Christie Proposal Would Allow BOE to Impose Contract Terms on Teachers

A proposal from Gov. Chris Christie to overhaul teacher contract negotiations has gained support from management while further angering the state teachers union.

As part of his proposed toolkit to reduce property taxes statewide, Christie is calling for the move back to allowing "last offer/best offer" in negotiations. The system would allow Boards of Education to unilaterally impose a contract on a local union in the event negotiations broke down. The system was allowed in New Jersey until banned by law in 2003.

Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said the proposal would provide assistance to school boards by allowing them to impose final offers when negotiations drag on. Current policy allows boards and teachers unions to go to a binding arbitration, which Christie and municipal leaders have said resulted in larger compensation awards to unions.

The last offer/best offer proposal is part of the arbitration reform component of the toolkit, which is being decided by the legislature this summer as part of Christie's effort to control property taxes. The proposal is separate from the arbitration component, which would allow for changes in how arbitration is handled and require settlements to fall in line with the recently passed two percent hard cap on property tax increases.

Michael Drewniak, Christie's press secretary, declined to comment on the specifics of the last offer/best offer proposal, saying the bill is still being written.

The proposal has gained strong opposition from the New Jersey Education Association; with a union spokesman saying it would hurt the idea of collective bargaining between labor and management. The union and Christie have been locked in a war of words for months over state education aid and salary issues.

"That is a bad idea," NJEA spokesman Steve Baker said. "It eliminates the concept of collective bargaining when one party can stall the process and then impose its will. That's not collective bargaining."

Baker said data used by the NJEA show that the last offer/best offer resulted in higher salaries as well, something Belluscio disputes, noting the compensation has grown larger than the Consumer Price Index since the elimination of last offer/best offer in 2003.

In Bernards Township, a stalemate over teacher's contracts has extended for months between the Board of Education and the Bernards Township Education Association. Currently, no teacher contract is in place for the upcoming school year. Pay raises for teachers in Bernards have consistently exceeded the previous 4 percent tax cap, and well exceeded a 2 percent increase.

During the school budget defeat process after the first proposal from the Board of Education was voted down, Township Administrator Bruce McArthur told Patch how he feels current negotiations techniques hurt the district in the budgeting process. School officials have refused to comment on the teacher salary negotiations process in order to remain in "good faith" standing as required by law.

"Because the negotiations are kept secret, the township committee cannot plan to make cuts based on negotiated savings, thereby preserving school programs, McArthur said, "It's a shame."

After new adminstration contracts were granted by the Board of Education in February, 2010, current Board President Susan Carlsson commented that the way the laws are structured and how arbitration occurs, there is only a limited amount of hard-line negotiating that can be accomplished. She did not reference last offer/best offer at the time.

Baker said there have been no teacher strikes since last offer/best offer has been implemented, a notion that is illegal in New Jersey. Belluscio said the NJSBA would like to strengthen the strike law in the state with the implementation of New York's Taylor Law in New Jersey.

The Taylor Law, signed by former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in the late 1960s, prohibits striking by public employees. The law subjects public employees or public employee unions, which engage in strikes with large fines. The law was last enforced in 2005 during the New York City subway strike when the Transit Workers Union faced million dollar a day fines.

Belluscio said the NJSBA wants the law strengthened since the current rules are based on court orders and not as strong as the New York law.

"It would give the boards more power at the negotiating table and prevent using job actions to influence negotiations," he said.

Baker said the NJEA opposes the idea of the Taylor Law coming to New Jersey, saying it would have a long-term negative impact on public employees.

"They would like to have a situation where they will prevent strikes and have the public employees have no say in their salaries," he said of the NJSBA proposal.

It is not clear if Christie or the legislature is planning to consider the NJSBA proposal.

Derek Roseman, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said the caucus has no opinion on the last offer/best offer proposal or the Taylor Law proposal since the legislature has not been written. He said the caucus is waiting for a final proposal to come from the governor's office.

Editor's Note: Nathan Susanj contributed to this report.