearing happen?
A: We are communicating with PERB (Public Employment Relations Board) to choose the three person panel and to set the date of the Fact Finding Hearing. We hope these details can be worked out in the next week or so.

Thanks for your continued support,

Joe Angeles
Quyen Bullard
Colleen Conley
Don Heinsohn
Shane Henderson
David Hernandez
Mara Loth
Jen Nemecek
Greg Snelling
Rachel Sowell
W. Pace Lash