DISTRICT INTENSIFIES ATTACK ON EMPLOYEE HEALTH CARE
LATEST LBUSD HEALTH BENEFITS PROPOSAL REGRESSIVE
The LBUSD has upended bargaining by making a regressive proposal to cut even more from employee health care than previously signaled. The District’s latest proposal not only proposes a HARD CAP on employee benefits (setting a maximum dollar amount the district will contribute to heath care, leaving employees vulnerable to paying the annual premium increases); they reinstated their proposal to have classroom teachers, nurses, and librarians pay an ADDITIONAL 5% of the health care premium for the current year.
In the past year of bargaining the District proposed a 5% premium co-pay for employees. They then replaced that proposal with a HARD CAP on employee coverage. And now, they have moved to a HARD CAP on contributions at the current health care rates MINUS 5%, essentially combining their last two takeaway proposals into a hybrid. Their latest proposal would annually cost current employees in the PPO anywhere from $456 for a single employee, to over $1,000 for families; in addition to the co-pays already in place. (The District’s latest proposal was distributed to Reps at Tuesday’s Rep Council; click here for a copy).
The District claims the HMO’s have “no cost, below cap”. . . . but this is misleading since they propose a HARD CAP and any increased employer contributions would require further negotiations. That means future salary increases will be held hostage to . . . (read more)
Updated Seniority List and Rehire List
We have posted the updated seniority list and the certificated rehire list as of January 20, 2012 on the Layoff Survival Kit Page. Click here to go there now!
Stay current on news when we sent out UPDATE newsletters to TALB members. If you have not updated your email on file, please contact eric@talb.org.
LAYOFFS LIKELY...NOT CLEAR WHAT PROGRAMS WILL BE HIT
DISTRICT MOVES TO ELIMINATE HEAD START AND CUT CDC
The layoff situation is unclear at this writing. On the K-12 front the District has indicated that temporary and special contracts will not be renewed, putting a few hundred TALB members (many who were already laid off as regular or probationary employees) in limbo until the state budget is resolved. There isn’t much more to cut in K-12, and with retirement attrition, the District should be able to fully restore some of the laid off teachers going into next year, but threatened cuts at the State level will make preparation of a budget and staffing for the coming year a challenge.
The District has also signaled that it is considering dropping the Head Start program entirely next year. TALB has indicated that we were willing to try to work with the District on ways to save the program for the long term. In any scenario, we stated that it is not responsible to let down the community, the kids, and the employees, by dropping the program with so little notice (the School Board hasn’t even officially taken up the matter).
The District also indicated they are considering possible cuts to CDC based on the Governor’s budget proposal, but they were not prepared to indicate what cuts might actually occur.
School Climate and Administrator Surveys
Each year, TALB members have an opportunity to rate the climate at their school site. Through the School Climate Surveys and the Administrator Surveys, members can give feedback regarding their perceptions of school safety, availability and accessibility of resources and services for both students and teachers, campus cleanliness, shared-decision making and teacher morale.
This year, the surveys will be taken exclusively online. The deadline for TALB members to complete the surveys is Friday, February 24, 2012.
The STATE BUDGET directly impacts local negotiations, layoffs, and virtually all other school operations. The Governor has made his initial proposal for 2012-2013.
Current projections show that without additional revenue increases, and/or budget cuts, California faces an approximate $9 billion shortfall in the upcoming budget cycle. Governor Brown is proposing a balance between cuts and revenues to deal with the shortfall. The Governor is asking voters to approve temporary
tax increases on the wealthy in order to protect schools and public safety. Without the additional revenues schools face an estimated cut of an additional $5 billion dollars from local classroom programs already ravaged by funding cuts over the past four years.
Even if the temporary tax increases on the wealthiest Californians are approved, school budgets will remain static at best, and will likely see cuts in important categorical programs such as school transportation. The Governor is also proposing the elimination of funding for entire programs including AVID and Transitional Kindergarten.
The state budget, and the health of our schools, will again depend on the support of the voters. The Governor’s January budget proposal is the beginning of the process. There are many proposals yet to
come over which the legislature is likely to have difficulty reaching a consensus.
Each year, TALB members have an opportunity to rate the climate at their school site. Through the School Climate Surveys and the Administrator Surveys, members can give feedback regarding their perceptions of school safety, availability and accessibility of resources and services for both students and teachers, campus cleanliness, shared-decision making and teacher morale.