PCTA Summer ACTION

Volume I, Issue 3                                                                                                                                            June 19 , 2009

 Attention PCTA Members!

We continue asking for your help as PCTA makes every effort to keep members up-to-date on PCTA and Pinellas County Schools activities during the summer. Let PCTA members know about the Summer Action electronic newsletter. They can sign up by calling PCTA at (727)585-6518 or by e-mail to robin.haines@floridaea.org. They can also access the Summer Action from the PCTA-PESPA homepage at our website http://www.pcta-pespa.org/. The link can be found in the column on the left side of the homepage.

School Board Unanimously Approves Advertisement of .25 Mill Tax Levy

The Good News

By a 7-0 vote, Pinellas County School Board members acted on June 16 to approve the Truth-in-Millage (Trim) required advertisement of the optional .25 mill property tax levy which was authorized by the 2009 Florida Legislature.  In explaining their votes, several board members were right in criticizing the Legislature's refusal to adequately address the needs of public schools during the 2009 session. This action of the School Board demonstrated their willingness to use all available funding sources.

As we reported in the two earlier issues of PCTA Summer Action, success in the fight against pay cuts or furloughs is highly dependent on the School Board approving this property tax millage by a supermajority vote (at least 5 of 7). The vote on June 16 gives a strong indication that the School Board is committed to take this critical vote when the budget is approved in September.

The Bad News

The School Board's negotiations team is saying that the .25 mill levy will net $14 million and that the budget deficit will be reduced from $18 million to $4 million. PCTA believes that the .25 mill levy will add $15-$16 million to the operating budget and will reduce the deficit much more than estimated by the district financial officers. PCTA also believes other budget decisions can be made to write off the entire projected deficit. Kim Black, CTA President, said "One example is whether an additional $2 million should be placed in the contingency fund while you are being asked to forfeit pay. That is unacceptable when district financial records show the district is not in jeopardy of being in financial distress."

Negotiations Continue

PCTA President Kim Black and Executive Director Marshall Ogletree continue meeting with individual School Board members and the Superintendent to explain to each board member the merits of the .25 mill levy and how the levy will assist us in reaching an agreement on salary that will not reduce your pay.

Negotiations, both formal and informal, will continue until we can achieve an acceptable agreement. We are optimistic, but know there are challenging days ahead.

In a special referendum in 2004, Pinellas County voters approved a .5 mill property tax levy for school operations. Eighty percent of that levy goes for instructional personnel salaries. As you know, the national recession has resulted in the decline in home appraisals which will result in reduced property tax collections in November 2009.

In 2008-09, each member of the PCTA bargaining unit received $3,529 of their total salary from the referendum. The district has projected that the available funds from the referendum will result in an allocation of $3,239 in 2009-10, a reduction of $290. The district negotiators have proposed this salary reduction as soon as July 1^st for 11.5 and 12 month instructional personnel and we stand ready to take action if they implement this prior to a settlement being reached on the financial package.

This is another obstacle that PCTA is addressing in this difficult negotiation as we strive to reach an agreement on a salary schedule that is fair to our membership. We will continue highlighting the sacrifices you have made as we advocate for your interests.

We ask that you keep informed this summer and stand ready to assist us in this critical endeavor!!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

June 23, 2009                         School Board Special Meeting (Insurance Contract)       8:30 AM

June 23, 2009                         School Board Workshop                                                    9:00 AM

June 23 & 24, 2009                CARE Training @ PCTA                                                      8:00 AM

June 24, 2009                         NEA Convention Local Caucus                                          5:00 PM

June 29, 2009                         ESOL Workshop @ PCTA                                                  3:00 PM