Contract
negotiations in the Stroudsburg Area School District could be headed to
arbitration if agreements can’t be reached at a June meeting.
On May 19, the
district and the Stroudsburg Area Education Association leadership held another
contract bargaining session, but both sides came to the table with different
ideas in mind for the new contract in salaries, health care, starting a
cyber-charter school and contract length.
Matt Gruenloh,
a representative for the Pennsylvania Education Association and the spokesman
for the union, did not return various messages for comment on the bargaining
session.
The teacher’s
union leadership has proposed to raise teachers’ salaries by 3.75 percent each
year for five years. This would also include step movement and be retroactive
to the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, according to district solicitor
Jeffrey Sultanik.
During that
time, total salary costs for the district would go from $31 million to $36
million, which doesn’t include retirement contributions, Social Security taxes
and other payments accompanying salaries, Sultanik said.
The board has
proposed a step and one column movement per year for the 2016-17 school year,
with a non-reoccurring bonus of $750 to the teachers who have been on the
maximum step of the salary schedule for the entirety of the prior school year.
The bonus would be paid on the last pay date of the school year.
For the 2017-18
school year, there would also be a step and one column movement, and a $800
non-reoccurring bonus to those on the maximum step of the salary schedule.
The board is
proposing a three-year contract, which would include 2015-16, which would hold
to the district’s salary freeze. The district’s three-year contract proposal is
because of the uncertainty of its economic condition, Sultanik said.
In terms of
health care, the district is proposing to go to a similar plan to the one at
the Pleasant Valley School District. It would include an in-network deductible
of $500 for a single person or $1,000 for a family and out-of-network $1,000
deductible for a single person and $2,000 for a family.
The
out-of-pocket maximums would be the amount that is allowed under the Affordable
Care Act during the year. A primary physican’s office visit would cost $20, a
specialist $25, urgent care $50 and emergency room $100. Prescription costs
would be $10 or $50.
The
association’s offer on health insurance includes adding an in-network
deductible of $250 and $750 and an out-of-network deductible of $500 and
$1,000. The emergency room co-pay would be increased to $50 and the urgent care
co-pay would be $20.
Seeing a
primary physician the co-pay would be $10 and a specialist would be $20.
Sultanik said
the concessions the union had made on the health benefit program would save the
district around $500,000 per year, but those savings would be offset completely
by the 3.75 per-year pay increase.
Going to the
Pleasant Valley type health plan would save the district $2 million a year,
enough to forego the proposed demotion of 21 full-time staff positions to
third-time positions.
The district
needed to make that decision by Wednesday, as it needs to be voted on for the
2016-17 budget by the June 15 school board meeting.
“It appears
that the district will be forced to move forward with the demotions as the
result of the association’s unwillingness to concede to a level high enough to
avoid the savings that would result from the demotions process,” Sultanik said.
Other proposals
by the district include subcontracting two athletic trainer positions with St.
Luke’s Hospital, which would save money for the district as well as a proposal
to subcontract building substitutes and all long-term substitutes to an outside
vendor, Sultanik said.
The district
would save about $20,000 per building substitute and long-term substitute, he
said.
The district is
willing to not subcontract if the association were to agree to have a
healthcare program equivalent o minimum essential coverage under the Affordable
Care Act on a single coverage basis for individuals holding these positions,
which would save the district about $20,000 annually, Sultanik said.
The district is
also preparing to move forward with the cyber charter school plan, Sultanik
said. During the last negotiating session, the association said with minor
tweaks they could agree to the district’s memorandum of understanding, but they
would only do that if the district were to agree to the association’s health
benefit program and that the district would prevent demotions, suspending or
furloughing professional staff for a four-year period.
“It is the
district’s position that the association is attempting to hold the cyber school
program hostage to attempt to get what it wants in the collective bargaining
process,” Sultanik said.
In the
memorandum of understanding, the cyber charter, the district agreed that it
cannot start a cyber school program without first bargaining the issues with
the association. Sultanik said the district believes that it has bargained this
issue for a long time with the association and it has reached an impasse on the
issue.
He said the
board will be reviewing its options at its upcoming meetings as to whether it
will implement the cyber school program and try to bring back 43 students to
the district.
“The district
recognizes that the association may file another challenge with the
Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, but the district is no longer willing to
play the game initiated by the association leadership that is limiting
opportunities for district students,” Sultanik said.
Source: Pocono
Record
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