Cliff Buchan
News EditorNo new revenues and no new school district settlement proposal are adding up to no new contract for teachers working in Forest Lake Area Schools.
Teachers in ISD 831 are now in their sixth month of work under terms of a continuing contract that expired on June 30, 2003. After a bargaining session on Dec. 3, representatives of the Forest Lake Education Association and the district will resume talks Wednesday, Dec. 17 at the District Office Building.
After last weekís meeting, FLEA is expecting a district counter proposal on Dec. 17, said Jim Lindstrom, chief negotiator for the districtís 500 teachers.
Lindstrom said this week the teachersí union remains adamant that it will not accept a district proposal that ends the traditional step and lane change status and its compensation levels based on years of service and education credits and degrees.
The elimination of the step and lane change system is a centerpiece of the district offer now on the table, Lindstrom said.
The district has offered teachers a 3 percent increase in salary schedule improvement over the two years of the contract that will be in place through June 30, 2005.
The district, however, has broken new ground with its proposal to eliminate all step changes in both years of the contract and to have no lane changes in the 2004-2005 contract year. The district would also offer no longevity steps as part of its offer.
And, as medical insurance costs continue to rise, the district has proposed a freeze on the premiums paid for employee health insurance.
Lindstrom said FLEA is seeking a total package increase over the two-year period amounting to just over 10 percent. It includes a proposal for a three percent salary schedule improvement in both years of the contract period.
FLEA points
Lindstrom said the FLEA Negotiations Council, the body that provides direction to the bargaining team, has said its top priority for the current process is to keep steps and lanes.
Lindstrom agrees. If such a system ever came about, Lindstrom said he would personally advise all teachers with less than 12 years experience here to look elsewhere for jobs. Without the step and lane system, teachers will lose earning power they can never recover, Lindstrom said.
Although the bargaining is yet to reach an impasse and the possibility of a strike has not been discussed, it is such a district demand that could push the talks to that point, Lindstrom said. ěIf the district holds that firm on it,î Lindstrom said.
With the district projecting health insurance costs to increase 14 percent, Lindstrom said FLEA is also firm in wanting to address insurance issues in any settlement offer.
Frustrating time
Lindstrom said he was deeply frustrated by the defeat of the school operating levy on Nov. 4 that if approved, would have enabled the district to avoid making $2 million in budget cuts for the 2004-2005 school year.
While voter approval would have avoided the budget cuts, the school must still operate without any new state aid. The legislature has frozen its level of state aid payments as part of its budget-balancing steps.
ěI donít think we would have gotten a nickel more,î Lindstrom said of the funds from the operating levy.
Lindstrom said many teachers here are frustrated by the lack of community support for public schools. Now in his 35th year here, Lindstrom said he has seen that from the public all too often.
He said the message kids are sent is that they arenít important and donít need modern technology to help learn.
ěWhat a message it sends to our kids,î Lindstrom said. ěItís really, really sad. I feel bad for kids coming up.î
How teachers and the district come to a reasonable settlement will be a tough trick, Lindstrom adds. Limited resources will be a major problem.
ěWe knew that going in,î he said.
Lindstrom says the sudden and unexpected swing in the districtís fund balance and the exit from statutory operating debt status are steps in the right direction. ěItís a better financial situation and the district is going in the right direction,î he added.
Lindstrom said some frustrated teachers would support an even more drastic cut in staff if it meant teachers would be compensated better. Rather than cutting 25 teachers, perhaps the district should consider upping the number to 50, Lindstrom said.
ěThat goes against everything Iíve worked for as a negotiator for 20 years,î Lindstrom said.
Looking at state financial studies, Lindstrom says Forest Lake teachers rank 83rd among all school districts on a 30-year earning basis, Lindstrom said. There are 49 metro area districts, he adds.
ěPeople think teachers here are getting rich,î Lindstrom said.
Lindstrom said he is personally frustrated by the funding situation from the state and Forest Lakeís ability to properly fund programs.
Last spring, he said, when the district put the clamps on most spending requests, there were no dollars to purchase music for the high school choirs Lindstrom directs.
Rather than have students do without, Lindstrom said he purchased the necessary music using $500 of his own money.
Lindstrom said teachers are also frustrated by the legislative process. While state aid was frozen, the district continues to see escalating costs for fuel, supplies and equipment.
ěThey (the legislature) didnít freeze any of the things schools need to run on,î Lindstrom said.
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