Budget Update 2009-10

Current Budget and Bargaining Information

In an effort to keep members informed about this budget crisis, your bargaining team will be adding information to this section for members who are interested in knowing what is happening. We are only reporting for the certified employees but please know that we are consulting with the classified association and working together most of the time. We do not bargain for the administration but it is the district's intent to have all bargaining groups work together to problem solve solutions. BUT please know we can only suggest what would be equitable. We only have the authority to bargain for our own bargaining group.

July 20, 2009 News

The district and association have come to an agreement on the new substitute positions so that we can bring back the last four employees off the lay-off/recall list. We have created permanent substitute positions. This person would be called every day to substitute. We have at least 30 employees out each day. They would be placed on step 1 of the column that they are currently on and they would have a shortened work year due to the fact that they will not be working on staff development/grading days. They would be a member of our association and would receive all the benefits as a full time employee (Insurance, sick and personal leave, probationary and seniority time credited, PERS, etc.). If they are assigned a long term sub job, then they would receive pay for the grading/staff development days depending on the requirement and time for the position. This position was created for only the 2009-10 school year and will not continue if all laid off employees are hired back. The employee placed in this position would be the first to be placed in a regular teaching position if one becomes available. I know this position will not be easy, but our employees will be working and receiving benefits.

I will also continue to create a substitute list for all our temporary employees who were not eligible to be on the layoff and recall list. We still have about 20 positions that will not be filled next year due to the financial situation. I will give each building representative the substitute list of our temporary employees who would like to be called to substitute next school year. They will distribute this list in your school in September. It is my hope that this will help them get substitute positions on a regular basis so they can afford to stay in this area. When the economy gets better it is my hope that the district will hire them back. I want them to know that they were also our members and we cannot forget about them.

June 22, 2009 News

Good News:

Due to the effectiveness of cutting expenses this spring and the savings associated with unemployment insurance, the district ended with a larger reserve after the 2008-09 school year than anticipated. The district is following through on our intent of the memorandum of understanding that we passed in the spring to apply these fund to bringing back laid off employees. The Albany Public School Board this evening authorized staff to allocate 1 million dollars to recall laid off certified and classified employees. The details will be worked out in the next few days and all members who are being recalled will be notified as soon as possible.

The district would also like to create four new positions so we can bring back four additional employees off the lay-off/recall list. They would create permanent substitute positions (two elementary, one middle school, and one high school position). This person would be called every day to substitute. We have at least 30 employees out each day. They would be placed on step 1 of the column that they are currently on and they would have a shortened work year due to the fact that they will not be working on staff development/grading days. They would be a member of our association and would receive all the benefits as a full time employee (Insurance, sick and personal leave, probationary and seniority time credited, PERS, etc.). If they are assigned a long term sub job, then they would receive pay for the grading/staff development days depending on the requirement and time for the position. Your association is working on language for these positions. This would only be a position created for the 2009-10 school year and will not continue if all laid off employees are hired back. The employee placed in this position would be the first to be placed in a regular teaching position if one becomes available and then the next employee on the seniority list would be placed in the permanent substitute position. I know this position will not be easy, but our employees will be working and receiving benefits.

May 18, 2009 News

The MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for 6 cut day for the 2009-10 school year has passed. The vote was No - 48 and Yes - 148. Your bargaining team will meet soon with the district to determine which days will be cut from the school calendar. I want to thank all the members who voted on this MOU.

On Tuesday or Wednesday of this week employees will be notified of their placement for next school year and lay-off notices will also be issued. This year we have many factors that will create more movement than we have ever experienced. (It will be similar to when we consolidated district 5 into our current district 8.) The factors which are creating this massive movement are: 1. The opening of Timber Ridge School. 2. The changing of school boundaries. 3. Reduction in staff. Please be supportive and reach out to employees who may need our support. This will be a very upsetting spring for some of our employees and we need to be there for them.

If the legislature increases the funding level for K-12 public education, then we will start recalling employees back. When you listen to the news you are wanting to hear K-12 funding to be at 5.7 billion and above. If it is at 5.7 billion then we will not need to make any more cuts for next year. The 5.7 billion funding level is what our district based their 2009-10 school budget on (Their budget also included the 6 cut days we just ratified.) If it is above 5.8 billion then employees will start being recalled. After all employees have been recalled then we will start restoring back lost days.

April, 2009 News

Your bargaining team has been meeting regularly to get updated financial numbers from the district and also from OEA (Oregon Education Association). We met on April 8th and April 22nd. On April 22nd your bargaining team wrote another survey monkey to ask members some questions to give us direction. If you are not on the survey monkey list, please email Lisa at lisa.shogren@oregoned.org with your home email address. Survey monkey is not perfect and some email providers have their spam filter set high. Sometimes survey monkey is delayed, put into your deleted folder, or spam folder. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Your bargaining team has met with the district and has reached a conceptual agreement on how many unpaid days we may need to take for the 2009-10 school year.We have also agreed on an early retirement incentive. We want to thank the members who answered the survey monkey because it gave our team the direction it needed for these agreements. The district is writing the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the unpaid days and your association is writing the MOU for the early retirement incentives. We will then bring it to the membership for a vote. We can not give out any details until it is written up. We want to make sure it is what we agreed on.

Documents that you may find interesting:

Response letter from your association to the district about reopening the contract.

Salary Explanation when we were bargaining (2008-2011 contract).

April 13, 2009 School Board Presentation on proposed budget cuts.

The following people were on your bargaining team and are a great resource if you have questions or concerns about the 2008 - 2011 contract.

Lisa Shogren, Liberty

Rex Anderson, Calapooia

Dan Lawson, West Albany High School

Marsha Meidinger, Central

Cheryl Hultberg, Lafayette

Susan Lee-Reedy, Waverly

Rich Cooke, Sunrise

Holly Garrow, South Albany High School

Jennifer Vomocil, Memorial Middle School

Melanie Montgomery, South Albany High School