Poway School Board Receives Union's Contract Offer, Discusses Cuts

As the Poway school district took a step toward tying up some of its financial loose ends on Monday, officials cautioned that education funding still appears to be unraveling at the state level.

"It's going to really take everything out of that special reserve to make it through one year," Superintendent John Collins said in an update about how the state budget crisis, in a worst case scenario, could affect the district.

A vote on Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax extensions—revenue which could help prevent at least $2 billion in education funding cuts—had yet to happen by the start of Monday's special board meeting at 6 p.m. The district does not plan to lay off any teachers, even if the extensions don't pass, due to a $20 million reserve fund.

But though the tax extension issue remains unresolved, district officials can move toward settling with the last of its employee groups without a contract—the Poway School Employees Association.

The board officially accepted the union's initial contract offer, about four months after the district made its first offer. PSEA, which represents the district's 1,200 or so classified employees such as office workers, has been operating under a contract that expired June 30.

The last contract was part of the former union which PSEA officially replaced in September. Union leaders have said the logistics of organizing a new union, such as officer elections, had delayed the presentation of their initial offer.

One of the key issues in negotiations is likely to be an eight-day cut to the employees' work year the board recently approved. Other employee groups had previously agreed to the cut and the resulting 4.3 percent salary reduction for the current school year, but PSEA had not. Earlier this month, district officials approved the cut—classified as a layoff—for PSEA employees starting next year through a provision in the expired but in-effect contract.

PSEA leaders have argued that the district does not have the authority to unilaterally impose the workyear shortening. In its initial contract offer, PSEA does not specifically address the eight-day cut but does mention a desire to discuss the number of working days and salaries. The offer also seeks to redefine what a layoff is, which could affect the district's ability to similarly cut employees' working days in the future.

Other Notes:

• The board approved a resolution supporting a bill that would allow school parcel taxes to pass with a 55 percent majority vote rather than the current two-thirds requirement.
• After signing a series of budget-cutting bills last week, Gov. Brown said that education could face as much as $4-$5 billion in cuts for 2011-12 without the tax extensions, a fiscal hit twice as large as now projected, Collins said in his budget update. After the meeting, Collins said he still doesn't think the district will have to lay off any teachers thanks to its reserve. When asked if he wished the district had sent preliminary layoff notices to some teachers, considering how much larger the education cuts may be, Collins said no. Education Code includes a rarely-used provision for districts to conduct August layoffs, but Collins said he doesn't think the district will need it.

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