ELPS Teachers, Parents Push for Teacher Contract

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Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 12:22 pm
By: 
Rebecca J. McAndrews

On Monday at the final East Lansing Public School (ELPS) Board meeting of 2014, members of the Facebook page “We Support ELPS Educators” were once again calling for a “show of support” from parents, students, and the community for ELPS teachers whose contracts are still under negotiation despite months of mediation. The previous two-year teaching contract expired June 30, 2014, and as a consequence ELPS teachers have been facing not only uncertainty but significantly higher monthly healthcare premiums caused by the lack of a contract.

To accommodate the anticipated large crowd, the ELPS Board meeting was moved to the East Lansing High School (ELHS) Student Union. At least 88 parents, students, and other community members had signed up on the Facebook group saying they would attend and over 20 spoke on behalf of ELPS educators.The public Facebook group, consisting of 625 members as of the morning of December 8, begin in October, 2014 and has organized to provide a community presence at two previous ELPS Board meetings, as we reported on here. Over 175 #SupportELPSTeachers shirts have been sold and distributed through the group’s efforts.

Tim Akers is the East Lansing Education Association (ELEA) High School Vice President and also the lead negotiator for teacher contracts. In his eighth year as an ELPS educator, Akers says statewide amendments to the Public Employees Relations Act (PERA) have left many teacher unions severely restricted in their collective bargaining influence, including the removal of the possibility of negotiation in the areas of teacher evaluations, discipline, and the right to strike. (To read more about PERA, see this PDF.)

According to Akers, ELEA requested numerous dates for negotiation prior to the previous contract’s expiration date, but the LEPS Board’s attorney was not available and negotiations did not begin until two weeks before the contract expiration on June 30. Akers explained ELEA is currently in mediation with ELPS, but if an agreement is not reached during the negotiation meeting scheduled for January 8, they will move into the Fact-Finding phase. In Fact-Finding, each side has the opportunity to put all their “evidence” together to offer their best “deal,” and then an appointee will review this information and make recommendations based on what is collected. Following this, Akers says both parties can either sign an agreement based on Fact-Finding recommendations, or the ELPS board can do what’s called declaring an imposition, and create a contract based on their last table position.

Akers cites several key sticking points ELPS teachers hope to resolve through negotiation. According to him, the district’s current contract offer will do away with curricular chairs. Akers says teachers feel this takes away their voice since the Curriculum Committee would be selected solely by the Director of Curriculum and might not adequately represent their population.

Akers also says another significant concern for ELPS teachers is salary. According to Akers, ELPS teachers have not received a full-step increase in five years (although he indicates partial steps have been received during that time). These partial increases have not kept pace with increased healthcare costs or the cost of living, and most negatively impact younger professionals, says Akers. Akers says he currently brings home $600 less per month than he did six years ago. Akers says the ELEA table position is for zero steps in the first year of a two-year contract, but they are asking for something to be placed on the salary schedule during the second year. The district has not offered a counter proposal on salary according to Akers.

Because a new contract has not yet been reached, ELPS teachers are currently responsible for picking up 100% of their healthcare insurance cost increases under law PA 152, explains Akers. This means some families are paying approximately $600 or even more per month for their healthcare. ELPS employees are not eligible for retroactive pay once an agreement is reached. Akers says he understands the budget is very tight and state cuts have negatively impacted districts everywhere. However, he also says, "We want to make this work. We want to see long-term solvency, but we want to be able to pay our bills, too.”

Akers is also concerned about management of the ELPS budget. According to Akers, ELPS has the highest administrative costs of any district in Ingham County and attorney costs for negotiations have reached six figures. He says that, since 2010, ELPS general fund revenue has increased three million dollars while the percent of budget employee cost has decreased by three percent. Akers feels the community, teachers, and the ELPS Board need to better understand where that revenue is going and make changes in how it is managed.

The public can view ELPS Board Budget and Salary/Compensation Transparency Reporting online at a page that includes links to approved budgets from 2009-2015, personnel expenditures, current operating expenditures, bargaining agreements, etc.

ELi contacted ELPS Superintendent Robyne Thompson for comment regarding the ongoing negotiations but has not received a response. Previously, Thompson told ELi, “We appreciate everyone’s interest in this issue, as we all want an agreement, however, we cannot respond to the questions because we are still in the midst of negotiations.”

 

After publication of this article, we were alerted that the following items required correction and so were corrected on December 10, 2:25 pm, as noted:

  • In the first paragraph, "ELPS teachers have been facing not only uncertainty but expensive monthly healthcare premiums caused by the lack of a contract" was changed to "ELPS teachers have been facing not only uncertainty but significantly higher monthly healthcare premiums caused by the lack of a contract."
  • In the fifth paragraph, "the district’s current contract offer will increase class sizes and do away with curricular chairs" was changed to "the district’s current contract offer will do away with curricular chairs."
  • In the seventh paragrph, "ELPS teachers are currently responsible for picking up 100% of their healthcare insurance costs" was chagned to "ELPS teachers are currently responsible for picking up 100% of their healthcare insurance cost increases."

 

ELi thanks Erin Graham and the MEA's Ruth Beier for their assistance with these corrections.

Disclosure: Rebecca J. McAndrews has two children who attend East Lansing Public Schools and is a substitute teacher for the district.

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