B.E.A. Line February 2017

February 2017 Issue

Teacher Quality Fund

Teacher quality money is provided by the state to help provide professional development and training that improves teachers.  One way this can be done is by funding a day of professional development.  Each year,  in the Burlington Community School District, a portion of our TQ funding is set aside for a large scale training.  In the past, this day was held at other venues such as Pzazz or Comfort Suites and a professional speaker was hired to present.  It was always a non-contract day and teachers who attended were paid a per diem stipend. Unfortunately, this year the District chose not to schedule such a day.   This past  fall, BEA surveyed members about reinstating this day.  Eighty-two (82%) percent of respondents were in favor of reinstating it.  The District TQ Committee met and then came up with two possible dates, February 20 or the first day after contract days are complete.   A District survey was then sent to all staff to determine preference of dates and topics.  Attendance,  as always, is optional.  Hopefully the TQ Committee will begin researching presenters and dates for next year.

Did you know there is still TQ money available for training?  Check with your building administrators.  Funds cannot overlap years.  The fiscal year ends June 30.  

School Board Meetings, Budget Cuts, and Surveys

Executive Board Members and Representatives have been covering school board meetings first of all so that we can get the information to you sooner and with more detail.  We have also been attending because since last year, Mr. Coen has been promising budget cuts.  Teaching positions were cut last year and it appears this will occur again this year.  It is true that salaries make up the biggest part of the budget.  Let’s say that 75-80% of the $63 million budget is for salaries.  That means that about 20-25% or about $12 to $16 million of the budget is NOT salaries.  The proposed budget cut  $1.7 million, is about a 2.7% reduction in the $63 million. Surely, at least some of this reduction could occur in the $12-16 million non salary portion of the budget.

At a recent board meeting Mr. Coen presented (and dismissed) some proposed budget cuts from staff.  This information was gathered in a survey that contained questions that are in violation of collective bargaining agreement law.  The BEA had no knowledge of the survey until it was sent to everyone.  However, after receiving it, we recognized the violation.   We don’t know if this was an honest mistake of someone new to education or something more nefarious.  The bottom line is that the administration is paid a large sum of money to be knowledgeable of such laws and to uphold them.

Finally,  this is a call to all members.  It’s time we start showing up at board meetings in solidarity.  We need to make sure the board sees the faces of those directly affected by budget cuts. The next meeting is February 13, 7:00 P.M.

Committee Reports

Governmental Affairs-  No report.

Communication Committee - Keep reading the blog.

Election Committee - Donna Phipps is the new Election Committee Chair.  She is working on getting the spring BEA election up and running

Insurance Committee - The committee has had two meetings with various combinations of Wellmark, the District, and ISEA.  The results of their survey will be posted on the blog soon.

Membership Committee - Thank you to all of our members who made the transitions to EFT during the month of January. We had over 65% of our members on payroll deduction make the switch to EFT with a very short turnaround time.  Everyone that made the switch should have received an email from ISEA to the email that was provided on the enrollment form with your enrollment information.  We will continue to switch people over to EFT the next couple months, ask me (Betsy Wolf)  questions when they arise. Thank you again for making this an easy transition.  

Negotiations Committee -  The Negotiations Committee will open collective bargaining Feb 15th with the District countering with their opening on March 1st.

Social Committee -  There will be a survey soon about meeting and social event preferences.

Teacher’s Rights Committee -  There is one informal grievance at the high school.

Scholarship Committee -  There are a few changes  in the the functioning of the committee.  These changes were presented to the Exec Board and Rep Assembly and voted on and accepted.  The scholarship recipient must be a child of a BEA member, a BHS senior, and intending to enter a education or vocational field that works with children.  The two scholarships are each $500.  The committee chair appoints members to the committee and will review applications in April.

Just One More Thing….

It’s easy to get  sucked into a vortex of doom and gloom.  Christmas vacation is over and spring break seems far away.  Budget cuts are looming and we  worry about having a job or losing a colleague to cuts. Even the weather seems gloomy - no sunshine and no snow to take away the brown drab of winter.  Remember to:

• Take time to find one positive in each day.
• Take time to provide for your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
• Finally, remember to leave work at work.