PESPA ePRIDE 7.15.2010

PESPA ePride

Vol. 1, Issue 2                            July 15, 2010

Bargaining Begins –PESPA Says NO to UnpaidLeave!

Formal negotiations began today with the district over issues related to the 2010-11 school year. The district presented proposals on health insurance and mandatory unpaid leaves (formerly known as furloughs).

The Health Insurance proposal has been previously discussed by the Bargaining Leadership Team. Proposed are some design changes to the insurance plan and increased employer and employee premiums for the 2011 calendar year but considerably less if there were no design changes. This proposal saves $2.3 million from the initial Humana renewal. The Bargaining Leadership Team (BLT) consisting of all four employee unions and the Administrators’ Association must reach consensus on insurance at their July 26th meeting.

The school district is working to reduce its operating budget by $26 million to meet revenue expectations. The proposed 2010-11 continuing expenses being used in the budget proposal include the cost for the 1.5% step increase previously negotiated for the 2010-11 school year. Items currently being considered by the School Board for reductions leave the district $8 million short of meeting their cut goal. The district solution as proposed to PESPA provides for mandatory unpaid leave for all PCS employees. The impact on the PESPA unit would be 2 days for 10 month, 11 month and 11.5 month employees and 3 days for 12 month employees. PESPA president Nelly Henjes said emphatically, “We can not seriously consider unpaid leave. PESPA members cannot absorb this pay cut.” PESPA members have been hard hit by this fiscal crisis over the previous two years. As you know, increased insurance cost and no pay raises have hurt, and it is unconscionable to ask for more from PESPA members! The School Board must look at other ways to reduce costs and must look at their reserves as part of a final agreement on our contract.

PESPA and the district will return to the bargaining table on July 26th.

School Board Budget Hearing – July 27th

The first 2010-11 budget hearing will be held on July 27th at 7:00 P.M. At this meeting, the Board must present its initial budget proposal to the public. The local property tax millage must also be presented. The current budget under consideration (with the $26 million deficit) assumes the School Board will once again levy the optional 0.25 mill. Without that levy, the deficit is just over $40 million. The final 2010-11 budget will be approved in September.

We encourage PESPA members to spend a few hours at the July 27th budget hearing. Call the office at 727-585-6518 if you have questions about the meeting.

Attention PESPA Members!

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