Week in Review – June 9, 2017
ABCFT This Week –
ABCFT Negotiation Update (preparation for August negotiating)
This week members of the negotiating team got together after school to discuss preliminary observations of the 2017-2020 Master Contract Survey that members took late in May. Here is a detailed report from ABCFT Chief Negotiator, Ruben Mancillas:
"The negotiating team will meet in June-August to further discuss the results of our calendar and master contract surveys as we prepare for negotiations with the district over the summer. In addition, members of the team will be attending the School Services conference on July 14 to get the final statewide numbers after the budget is passed in Sacramento.
The overall outlook for education funding looks relatively positive at the moment but the switch to LCFF funding has created a new paradigm for how districts receive state monies and what portion of those funds can potentially be negotiated for compensation. For example, LCAP dollars are generated by the unduplicated percentage of students who are English learners, income eligible for free or reduced-price meals, and foster youth pupils. Thus, neighboring districts with higher numbers of these unduplicated students will receive more state funding than a district like ABCUSD which is currently hovering right at the 55% limit used to determine such supplemental grants.
Another statewide factor which negatively impacts the amount of money the district has available to negotiate for compensation is the rising employee contribution for STRS and PERS retirement systems. This is a positive in the long run as these increased contributions help maintain the solvency of our pension programs but in the immediate future the additional percentages the district has to pay lessens the amount that we can bargain for.
An ABCUSD specific issue that affects negotiations is the fact that we are in our second consecutive year of declining enrollment. We lost over 200 students last year and the count for this year is down approximately 140+ students. This impacts us immediately in terms of the amount of ADA that the district generates.
As you know, we bargain for salary and benefits every year but this is a master contract year so those suggestions for potential improvements in contract language or issues to be addressed are something else we will be bringing to the table as well.
The negotiating team thanks all of those who participated in both surveys and will use this valuable input to help craft our proposals that we make during negotiations. In Unity, Ruben Mancillas"
ABCUSD Board Meeting - LCAP Proposal
This Tuesday was a school board meeting and on the agenda was the first public hearing for the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the preliminary budget for the 2017-18 Fiscal Year. This is the preliminary discussion of the presented LCAP proposal to the school board after the administration has received input from all employee and community stakeholders. For more information please see the attached LCAP proposal. The next step in this process is for the school board to vote to ratify the proposal on June 20th.
Rutgers/Cornell Research Survey
Hopefully you got the appropriate link to the Rutgers/Cornell research survey for all teachers, administrators, district and union leaders. ABC is part of national survey to look at how teacher input, problem solving methods, and collaboration factors have on academic achievement, teacher retention, and teacher recruiting. We appreciate your time and help to complete this survey. We look forward to being able to share the results of this survey when they are posted.
ABCFT Monthly Site Representative Meeting
This was our last ABCFT site rep meeting for the 206-17 school year so we did some work and celebrated. Please take the time to thank the site rep at your school for all of their volunteered time on behalf of their colleagues. We have 65+ site reps at thirty sites and a dozen programs who come to a monthly meeting the first Thursday of the month from 3:30-5:30. They work hard to share your concerns, problem solve, and communicate back to the school site staff what they learn about the District, negotiations, budgets, LCAPs, contract issues and resolutions. At many sites a local rep is part of a natural network of support for teachers with various concerns or questions throughout the school year. A special thank you to all those site reps for all you do throughout the school year. Our first site rep meeting will be on August 16th prior to teachers returning.
President’s Report
I attended/worked with members on representations, contract resolutions, site concerns and mediations. This week I spent time with the negotiating team discussing survey results, contract language, and problem solving on how to address situations with new contract language. On Wednesday, ABCFT CN Ruben Mancillas and myself met with representatives of the speech and language department to discuss concerns about recruitment and retention of the ABCFT speech teachers. On Thursday I met with district, administration, and employee representatives for the Safety Committee. This committee meets quarterly to discuss, injury statistics and safety for all employees, facilities maintenance, and discussions on how to improve department communication during emergency events.
In Unity!
Ray Gaer
ABCFT President
Join us on Twitter @ #ABCTEACHERNEWS or on Facebook @ ABC Federation of Teachers
NATIONAL NEWS
NIEER sets new benchmarks for education quality
In an opinion piece, education specialist Valerie Strauss says providing every child with a high-quality preschool education needs more than merely adequate funding and minimum standards for teachers and classrooms. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has introduced major changes to how it monitors states on quality standards. She says new benchmarks focus on policies that more directly affect the quality of children’s experiences in the classroom. The key changes fall on teachers and teaching, with requirements for direct observation, in-classroom coaching and improvement plans based on evaluations.
Federal funded schools must follow federal law
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has stated that all schools that receive federal funds will be required to follow federal civil rights laws. When asked if schools that are in the voucher program were included, Mrs DeVos said, “Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law. Period”. She also defended the administration’s proposed $9bn cut to education, saying the planned 13% reduction in funding may seem shocking, but it’s necessary. When talking of the administration’s proposal to spend $1.4bn to expand the school choice program, she said it is up to states to decide whether to withhold federal money from private schools that are neither required to serve a diverse pool of students nor held publicly accountable for doing so.
STATE NEWS
Financial aid still there for undocumented students
Regardless of the current federal immigration climate, California lawmakers and educators are encouraging undocumented students to apply for state financial aid. The California Dream Act provides financial aid to students but recent fears have kept many from filing an application. Spokeswoman Eloy Oakley says: “Aid for low income families, including undocumented immigrants, is critical for their success. “(The California Dream Act) is an opportunity that California is providing to them. We want to make sure they get the benefits.”
The Sacramento Bee
CDE launches mobile app
The California Department of Education has announced the launch of a free mobile app, ‘CA Schools,’ which gives users access to data for the state’s 10,000 public schools. The app also provides the same information for the state’s private schools and charter schools. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said: “Never before have we put so much school information literally in the hands of our students, parents, and community members and made the information so accessible and user-friendly”.
FINANCE
Palo Alto USD budget shortfall leads to job cuts
A $3.9m budget shortfall at Palo Alto USD has led to the loss of support staff positions at Gunn High School. Teachers, parents and students protested the cuts at a school board meeting this week with Angela Merchant, a science teacher, saying the cuts will affect “vital functions” and will be devastating for students and teachers. “Most staff and teachers are already stretched to their limits,” she said, “and it seems that every year more gets placed on everyone’s plates without anything being taken off.”
HIGHER EDUCATION
Programs to entice trainee teachers
The California Department of Education, California State University, the University of California and others have developed programs to lure college students and mid-career professionals to become teachers. For example, a California Department of Education website offers a step-by-step guide to becoming a teacher in California, complete with personal career plans, profiles of inspirational teachers and news about community college programs and financial aid.
Harvard withdraws acceptance offers after explicit posts
After discovering that prospective students traded sexually explicit and offensive messages in an online Facebook chat, Harvard University has reportedly withdrawn at least 10 admission offers into its fall freshman class. Writing in the Mercury News, Emily Du Rey asks if universities are increasingly shredding acceptance letters because of foolish posts and threads. She says the question is especially interesting in California, which is the only state in the country with a law that grants First Amendment protections to students at private colleges and high schools as well as public institutions.
California second most expensive state for higher education
In a list compiled by personal-finance site GoBankingRates.com showing which U.S. states require the most money to attend public college, California is the second most expensive, after Hawaii, with households needing to earn almost $106,700 a year to pay for higher education and cover day-to-day necessities.
INTERNATIONAL
More African girls receiving education
The percentage of girls completing secondary school has risen in all regions of Africa since 2005 as attitudes change and state spending rises, a recent report by the African Development Bank, the OECD and the UN Development Programme said. However, the annual African Economic Outlook report also said some of the most marginalised girls - like those married young or forced to work - are still missing out, and more must be done to support them if the world is to meet a UN global goal to ensure all children receive secondary schooling by 2030.
Education aid 'stagnates' despite pledges
International funding to support education in poorer countries is "stagnating", says a Unesco report, despite campaigns calling for more investment. Overseas aid for education stands at about $12bn - which Unesco says is 4% less than in 2010. The UN agency says the funding gap means global targets for access to school are unlikely to be achieved. The U.S. and the U.K. remain the biggest donor countries for basic education.
OTHER
Burglar found asleep in classroom
Placer County sheriff's officials have said a burglar was found asleep by an employee in a classroom at Chana High School in North Auburn. Another man was discovered in a bathroom. The men broke windows to get into classrooms and filled two school-owned vehicles with computers, televisions and other stolen items.
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