KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
Teachers and nurses will receive their off schedule payment on June 1 with their regular check/paystub. The off schedule payment is processed separately so it will come as a hard check as opposed to a direct deposit. This means that unit members will get a check/paystub for their regular pay and then a second check with the off schedule amount.
We are still working with the district on a definite date for the retro check portion of our 2022-2023 salary agreement.
The takeaway headline from the May revise is that next year’s COLA is 8.22%. We will schedule negotiating dates for salary and benefits for the 2023-2024 school year when we return to school in August.
An 8.22% COLA is positive news as it represents a commitment from the state government to fund education despite lower than projected revenues and concerns about volatility in the economy moving forward. The numbers presented at the School Services budget conference are necessarily projections based on state and national trends but these are the estimated COLA’s for the next three years:
2024-2025 = 3.94%
2025-2026 = 3.29%
2026-2027 = 3.19%
We will continue to do a deeper dive into the numbers and their implications in upcoming updates.
In Unity,
KEEPING YOU INFORMED -
UNDERSTANDING YOUR PENSION PLAN by Ray Gaer
One of the least understood parts or your pension is the process used to accumulate money in your retirement fund. You may not know exactly how your retirement fund is being invested from check to check but all teachers participate in either the California State Retirement System (CalSTRS) or the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). Typically, teachers are in the CalSTRS system unless they have been a previous state employee or as a classified employee.
Each month that you collect a check from the district a certain amount of that money is deferred to your retirement account at CalSTRS. Almost 30% of your total pay is deferred to your retirement account each check. Of that 29.305% is contributed each month, 10.205% of your salary is contributed to this account for those hired before January 1, 2013 or 10.25% for those hired on or after January 1, 2013 and the district contribution to your retirement account is 19.1%. This means that in reality you are saving about 30% of your pay each month so that you can have a defined benefit pension plan where you will get a pension for the rest of your life after you reach retirement age. There are far fewer defined benefit retirement plans across the working world as private companies have used 401(k) accounts or other plans that leave more of the responsibility of saving for retirement to the employee.
Each year the CalSTRS and CalPERS systems take an assessment of the needed incoming funds that are needed to fund these retirement systems fully. Below is the latest annual report that states that there are no major changes for the coming year. However, over the past 10 years these numbers have increased and this has had an impact on the amount of money available for compensation negotiations. I like to think of retirement funding as the hidden cost of doing business; however, I want to illustrate that this is another factor that plays into salary negotiations each year. Below is the report from CFT:
Last week and this week, the boards of the state pension funds officially set the employer contribution rates for 2023-24. CalSTRS maintained the rate of 19.1% for the employer contribution in 2023-24 -- therefore, there is no change compared with the current year and this is what districts had been expecting.
ABCFT PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer
Consistent and regular communication is a union’s most important tool for advocating for its members at the bargaining table. Every conversation with members is focused on the end result of negotiating for the future prosperity and well-being of ALL ABCFT members. This weekly report informs members about issues impacting their working/learning conditions and mental well-being. Our work as a Union is a larger conversation, and together we make the YOUnion.
Are you still hanging in there? You’re almost there as we enter the home stretch for the school year. I know that there are a large number of end-of-the-year festivities going on across the district to mark the accomplishments of your students and staff. One of the most healthy things we can do as humans is to celebrate our accomplishments together. In the last two weeks, two significant events happen every year that I want to highlight because they are common career markers for anyone in education.
At the ABCUSD School Board meeting last week, a large group of teachers and nurses were celebrated by the school board and the colleagues in attendance. This group of teachers and nurses was recognized for their change of status from a temporary teacher/nurse to their new classification of tenured or permanent status. The moment a teacher/nurse is granted tenure or permanent status is significant because it grants you additional job protections and due process. In a time of declining enrollment and a yearly reduction in the number of ABC employees, it becomes more difficult to gain permanent status, and the district’s flexibility during declining enrollment is outlined in the ABCUSD/ABCFT Master Contract. The current demographics data shows an enrollment decline in the next five years, going from 18,500 students down to 16,000. This is the possible reduction of more than 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions is expected to take up to five years to achieve and will hopefully occur through attrition with retirees.
That being said, this time of year, I work directly with Human Resources to monitor the number of temporary teacher positions and teachers who will be moved to the tenure track via probationary status. With declining enrollment looming, it becomes a balancing act of keeping track of retirements and how many temporary teachers can be moved into those vacant positions. The object of the balancing act for the next five years is to maintain as many positions and to avoid issuing March 15 non-rehire “pink slips” to permanent positions. My prediction is that we will see a large number of pink slips issued to permanent employees in the surrounding districts, just as we did during the recession of 2008. It should be noted that ABCUSD did not issue any pink slips for permanent employees during the last economic downturn, and ABCFT and ABCUSD are already planning and working to ensure the job security of ABC employees.
New beginnings are an important milestone to celebrate, as are long-time employee milestones of service. Last night, I had the opportunity to attend ABCUSD’s 34th Employee Recognition Dinner celebration to recognize the accomplishments and longevity of many ABC employees. Getting together each year to celebrate our united career accomplishments is one of the most important events to recognize. If you’ve never been to an Employee Recognition Dinner celebration, I highly recommend it because it's just one of the many ways to celebrate each other and our accomplishments. Those employees with fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, and even forty years are celebrated with a shout-out on the stage, a recognition from the school board members, a pin, and a certificate. It may not sound like much as I write it, but there is something that happens as a collective as we cheer for each other. Hearing the stories, accomplishments, and retirement plans of long-time employees is often inspiring. Those retirees always seem to have huge grins as they stand solo on stage as their career accomplishments are announced. It’s a magical moment, and I want to personally congratulate all ABCFT retirees and those of you who hit the celebrated year milestones.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!
In YOUnity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
CFT-sponsored bills on raising TK-12 pay and restoring repeatability in community colleges pass through key Assembly committee
This week, two critical CFT-sponsored bills passed through the California Assembly Appropriations Committee. The first, AB 938 (Muratsuchi), calls on the state of California to increase LCFF funding by 50% with the intention of raising salaries for school workers. The second bill, AB 811 (Fong), would restore repeatability and increase repetition opportunities for community college students.
Thanks to the thousands of CFT members who signed petitions in support of the two bills. The petitions were delivered to the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Chris Holden, this week in advance of the hearing.
Hearing directly from CFT members, students, and allies is critical for our elected leaders to understand why these two bills are so important. These efforts, along with our 2023 lobby day in April, were essential to ensuring our voice was heard in the Capitol.
In total this legislative term CFT sponsored or co-sponsored eleven bills in the Assembly, with ten moving to the full Assembly for an upcoming vote, and five bills in the Senate, with four moving to the full Senate for an upcoming vote. Among the additional CFT-sponsored bills are AB 5 (Zbur), which would require competency training for educators to assist LGBTQ+ students to provide a safe and supportive environment, and AB 800 (Ortega), which would establish the Workplace Readiness Week for high school seniors and juniors to learn about the labor movement and their labor rights.
Learn more about CFT-sponsored legislation on the CFT website.
The latest CFT articles and news stories can be found here on the PreK12 news feed on the CFT.org website.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Preschool enrollment recovering nationwide
State-supported preschools are seeing a rebound in enrollment after the COVID-19 pandemic erased a decade of progress in participation. According to The State of Preschool 2022 report from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) and Rutgers Graduate School of Education, preschool enrollment increased by 180,668 children (or 13%) in the 2021-22 school year, compared to the year before, with all but seven states seeing enrollment growth. In total, 1.5m children attended state-supported preschool programs in 2021-22. Participation in early education, however, is not yet back to pre-pandemic numbers, the report notes. Despite the gains, preschool enrollment in 2021-22 still fell short of 2019-20 enrollment by 130,558 children, which equates to about 8%. Another encouraging data point, according to NIEER, is the increasing number of states offering or planning to offer free universal preschool. Currently, the District of Columbia and six states — Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin — offer preschool to all four-year-olds. Washington, D.C., and Vermont also serve three-year-olds. Also, just in the past year, California, Colorado, Hawaii and New Mexico passed laws to provide universal preschool programming.
----- PUBLIC SCHOOL PRAYER GUIDANCE UPDATED -----
Guidance on public school prayer updated
The U.S. Department of Education has issued updated guidance on prayer and other religious expressions in public schools. The new guidance says: "Teachers, school administrators, and other school employees may not encourage or discourage private prayer or other religious activity." It goes on to say the U.S. Constitution allows school employees themselves to engage in private prayer during the workday, but warns that they may not "compel, coerce, persuade, or encourage students to join in the employee's prayer or other religious activity." The guidance also says a school may take reasonable measures to ensure students aren't pressured to join in their teachers' or coaches' prayers. The guidance follows last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy vs. Bremerton, which held that a public school district could not stop a football coach from praying on the 50-yard line after games. The court ruled that such prayer was a personal religious observance and that preventing someone from engaging in such a practice violated the First Amendment's protections for free speech and the free exercise of religion.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
NCES report underlines pandemic challenges
A fresh report from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) underlines the challenges schools face in recovering from the pandemic. The 54-page “Report on the Condition of Education 2023” showed data on widespread teacher shortages in foreign languages, special education, physical sciences, math and computer science, and spotlighted the sluggish pipeline for new teachers. Enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs fell 30% in seven years. The report highlights lagging enrollment in the nation’s public schools, which is down 3% in 2021, with 49.4m students compared with 50.8m before the pandemic, in 2019, and that enrollment in public charter schools bucked the trend. Researchers said 3.7m students were enrolled in charters in 2021, compared with 3.4m in 2019. Researchers said half of students were below grade level in at least one subject in fall of 2021, which fell to 36% as the year ended, and that schools reported higher levels of student and teacher absenteeism last year. Nearly 70% also reported more students seeking mental health services. A bright spot for now, the report points to a partial rebound for children in prekindergarten and kindergarten. Before the pandemic, 54% of 3- and 4-year-olds were in school, which dropped to 40% in 2020 then grew to 50% in 2021.
State laws shadow book bans
School districts in many states are reacting to state laws that dictate the kinds of books school libraries can have, according to an analysis by PEN America, leading to a small number of districts removing books from school libraries. Although book bans have been reported in at least 32 states, most bans between July and December 2022 were concentrated in just five; Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. PEN found that 31% of book bans in the last six months of 2022 were connected to legislation passed in just three states; Florida, Utah, and Missouri. From July to December 2022, districts across the country banned 1,477 books, PEN America found, and almost 75% were connected to organized efforts, mainly from advocacy groups, pressure by elected officials, or enacted legislation that often restricts “explicit sexual” or “sensitive material,” or lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity. In the absence of clear guidance on interpreting these laws, a handful of districts decided to review, temporarily restrict, or permanently remove hundreds of books. Three districts were responsible for 40% of all banned books from July to December 2022; Frisco ISD in Texas, Wentzville School District in Missouri, and Escambia County Public Schools in Florida. Together, they banned over 600 books in that six month period, according to the PEN report. In Escambia and Wentzville, PEN America found direct evidence on challenge forms or in statements from the district saying that the ban was a response to certain state legislation.
States urged to help younger kids get early special ed services
Tens of thousands of young children with developmental delays went without critical services early in the pandemic. Nationally, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, 77,000 fewer three- and four-year-olds received early childhood special education services in fall 2020, representing a steep 16% drop from the year prior. Similarly, 63,000 fewer infants and toddlers received early intervention services during that time, a 15% decline. “We know that there’s a very good likelihood that those children are going to show up either on the first day of preschool or on the first day of kindergarten needing more services than they otherwise would have needed,” says Katherine Neas, a deputy assistant secretary for the federal education department who helps oversee special education. “We really encourage states to look at what additional supports they can and should give students with disabilities.” The latest federal data from fall 2021 point to a rebound among children aged three and under getting early intervention and special education services, though the share of four-year-olds who got that extra support dropped further.
----- STATE NEWS -----
California Board of Education commits $750m to schools
One hundred and twenty-eight schools throughout California have been awarded a total of $750m in the largest designation of educational funds budgeted to transform thousands of schools in California into community schools. The grants are part of a $4.1bn community schools investment to dismantle learning barriers that lead to inequitable student performance by providing supportive services beyond classroom learning. Within the framework of community schools are integrated student supports that include the “coordination of trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services” and “professional development to transform school culture and climate that centers on pupil learning and supports mental and behavioral health, trauma-informed care, social emotional learning and restorative justice.” “Children learn best when they are healthy, happy and deeply engaged in learning. And schools operate at their best when families are connected and empowered to work toward common goals," said State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond. “I am grateful to Governor Newsom, the Legislature, State Superintendent Thurmond, and my fellow board members for continuing to prioritize family partnerships, equity, and a ‘whole child’ agenda in public education."
California commits $750m to community schools
One hundred and twenty-eight schools throughout California have been awarded a total of $750m in the largest designation of educational funds budgeted to transform thousands of schools in California into community schools. The grants are part of a $4.1bn community schools investment to dismantle learning barriers that lead to inequitable student performance by providing supportive services beyond classroom learning. Within the framework of community schools are integrated student supports that include the “coordination of trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services” and “professional development to transform school culture and climate that centers on pupil learning and supports mental and behavioral health, trauma-informed care, social emotional learning and restorative justice.” “Children learn best when they are healthy, happy and deeply engaged in learning. And schools operate at their best when families are connected and empowered to work toward common goals," said State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond.
California regulators order closure of troubled juvenile halls
California regulators have ordered the closure of two juvenile halls in Los Angeles County, giving the county 60 days to move around 300 young people out of the facilities. The Board of State and Community Corrections voted unanimously to impose the deadline for the closure of Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and Central Juvenile Hall in Boyle Heights, stating that the facilities are "unsuitable for the confinement of youth." The county has been unable to correct problems including inadequate safety checks, low staffing, use of force, and a lack of recreation and exercise. The young people will be moved to the currently shuttered Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. The decision comes as California is phasing out its three remaining state-run youth prisons and shifting responsibility to counties. "The inability of the department to meet minimum regulations and provide adequate care has caused irreparable trauma to incarcerated youth," said the nonprofit Youth Justice Coalition, which has advocated for the halls' closure.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Fresno teachers vow a strike vote if they don't reach a deal with district
Over 1,000 teacher union members agreed to give Fresno USD a September 29th deadline to reach a new contract deal. If the two parties don't reach an agreement, the Fresno Teachers Association – which represents over 4,000 teachers, nurses, social workers, and trades professionals – vowed to take a strike authorization vote come October. “Systemic changes in this district have only happened when educators have taken collective action,” said Fresno Teachers Association president Manuel Bonilla, addressing a rally that shut down an entire block of N Street in downtown Fresno Wednesday evening. The parties opened contract talks in November in advance of the current contract's expiration date of June 30th. No agreement has been reached – and tensions have been high as the union has accused the district of failing to provide an adequate response to their detailed plan to “reimagine education” in Fresno. Meanwhile, the district has been critical of the union for not adhering to its bargaining ground rules.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Teacher survey underlines mental health challenges
The second annual Merrimack College Teacher Survey, a nationally representative poll of nearly 1,200 teachers, indicates that mental health issues are negatively affecting teaching and learning, about half of teachers don't feel respected by the general public, and a third of the workforce is considering quitting. Although teacher satisfaction ratings increased from last year's all-time low, they are still down significantly from a decade ago. The survey found that satisfaction rates were highest among Gen Z teachers, who are age 26 and younger. More than a third of teachers say they're likely to quit and find another job outside of teaching within the next two years. Only 55 percent of teachers feel like the general public respects them as professionals. Teachers often say they feel left out of decision-making. More than half of teachers say that the current state of students' mental health is hurting their ability to learn and socialize, as well as negatively affecting educators' capacity to manage their classrooms.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Ed. Dept. reports on 'state of school diversity'
The U.S. Department of Education has released a new report on the state of diversity within America's schools. Officials say progress toward increased racial and socio-economic diversity has stalled in many communities as segregation patterns have persisted, leading to inequitable access and outcomes for students. The report says students of color disproportionately attend schools with majority students of color populations. According to federal data, three in five Black and Latino students and two in five American Indian/Alaska Native students attend schools where at least 75% of students are students of color, whereas about half of white students attend schools in which students of color make up less than 25% of the student population. The department also recently released a Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the first-ever Fostering Diverse Schools Demonstration Program, which will award $10m to local and state agencies to voluntarily develop or implement plans to increase diversity in schools.
----- CHILD DEVELOPMENT ----
Outdoor preschool gaining momentum nationwide
Long common in European countries as Denmark, Sweden and Germany, outdoor "nature" preschools and kindergartens have exploded in popularity in America over the past few years, growing from 250 in 2017 to more than 800 in 2022. A report from the nonprofit Natural Start Alliance says that, over the past five years, five states have introduced legislation or established pilot programs to support outdoor learning as an alternative to traditional preschool and child-care programs. Outdoor preschools are generally inaccessible to children of color however. Only 7% of students in these preschools are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin, and only 3% are Black, according to a 2017 report, and those numbers haven’t improved despite programs expanding. As it stands, it's difficult in most states for these types of early learning programs, that lack physical buildings and other amenities, to get licensed. As a result, they are run as mostly private, half-day programs, drawing in children from higher-income families - most of whom are White. "Unlicensed outdoor preschools are ineligible to accept state subsidies for low-income families," adds Monica Wiedel-Lubinski, executive director of the Eastern Region Association of Forest and Nature Schools. “It just perpetuates that barrier for the most vulnerable kids and most vulnerable communities.” Natural learning settings are generally calm and quiet, lead to lower levels of stress and foster traits like resilience, leadership, problem solving and perseverance, research shows.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Black kids face racism before they even start school. It’s driving a major mental health crisis.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — To her students who need the most support, India Strother is rarely just “Ms. Strother” — she’s a family figure they call “Mom,” a trusted guide as they negotiate their teenage years.
They open up to her about their dating lives. About pregnancy scares. About their fights with their parents, about the trauma they experience outside school. She keeps a mental list of those at risk of self-harm or suicide, and checks to see how they are doing. It’s just part of the job of being a counselor at any American high school.
But at predominantly Black schools like the one in Columbus, Ohio, where Strother works, students’ mental health is further tested by pressures and discrimination they endure because they are Black, as well as poverty and violence in some communities that have faced years of disinvestment.
Read more here
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