District 300, teachers union trade jabs

When the Community Unit District 300 teachers union voted down concessions this week, the district lost a chance to reduce next year's budget by $2.2 million, according to the district.

The district will be able to make up some of that loss on Monday, when the school board is set to vote on more than $900,000 in reductions affecting administrators, secretaries and custodians.

The biggest chunk of savings will come from the district's new contract with the District 300 Education Services Personnel Association, the union that represents the district's secretaries and custodians.

The district estimates it will save more than $500,000 by approving the 3-year contract, which eliminates overtime pay, institutes three unpaid furlough days and eliminates automatic annual raises for experience.

The union, which has been negotiating the new deal with district leaders for about two months, ratified the contract this week.

On Monday, the board will also vote to require administrators to take three unpaid furlough days and pay more for their health insurance. Along with other reductions, these moves will save more than $430,000, the district estimates.

Because they are not unionized, administrators cannot veto changes to their compensation and working conditions.

School board President Joe Stevens applauded the support staff union as district officials work to slash $15 million from the 2010-11 budget.

"They were extremely cooperative," Stevens said. "They clearly understood the district's financial situation. They met all the targets that we gave them."

In contrast, District 300 on Thursday issued a sharply worded rebuke to the teachers union in the form of a lengthy news release that singled out teachers for taking increases next year while other employees groups accepted concessions. The release, however, did not include the more than 130 teachers who were laid off earlier this year in tallying the impact of the cuts on teachers or the district's budget.

District 300 laid off just two administrators earlier this year, according to the district. The district later hired one of the educators whose position was cut to fill another vacancy while keeping his former post unfilled.

Teachers union president Kolleen Hanetho said it was unfair for the district to portray teachers, in effect, as greedy while many more teachers are losing their jobs than members of any other employee group.

"I'm very disappointed that the district has chosen to engage in this type of press release at this time," Hanetho said. "We worked very hard with the district," she said, adding that union members did not feel administrators had been hit as hard by the budget reductions.

Stevens defended the release on Thursday, saying, "We're trying to get the record straight on what the real facts are."

The board president said the district agreed to extend the teachers contract with no changes for a year with the understanding the union would agree to concessions for next year. The union, he contends, did not hold up its end of the bargain.

"There was a verbal understanding that we knew we had to make cuts," Stevens said. "It was just agreeing what cuts would take place."

Even if the teachers union had ratified the agreement, Stevens said, the district would still be several million dollars short of the board's $15 million goal for reductions.

Now, he says, the district will probably have to operate in the red - unless the district and its largest union are able to reach an agreement that is acceptable to most teachers.

With that goal in mind, the two sides are scheduled to meet next week.

Despite this week's recriminations, Stevens said, "I think the fact that we're going to sit down next week is a positive thing."