WCEA Bargaining Update ………………….

 

On Tuesday, 9/18/18, the WCEA and District teams met to begin 2018-2019 negotiations.  This year’s bargaining is for a new three-year contract which will extend to 2021. For the first session, WCEA made proposals for compensation only, reserving the right to bring additional proposals at future sessions.

Before explaining the WCEA salary proposal, it is important to understand that teachers fall into one of three categories for salary increases:

1. Teachers who had a Professional Services Contracts (PSC) when performance pay began in Washington County in 2015-16 are paid under the Grandfathered pay system, unless they elected, in writing, to leave the Grandfathered system to be paid under the Performance Paysystem described below. Grandfathered teachers continue to have a salary amount listed on the salary schedule which has a corresponding number. This number does not represent years of service, since in recent years the outcome of bargaining was that Grandfathered teachers wouldn’t move to the next salary level but instead would receive a raise as a result of increasing the value of every salary amount on the schedule.

2. Teachers who did not have PSC when performance pay began in 2015-16 (or were hired thereafter) and who were evaluated in WCSD the previous year are paid under the Performance Pay system. If you were a WCSD teacher prior to 2015-16 and did NOT possess PSC, your salary was once listed on the salary schedule. The intent (and requirements) of the merit pay legislation, however, was to create an individualized salary progression for Performance Pay teachers. From 2015-16 forward, Performance Pay teachers earn salary adjustments based upon evaluation ratings from the previous year. When performance pay began in 2015-16, the salary amounts for these teachers became individualized – which means their salaries are no longer displayed on the schedule.

3. Teachers newly-hired to WCSD will become Performance Pay teachers after this year, but since they were not evaluated in WCSD in 2017-18 they are paid an initial salary based on years of experience using the Grandfathered schedule for this year only.

On Tuesday, WCEA proposed the following for salaries:

For Grandfathered teachers, an increase of $1,300 which includes movement to the next salary level. This $1,300 includes a $433 cost of living adjustment. Those who were already at salary level 25+ would remain at salary level 25+ and would also earn a $1,300 recurring increase. Also, the base salary (salary level 0) would increase by $433.

Grandfathered Example: If you were at salary level 16 in 2017-18 earning $49,539, your salary would increase by $1,300 and your position on the schedule would change to salary level 17 earning $50,839.

For Performance Pay teachers, WCEA proposed $1,589 for those rated “Highly Effective” and $1,300 for “Effective.” Both of the proposed increases include the $433 cost of living adjustment. Teachers receiving less than “Effective” ratings would only receive the $433 cost of living adjustment, as permitted by law.

Performance Pay Example: If you were earning $40,000 in 2017-18 and you were rated “Effective” last year, your salary would increase to $41,300 for 2018-19.

For teachers newly-hired to WCSD, their salaries would reflect the negotiated amounts on theGrandfathered salary schedule. Starting the following year, these teachers will be paid performance pay adjustments based upon final evaluation ratings.

Newly-hired Example: If you were hired at salary level 17 earning $50,057 you would remain at salary level 17 and earn the new amount schedule, $50,839.

Because there was no movement in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to higher salary level positions on the schedule for Grandfathered teachers, it is possible that newly-hired teachers with the same level of experience would be granted credit for years of teaching experience and could be paid a higher salary than teachers already working in WCSD.  This is known as “leapfrogging.”  To eliminate this possibility from occurring, WCEA proposed the following language:

“Experienced teachers newly hired to the district shall have initial placement on the salary schedule in a salary slot not greater than a Washington County teacher with the same years of experience as reflected in this salary schedule.”

 

This would mean, going forward, that the District must limit the salary placement for new hires with teaching experience so that a new hire cannot leapfrog a current teacher in terms of salary.

 

Anti-leapfrogging example: A teacher with 8 years of teaching experience in WCSD earns $40,850. A newly-hired teacher also with 8 years of experience would normally be paid a salary provided on the Grandfathered schedule at salary level 7 (remember, the schedule starts at 0 and not 1), but that figure is higher at $41,524. The anti-leapfrogging language would require the District to pay the teacher at salary level 7, which is $40,489, the closest amount that does not surpass the salary of the teacher already working in the District.

 

In addition to Salaries, WCEA made a few proposals for supplements:

• The salary amount upon which supplements that are a percentage are paid would increase to the proposed base salary ($35,305).
• The ESE supplement, currently 2%, increase to 3%.
• WAVE teachers would receive a supplement of $500.

 

While the District team did not make any proposals for compensation, it made a number of proposals relating to current contract language, most of which were editorial. WCEA will review them and prepare a response for the next session.

The next step is for the District team to meet in executive session with the School Board to review the WCEA proposal. A follow up session will be scheduled in the coming weeks when the parties will begin responding to the initial proposals and hopefully start making agreements to get us closer to completion.

Thank you to the teachers who were in attendance from KMS, RMS, CHS, FPTC, WAVE, WISE, FPTC who were able to see the process in action and learn more about the WCEA/WCSD contract.

Stay tuned for more bargaining updates as they occur!