San Benito High School teachers presented district officials
with a new contract proposal Tuesday evening, but until the two
sides can come to an agreement, teachers will continue working
under the terms of the expired 2003-2004 contract.
Hollister – San Benito High School teachers presented district officials with a new contract proposal Tuesday evening, but until the two sides can come to an agreement, teachers will continue working under the terms of the expired 2003-2004 contract.
Teachers have requested scheduled pay raises, which they haven’t had for three years, and asked the district to maintain current health benefit plans at no additional cost to the teachers. District officials have not yet had time to figure out how much the teacher’s proposal will cost, but Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said the district cannot afford the proposal for the entire staff, which includes both teachers and classified employees.
Slater hopes to see a cost estimate before next Tuesday, when the two parties are scheduled to meet again.
“I recognize that our teachers have not had a scheduled pay raise in three years,” she said. “But we must remain fiscally solvent.”
Chief district negotiator Don Balfour, who is the director of human resources at the school, said the union proposal was extensive and calculating its cost would take time.
However, he was able to make a preliminary determination, based on the “breadth” of the proposal, that the district could not afford it. If that turns out to be the case, Balfour said he expects the district to submit a counter offer Tuesday.
“They’re asking for a lot,” Balfour said. “And we have to balance (the cost of the proposal) with district’s other needs.”
Those other needs include paying for classified and certificated staff and four proposed construction projects that would require money from the district’s general and reserve funds, Balfour said. For Balfour, a settlement cannot come soon enough.
Negotiations, which started in January, continue to drag on and both sides agree this has had a negative affect on morale.
Talks between San Benito High School teachers and the district halted in late June when Don Balfour, the district’s chief negotiator, declared the two sides had reached an impasse. Negotiations had stalled over health benefits.
Balfour planned to file paper work with the Public Employment Relations Board in June in order to get a state mediator to oversee further negotiations, but after conversations in July between Schallhorn and Slater, both sides agreed that the impasse declaration was unnecessary and returned to the bargaining table in August.
San Benito High School California Teachers Association President Chuck Schallhorn said the most recent proposal was created with the district’s financial concerns in mind.
“We are entrusted with the care and education of our nation’s most important resource: Children,” Schallhorn said. “We want increased wages based on the new money coming into the district.”
Schallhorn expects negotiations to be completed before Thanksgiving break on Nov. 23 and the final contract ratified by mid-December.
While the district’s 143 teachers have not had a scheduled pay raise for the last three years, received they did receive a one-time pay raise during the 2003-2004 school year, teacher’s union negotiator and SBHS teacher Mitch Huerta said.
“Teachers deserve compensation for improving test scores during trying times,” Huerta said. “And I think the community would agree.”
Huerta declined to comment on the tone of recent negotiations with the district.
“To me, tone is not the issue,” he said. “The issue is what the teachers deserve and what the district believes the teachers deserve. And that will be settled at the table.”
Balfour believes the tone of the negotiations thus far have been “hopeful,” but he too is anxious to reach a settlement.
“I wanted (a settlement) yesterday,” he said. “Dragging out negotiations has hurt the morale of the staff.”
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com
