Upcoming vote on contract ratification carries little impact for teachers

Pat Barber won’t say what she is recommending Manatee County’s teachers do Friday when they will begin voting on their contract for this school year.

But she is giving some hints.

“At this point, I cannot think of a reason why teachers would be compelled to vote ‘yes,’” said Barber, president of the Manatee Education Association.

All teachers in the School District of Manatee County will be eligible to vote to decide whether they accept the school board’s decision on their pay and benefits for this school year. Online voting opens Friday and continues through April 13.

But the outcome of the vote will have little impact on the board’s decision. Even if the teachers reject it, the contract will be imposed due to state law.

On March 27, the school board ended a 5-month-long impasse between the Manatee Education Association and the district. Under the board’s proposed contract, teachers would receive a 4-step pay scale increase for highly effective teachers, a 3-step pay scale increase for effective teachers, a $300 bonus, and longevity pay supplements for teachers hitting 16 and 25 years.

But the proposed contract does not make the pay step increases retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year, meaning the annual raises equate to $212 for highly effective teachers and $159 for effective teachers, according to district Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Roberts. The proposal also did not change health insurance premiums, which for teachers with their family or their spouse on the plan could increase by up to about $300 per month.

When would the ratification vote matter?

If the board had included retropay as part of its offer, then the teachers would have to ratify the contract in order to get the retropay. And if the board had included any terms in the contract the teachers did not like, rejecting the contract would mean the new terms were only imposed through the end of the fiscal year. Since the contract does not include retro pay and does not have any terms besides salary and benefits, the contract will be imposed as-is regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Barber said the teachers do stand to see a tiny amount more cash if they do not ratify the contract. If the teachers reject the contract, the board’s decision would be imposed as of March 27, meaning the pay-step increases would be effective as of that day. If the teachers ratify the contract, the board’s decision would be effective once the ratification votes are tallied.

That fraction of a pay raise didn’t impress Dawn Pierre, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Manatee Elementary School.

“It doesn’t really matter which way we vote,” Pierre said. “If we vote ‘no,’ they are going to impose it anyway, so its kind of a catch-22. You vote yes, you get it, you vote no, you get it.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Upcoming vote on contract ratification carries little impact for teachers."