PESPA Pride: October 23, 2007

PESPA BOARD RECOMMENDS CONTRACT SETTLEMENT

The PESPA Executive Board voted last Thursday to recommend a "yes" vote on the proposed salary and benefit package for 2007-2008. Voting will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, October 24, at each work site. If ratified by the PESPA bargaining unit, it will be presented to the School Board October 30. Following their ratification, raises and retroactive pay will be in the checks of November 16. "This was a long time coming," said PESPA President Randy Dodds. "In the 40 year history of collective bargaining in Pinellas, it has never taken this long to get an agreement."

"I'm pleased that we were able to reach a settlement given the generally sorry condition of school funding this year," Dodds continued. "Not only did every support professional get a better-than-cost-of-living raise, but also we were able to provide even greater raises for our more experienced staff. Our real problems still exist and have the potential of getting worse. The legislature failed to provide adequate funding for schools. The former Governor and his legislative cronies loaded up instructional requirements (MAP, A+, STAR) while they were giving $18 billion in tax cuts, mainly to the rich. The first economic downturn - well, you see the results. As this goes to press, the legislature is wrestling with property tax issues. How they deal with them can make things better or even worse. This is why we need every support professional to be a part of PESPA. Organized employees lobby the legislature and provide the votes. Non-members watch."

2008-2009 SCHOOL CALENDAR NOW BEING DEVELOPED

Representatives of PESPA, PCTA and the administration began their work on the 2008-2009 school calendar last Monday. The Calendar Committee will present a draft or drafts of possible calendars for schools to consider, before a final calendar is sent to the School Board in December. "Given the significant change (to a later start) last year, we don't anticipate a lot of changes this year," said PESPA Executive Director Jade Moore. "Whatever ideas are advanced we will send to our members for their input."

ASSOCIATION BEGINS CRAFTING POSITION ON STUDENT ASSIGNMENT POLICY

For the last two years, a group of community leaders, including representatives from PCTA and PESPA, have been developing plans to deal with the end of "controlled choice," the student assignment plan which replaced the long-standing desegregation plan. Although the desegregation plan (which used forced busing) was expensive, the expense paled in comparison to the cost of choice - some $25 million. In addition, the choice plan resulted in a three tiered busing plan, forcing high school to open at 7:05 and middle schools at 9:45. The question now becomes: How can we achieve a high quality, diverse school system without spending enormous sums of limited resources and without the assistance of the courts?

Originally, PESPA and PCTA decided to wait until there was a plan to react to. However, it seems the plan is in constant flux with deadlines being pushed back. In response, the PCTA leadership has asked their Faculty Representatives to draft an Association position at their November 1 meeting. PESPA would like to get feedback from its members through our Association Reps as well. A draft resolution is posted on the PCTA-PESPA web site (pcta-pespa.org). "This will be the assignment plan for a number of years," said PCTA President Black. "We need to make it reflects the feelings of all employees.

IT IS ABOUT TIME....

Those of us who lead PESPA don't understand why some support professionals aren't members. We realize the law permits school employees to enjoy the benefits of bargaining without paying dues (unlike most northern states) but, by any measure, PESPA has earned the support of every Pinellas educator. Consider:

• Average salary increases this year of 4.0%.
• Salary increases greater than the cost of living over the last three years.
• No increase in health insurance costs while providing more family coverage than any surrounding district.

This didn't happen because a bunch of us sat around and wished it to reality. It happened because nearly 1,000 of your colleagues spent a portion of their salaries to:

• Lobby the legislature, Congress and the School Board.
• Bargain the contracts.
• Elect pro-education candidates

In addition to working together to improve our economic conditions, we also:

• Provide effective, legal and professional representation if you have problems.
• Keep you informed with a variety of publications.
• Provide outstanding training.

SO, ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME FOR YOU TO JOIN? IF YOU ARE ALREADY A MEMBER - ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME TO USE THIS FORM TO INVITE A COLLEAGUE TO JOIN? COMPLETE THIS FORM AND SEND IT TO PESPA TODAY...