School District Collective Bargaining Agreement Easily Passes

On Tuesday, with more than 90 percent support, instructional and classified employees with the Sarasota County School District approved the new collective bargaining agreement. Later in the evening the school board voted 4-1 to approve the agreement with Carol Todd voting no.

Sarasota Classified Teachers Association President Pat Gardner said she was proud of the people she represents and of the job done but the situation itself was sad.

“We had a group voting to cut their own pay,” she said. “They know there are problems [that] have to be dealt with. I heard very little grumbling [during negotiations] and everyone is moving forward.”

The new agreement will save the district nearly $13.6 million next year.

Language in the approved agreement calls for two unpaid furlough days for school district employees next year. Those days will be August 11, 2011 before the school year starts and June 6, 2012 after the school year ends.

In addition to the furlough days, step-increase and longevity bonuses will be frozen for the 2011-12 school year and can be revisited and negotiated after each school year. Any teachers hired after July 1 of this summer will not be eligible for the step-increase or longevity bonuses at all.

“I’ve done this for a number of years,” said district attorney Art Hardy. “This was the most challenging year we’ve had for a variety of reasons; budget reasons, Senate Bill 736.”

While challenging, Hardy, who was on the superintendent’s bargaining team, said the district and school board got the best possible solution.

“We’ve made some agreements in ways that not only provide immediate help next year but also addresses some of the long-term issues that the board has been concerned about.”

Some of the biggest changes in the new collective bargaining agreement were made in preparation for changes to education and teacher evaluations due to the passing of Senate Bill 736.

The bill requires that a portion of each teacher’s evaluation be based on student test scores. The bill will require and be used to determine merit pay for teachers. The bill’s mandates do not go into affect until 2014.

Superintendent Lori White said the agreement puts the district ahead of the curve compared to other districts in the state in terms of preparing to comply with SB 736. She added that the evaluation changes also help Sarasota and Florida with getting the federal Race to the Top grant money. 

“[This was] a very complicated process to not only go in and ask staff to approve pay cuts but also approve language that is moving from pay from the number years of education they get and number of years experience they have to judging them on how well the students perform,” said board member Shirley Brown. “We are out in front implementing race to the top [requirements] and implementing SB 736.” 

The collective bargaining agreement is for three years. Salary and benefit discussions can be opened after each fiscal year, however, which would require another ratification vote. 

“That percent of ratification [of the collective bargaining agreement] shows the dedication and commitment that we have in this community,” White said. “We are a leader in this state because of the trust and the relationships that we have built. I’m very proud to lead this quality organization.”

More Details

• The decrease in pay due to furloughs will be spread out throughout the year to make sure it has the least amount of impact to district employees
• All newly hired school psychologists; social workers or program specialists will be on a 10-month contract opposed to the current 11-month contracts.
• Employee health insurance deductibles will be increased around 3 percent.
• Ninety-three percent of instructional employees (1,528) voted yes and 115 instructional employees voted no. 
• Ninety-one percent of classified employees  (1,024) voted yes and 106 classified employees voted no.