Brookline Teachers Union Sends Message To School Committee

City of Brookline: As the School Committee requested on June 10, 2019, the Brookline Educators Union is still hoping we can come to a one-year wages-only agreement in order to reset negotiations for a longer-term agreement. Based on our conversation last week that the School Committee has no plans to make another offer after our negotiations on July 10, 2019, the BEU Core Negotiations Team met and decided to give one final proposal. We now offer the following:

• Paraprofessional Unit: $1.25 on all cells (the same as we proposed, and the School Committee agreed to, on July 10, 2019)
• Unit A: 2% increase to all cells (we are withdrawing the longevity increase)
• Unit B: 2% increase to all cells (we are withdrawing the longevity increase)

This is our final offer and our absolute bottom-line for a one-year agreement. This meets the School Committee’s budget allocation of 2% for Units A and B, as voted and approved by Town Meeting on May 21, 2019. While the Paraprofessional Unit agreement goes above 2%, this begins to address the School Committee’s stated need for attracting and retaining paraprofessionals, especially since the Public Schools of Brookline is on a trajectory of being out of compliance for students’ IEPs without enough Paraprofessionals.

We hope and expect that the School Committee agrees to this, which will then allow us to reset our negotiations for a longer-term agreement.

In the spirit of the BEU’s transparency, we are sharing this with our members and the community.