School districts face challenges with negotiating contracts

As Scranton teachers plan to strike this week, other districts may not be far behind.

With districts feeling the strain of increased financial obligations and no clear picture of state funding, area teachers’ contracts are taking longer to negotiate.

In Lackawanna County, teachers in five of 10 school districts are either working under expired contracts or have contracts that expire Monday. Scranton teachers are scheduled to strike on the first day of school, Thursday, if an agreement is not reached before then. Teachers in two other districts — Old Forge and Riverside — have already gone on strike since their last agreements expired.

Teachers in Mid Valley and Valley View in Lackawanna County, Western Wayne in Wayne County and Blue Ridge, Forest City Regional, Montrose and Susquehanna Community in Susquehanna County are also in negotiations. Those union members teach a combined 23,000 students in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Across the state, there is a widening gap between what school boards and unions want, said Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.

“When your expectations start in opposite directions, it’s hard to find a compromise,” he said.

Labor unrest

Statewide, the northeast region of the state has a large number of unsettled contracts, compared to other regions, said Wythe Keever, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which represents 180,000 teachers and support personnel.

While experts are not sure why this region leads the state, all teachers, administrators and school board members said they hope to have agreements soon.

Scranton teachers and the district plan to negotiate Monday and Tuesday, in hopes of averting the strike set for the first day of school.

Two years ago, the Old Forge School District started the year on strike, and the union and district have yet to reach an agreement. The union has worked under an expired contract since 2010, making it the longest contract dispute in the region. The dispute included a rejected fact-finding and arbitrator’s report, lawsuits and the three-week strike in the 2013-14 school year. “We have been in informal negotiations for probably the past two weeks,” said Shawn Nee, union president. “We’re trying to work through the same issues as always — health care and salaries.”

Riverside, which went on a one-day strike in March, entered into the fact-finding process, halting a potential strike set for the beginning of the school year. During fact-finding, a state-appointed arbitrator hears presentations from both sides and makes a recommendation for an agreement. If both sides agree to it, it becomes the basis for a contract.

Elsewhere, Mid Valley is going into its third year without a contract. Forest City teachers, whose contract expires Monday, have given the union the right to authorize a strike if necessary. Western Wayne teachers are starting their second year working under an expired contract. The contract at Montrose ends Monday and ended at Susquehanna Community in June. Mountain View settled a contract last week, after more than three years of negotiations.

Financial challenges

As districts face financial pressure from soaring increases to state-mandated pension costs and decreased state funding, districts are also unsure how much state funding they will receive this year. The state has been without a budget for two months and districts have missed subsidy payments since then.

“To finalize the contract before you know what you’re going to get from the state is very difficult,” said Steve Robinson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

Valley View’s contract expires Monday, and while talks are progressing well, determining how much the district can afford is a challenge, said Business Manager Corey Castellani, who is also serving as interim substitute superintendent.

Old Forge Superintendent John Rushefski said that with the budget impasse, “to actually finalize a contract is nearly impossible.”

The district was projected to receive an additional $247,000 in Gov. Tom Wolf’s preliminary budget.

“That additional money would be huge in solving the contract,” he said.

In Mid Valley, not only is state funding uncertain, the district is owed state reimbursements for its elementary school construction project.

“Our issue is our financial uncertainty. It makes it difficult,” board member Paul Macknosky said.

Insurance concerns

In Lackawanna County, only teachers in Scranton pay part of their health insurance premiums. While premiums remain a major bargaining point, districts are also concerned with a tax that is scheduled to take effect in 2018.

Under the Affordable Care Act, high-cost insurance plans, often referred to as “Cadillac plans,” would be subject to a 40 percent tax starting in 2018 if they are above the government’s threshold. Some district plans could end up paying the tax.

In the Delaware Valley contract that begins Tuesday, teachers pay a $500 premium and have increased copays and deductibles.

“By having the employees pay more, we should be safe,” said Superintendent John Bell.

Mr. Himes said districts must look at health care costs now.

“Health care is probably the most difficult and complex part of bargaining,” he said.

Rosemary Boland, president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers and executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania, said union members across the state are ready to negotiate.

“I am always willing to sit at a table and figure things out,” she said. “That table has two sides. When we come to the bargaining table, we are equal partners.”

Source: The Times Tribune