Teachers win round in wrangling over new contract

The special magistrate who oversaw the impasse hearing between the teachers union and the Manatee County School District has released his report, with some good news for teachers.

On the two major issues — pay scale increases and more funding toward health insurance premiums — Special Magistrate Robert Hoffman sided with the Manatee Education Association. Hoffman also sided with the union on retroactive pay, which district employees typically receive around December. The district had said they would pull retro-pay off the table once the two sides went into impasse.

Hoffman heard arguments from both union and district representatives during a hearing at the school board on Jan. 25.

Now that Hoffman has released his report, both the district and union will meet on March 9. Any of the four items the two sides agree on will stand as the guideline for the contract, but if either side rejects any part of a recommendation, that recommendation will be passed on to the school board to decide.

District negotiator Bill Vogel said Wednesday the magistrate’s ruling puts the district in peril of dipping below the state-mandated 3 percent reserve fund balance.

“The district has had major challenges with their budget, and there is no way we can make any recommendation to bring our fund balance below 3 percent, which is the required state minimum,” Vogel said. “The past history of Manatee County has been under state scrutiny because they dipped below that balance.”

Hoffman’s report disagrees. He states there is money within the district to fund the union’s requests.

“There is sufficient evidence that the District allows reallocation within the budget. ... That such ‘adjustments’ could not be made here, but are permissible otherwise, is concerning,” Hoffman’s report states.

The union wants teachers rated highly effective on the performance pay scale to advance four steps, and effective-rated teachers to advance three steps, a pay raise of roughly $1,200 and $900, respectively. All teachers on the grandfathered salary schedule would advance four steps, under the union’s proposal.

Hoffman sided with the teachers union on the issue. To meet the union’s demand, the district would need an additional $964,396. Hoffman pointed to district chief financial officer Rebecca Roberts’ testimony, when she said the actual cost of the teacher bargaining unit is $7 million less in January than it was at the beginning of the year.

Hoffman also said district teachers’ salaries have decreased since 2007-08, while surrounding counties’ teachers have all received raises. And he said the increase in the pay steps is necessary due to increased health insurance costs.

He also sided with the union on health insurance. The conflict over rising health insurance premiums had led to the impasse, with the teachers rejecting a tentative agreement reached by the union and district in October, citing rising massive premium increases for teachers with their spouse or family on the plan.

Hoffman agreed with the union that $1.5 million in premiums should be paid by the district, rather than being passed on to employees.

“Passing cost of the increased premiums on so dramatically in one year can be devastating to teachers, whose income will not keep pace with increases in other comparable and adjacent counties,” the report stated.

A $300 cost-of-living adjustment and longevity pay for veteran teachers requested by the union did not get the magistrate’s stamp of approval.

The adjustment was targeted for the fraction of teachers who did not earn an effective or highly effective rating. Most teachers in the district have received highly effective or effective ratings in recent years, so only 57 teachers would receive a cost of living adjustment but no pay raise under the union’s proposal. But under Florida law, all bargaining unit members need to receive the same benefits. With a total cost of more than $1 million, Hoffman said the salary adjustments and insurance contributions were higher priorities.

And the longevity pay for teachers after 16 and 25 years in the county was rejected primarily because Hoffman said he wanted to focus on finding funds to pay for salary adjustments and insurance premiums. The district’s argument, which the magistrate took into consideration, was that the union had withdrawn the request for longevity pay.

“It was good a person coming in from the outside who was able to look at the issues, devoid of any emotion, and recommend that the district pay what was in the MEA’s proposal,” MEA President Pat Barber said.

The school board and district officials will meet in an executive session on Friday to discuss strategy.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Teachers win round in wrangling over new contract."