After months of negotiating, Hollister School District board
members approved and signed the 2004-2005 teachers’ contract
Tuesday night.
After months of negotiating, Hollister School District board members approved and signed the 2004-2005 teachers’ contract Tuesday night.
“I think we’re all really happy the negotiations are over and we have come to an agreement,” Superintendent Judith Barranti said. “I really salute and appreciate the teachers for all their hard work in finding ways of making this work.”
The teachers will receive a 2 percent salary increase retroactive to their 2002 salary, since they received no raise in 2003. The raise increase will cost the Hollister School District (HSD), roughly $895,000 in the first year. The district made room for increases in salary for the 353 HSD teachers by changing medical benefits for teachers and staff. HESTA Past President Howard Madden and current president Michal Cook did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Teachers will continue to carry a Blue Cross PPO health care plan, but they’ve adopted the Power Advocate Program. The program makes teachers report any health care appointment aside from their general physician.
“What this does is make people think twice about whether they really need to see a specialist,” Barranti said.
HSD has teamed up with other districts in the county like San Benito High School District, North County Joint Union School District, Spring Grove School Districts and others to form the San Benito County School Medical Insurance Group. Known as a Joint Power Agreement (JPA), the partnership between the schools allowed them more power and choice when selecting insurance. They get a better rate because as a group, they are larger in size and receive benefits at a lower cost.
The HSD still has a $2 million budget deficit, before the additional teacher contract costs are included. However, efforts are under way to reduce payroll by offering teachers with 25 years in the district an early retirement enhancement.
Geoffrey Holland, a teacher at Rancho San Justo Middle School, said he believes the district and the union did the best they could considering the looming budget worries.
“I think in a situation like we’re in right now, offering early retirement incentives is a smart thing to do,” he said.
Those who wish to retire early, would receive a $10,000 enhancement, paid in $5,000 at the end of the 2004 school year, and again in 2005, along with their normal retirement compensation. Teachers who qualify have until June 30, 2004 to file.
“This is a great incentive because someone who has been teaching for that long is making around $70,000, and if they retire and we replace them with someone who we can pay $40,000, we would be saving a lot of money,” Barranti said.
In addition to the changes, Teachers can now roll over unused sick leave days into a catastrophic leave bank. The time off can be kept for any illness or injury keeping them from working for 10 or more consecutive days. This way, teachers can still have the leave time and not be financially penalized.
Overall, HSD Board President Dee Brown said she wishes there was lots of money to offer the teachers, but for now, this is the best contract they could create.
“I think we did the very best we could,” she said.
