Brookline Town Meeting Member Proposes Equitable Educator Raises

Press release from Mike Offner:

Brookline, MA (May 31, 2020) – With the goal of creating labor peace within the Public Schools of Brookline as quickly as possible, Town Meeting Member and PSB parent Mike Offner has put forth a model called the Equitable Raise Proposal.

“We need to get a contract for our educators in place before Town Meeting votes on the town and schools budget on June 23,” Offner said.

“As a parent, I understand the education side, and as a Town Meeting Member, I understand the budget side.

“For the sake of our educators and our children, the School Committee and Brookline Educators Union need to be equally committed to finding fair, reasonable, and equitable solutions that work realistically within our Town Budget, which will have to account for revenue declines due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are at a unique inflection point that represents the opportunity of a lifetime to improve the quality and morale of our schools.

“Our new Interim Superintendent, Dr. James Marini, who will start on July 1, is among the best possible leaders that educators and parents could ask for. He puts educators, children, equity, and community harmony above all else.”

Offner grew up in Newton and attended the public schools there, as did Marini, who went on to teach in the Newton Public Schools and eventually become the principal of Newton North High School as well as Newton’s Interim Superintendent.

“I’ve met Dr. Marini and know his reputation well,” Offner said. “He is a beloved legend in Newton.”

Offner noted that while he himself has not lived in Newton for a long time, he checked with some friends who attended school, lived, and worked in Newton during Marini’s tenure as Newton North principal and interim superintendent.

“Everyone says the same thing,” Offner said. “Dr. Marini is a great leader, a uniter, and a healer. No one has a bad word to say and no one even knows anyone with a bad word to say. Teachers, students, and parents all love him.”

Offner said he is also optimistic about the new composition of the nine-member School Committee, which will include Andy Liu and Mariah Nobrega, who are running unopposed along with current School Committee Vice Chair Suzanne Federpiel, who is up for reelection. The uncontested election is on June 9.

“I know Andy and Mariah as fellow parents and fellow Town Meeting members,” Offner said. “They are extremely thoughtful, compassionate, and genuine people who will put educators’ and children’s well being at the absolute top of their priorities.

“For the sake of our educators and children, and for the sake of equitable educational outcomes, there are no two people I’d rather have join the School Committee than Andy and Mariah.”

Offner noted that he expects Federspiel to become the School Committee’s new chair, as current chair Julie Schreiner-Oldham’s term is expiring and she is not seeking reelection.

“Suzanne as chair of the School Committee is a dream for educators and children,” Offner said, noting Federspiel’s career as a special education instructor and principal. “She has been a uniter and a voice of calm reason during some tense times in the Brookline schools. She naturally brings people together and bridges differences. Suzanne understands and embraces equity as well as anyone.”

With the nearly simultaneous start of Dr. Marini’s leadership and a recomposed School Committee led by Federspiel, Offner said he is optimistic that the Brookline School Committee and Brookline Educators Union will reach an agreement shortly.

“I covered contract negotiations for the Newton North newspaper,” Offner said. “And my father was president of the Boston University Faculty Union. I know collective bargaining well. I’ve lived it, I’ve studied it, and I’ve written about it. I’ve studied the current state of labor relations in Brookline, and I’ve gotten to know folks on the School Committee and at the top of the Brookline Educators Union. We are about to begin a renaissance in the Brookline schools with Dr. Marini as our guide.”

Offner mentioned that he’s learned a lot from Brookline Educators Union President Jessica Wender-Shubow.

“Jessica has been a great teacher, literally, for me,” Offner said. “She’s taught me so much about the current state of public education. She’s pushed me to think more deeply about education than I had ever had before.

“And I know that Jessica is deeply committed to creating the best possible environment for educators and children, and that she will do her absolute best to reach a fair and reasonable contract as soon as reasonably possible so that we can all have a peaceful summer and look forward to whatever it is that fall brings us.”

For his part, Offner put to use his training and experience in law, negotiation, finance, and business, combined with his knowledge of collective bargaining, to come up with a proposal that offers a “grand compromise” with which both sides could be happy if perhaps not thrilled.

“If both sides feel they’ve left something on the table, that would be a good sign,” Offner said. “Good outcomes often leave each side feeling that they could have taken a little more but also that they could have given a little more.

“I’ve developed an Equitable Raise Proposal to which I think both the School Committee and Brookline Educators Union can reasonably and quickly agree.”

Offner noted that he recognizes that the Union has to put any agreement to its members for a ratification vote.

“In the Equitable Raise Proposal, educators with the lowest current salaries get the highest percentage raises, and educators with the highest current salaries get the lowest raises,” Offner explained.

“The raises descend in linear form. So an educator in the middle of the current salary range will get half the percentage raise that the lowest salaried educator gets, and an educator at the top of the current salary range will get no raise.

“It’s not perfect but I think it is equitable and feasible.

“This model allows for a total compensation distribution that is equitable among educators while also allowing the Town to retain all or almost all educators going forward.

“The main goal of the proposal is to maximize the possibility of a mutually acceptable, no-layoff new contract that can be part of the new school budget that Town Meeting will vote on at its meeting beginning June 23.

“Everybody wants a new contract by June 23. Educators, parents, and children all deserve to start this summer of the pandemic with confidence that we will have labor peace as we head toward the new school year in September. Goodness knows, we’ve already got enough stress to deal with.

“There is not much we can control about the global tragedy of the pandemic and its brutal impact on our economy, but the Brookline School Committee and Brookline Educators Union can, together, control whether we have a contract by June 23.”

Offner’s Equitable Raise Proposal can be explored here: https://tinyurl.com/EquitableRaises

This press release was produced by Mike Offner. The views expressed here are the author's own.