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Board, teachers remain far apart
By ROBERT KING, Times Staff Writer BROOKSVILLE -- The signs of discontent are plain to see. Hernando County teachers, anxious for a good pay raise in a year when a $3.3-million windfall suddenly appeared in the school district's budget, are priming for a battle over their new contract. More than 60 teachers showed up Tuesday afternoon for a bargaining session with School Board representatives. Typically, only five or six teachers assigned to the bargaining team appear at the meetings. It was, by far, the biggest turnout of teachers in six years. During breaks, members of the restive group talked of things not heard of since 1996: a contract holdout, the likelihood of an impasse and rumblings about whether to curb their participation in after-school activities as a form of protest. On her note pad, teacher Amy Colvin scribbled "I ain't buying it" as she listened to the School Board's representative talk about a tight budget. She knows the grammar was bad, but she was angry. As if to buoy the troops, veteran teacher Milissa Keller was showing other teachers old newspaper clippings from six years ago -- pictures of teachers waving placards and letters to the editor about work curtailments. "We haven't gotten to picketing (yet)," Keller said. But, looking around at the crowd of teachers, she said, "It just says people are concerned. We are tired of the scraps being thrown to the classroom." For Patty Martin, a fourth-year teacher at Moton Elementary School, labor squabbles are new territory. But the fact she makes more money at her second job -- as a server at Golden Corral -- than she does teaching is a big concern to her. "We're starting to get fired up," Martin said. Last week, the School Board came out with an initial offer of a 3.3 percent pay raise and a promise to cover health insurance increases of $14 a month per person. Teachers wanted the health insurance increase plus a 6.5 percent raise. On Tuesday, neither side gave much ground. In fact, teachers went the other way. They asked for the School Board to cover both their health insurance increase plus the $20 a month per person they were already paying for their share of health insurance. The School Board budged only slightly, allowing for the health insurance increase and an average raise of 3.7 percent. In terms of cash, the School Board's proposal would cost about $1.3-million in new money. The teacher's proposal would cost nearly twice that much. Edd Poore, the School Board's lead negotiator, said the distance between the two sides was "miles and miles and miles" and said the situation is as bleak as it has been in years. "I am extremely disappointed about this session with the union," Poore said. "There is more money (separating) us than there is on the table." Maureen Richie, the lead negotiator for the teachers, said she hopes the two sides are not as far apart as Poore described. But she said teachers are restless. She put the onus on the other side to bring the two sides closer before talk of holdouts, protests and impasse hearings becomes a reality. "I hope the board comes around before that happens," Richie said. "But the (union) members are upset." Specifically, they are angry about concessions teachers have made in recent years that they now view as unjustified, given a discovery this spring of a $3.3-million surplus in one of the district's bond repayment accounts that existed as far back as 1995. Those concessions include accepting the responsibility for paying part of their personal health insurance premiums and a halt to an early retirement program. Keller, who teaches at Chocachatti Elementary, said teacher salaries have been dramatically hurt in recent years because of the repercussions from a single School Board decision: the move to a self-funded health insurance plan that rang up nearly $5-million in cost overruns in a matter of two years. "Incompetence on their part is not an emergency on my part," Keller said. The two sides will return to the table Aug. 27 for more negotiations. -- Robert King covers education in Hernando County and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com.
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From today's Hernando Times Letters |
