Leaders of the Morgan Hill Teachers Federation and the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) created a package of proposed
budget cuts that they presented to School Board trustees Monday
night, along with a special retirement package created by the
Federation and district Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate.
Leaders of the Morgan Hill Teachers Federation and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) created a package of proposed budget cuts that they presented to School Board trustees Monday night, along with a special retirement package created by the Federation and district Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate.
The district estimates 82 teachers will be eligible for the early-retirement plan.
Federation President Mary Alice Callahan told trustees she wanted to save the jobs of as many as possible of the 111 teachers who received pink slips two weeks ago.
Trustees Shelle Thomas and Amina Khemici wanted to try to incorporate the plan formulated by Callahan, SEIU President Bev Walker and members of their unions into the rounds of budget-slashing taking place Monday night.
“Mary Alice and the Federation of Teachers and Bev and the support staff have gone to a great effort to show us where they agreed upon reductions,” she said. “I would like to see us take those into consideration.”
Trustee Del Foster said Thomas could amend the motion, which was to approve the cuts on the consensus list recommended by the performance-based budget committee, to reflect the Federation/SEIU proposal.
Foster made a motion to approve the consensus list as it was, with an amendment to pull off the list a district nurse position.
Khemici was not ready to approve Foster’s amended motion.
“How can we incorporate what Mary Alice presented tonight?” she asked.
Trustees took no vote on the plan submitted by the employee groups.
Superintendent Carolyn McKenna said she would go over the plan with employee group leaders.
Callahan distributed copies of the proposed cuts to board members. Some highlights of the plan that differ from the consensus list include $9,000 more in cuts to transportation; 20 percent in cuts across the board to District Office budgets, instead of 10-15 percent; $100,000 in special education cuts, instead of $169,000; and five custodial cuts instead of four.
The proposal also detailed cuts not included on the consensus list, including cuts to classroom supplies budgets totaling $77,885, with the middle schools and Live Oak and Central high schools taking 15 percent cuts and the elementary schools averaging 15 percent cuts through 20 percent cuts to Title 1 schools (which have the ability to use Title 1 funds to backfill) and non-Title 1 schools receiving no cuts.
Proposed cuts in the package totaled $3,063,549.
Another part of the package is a retirement plan put together by Tate and Callahan working with the firm of Keenan and Associates. To be eligible for the plan – there are 82 teachers eligible in the district – a teacher must be at least 55 years old and have served at least 10 years in the district.
There must be 21 teachers participating before the district will enter into an agreement with Keenan and Associates. This minimum number is needed to produce approximately $400,000 for the district in the first year.
“This is a one-time deal,” Tate said.
Tate said she will work with Kennan and Associates to schedule a group presentation for all eligible teachers and set up individual appointments if they are requested.
“What is nice about this is that there is an opportunity for each employee to tailor the plan to their own needs,” she said.
Potential retirees can chose between several options, including a monthly amount of 5 percent of their retirement salary per year for the rest of their life, which, for an employee retiring at $68,000 would mean approximately $286 per month. Another option would give that same employee approximately $56,000 over five years, or $869 per month.
Callahan said with the proposal put forth by the Federation and the SEIU, and the retirement plan if there were at least half of the eligible employees participating, the district would only have to lay off perhaps 2-4 teachers, instead of 111.5.
“Let’s get busy and rescind some notices,” she said.
All teachers issued layoff notices have appealed the decisions. Hearings are slated next month over a three-day period.
