The district wants to remove the caps on class size, take benefits from part-time workers and cut the number of assistants in bilingual classrooms. And, of course, TUSD also wants smaller pay raises for its teachers.
Teachers, represented by the Tucson Education Association, want their 5 percent incremental raise and another 3.5 percent on top of that for inflation. The district is offering a measly 1.75.
TEA bargaining support chair Marguerite Granberry said she was
shocked when she first saw the proposed changes. Granberry, the
organizer of a large TEA rally outside the district's headquarters
before last Thursday's board meeting, said, "I can't believe
anyone would want to hurt kids. The way we're looking at it, we're
going back 20 years."
Granberry said it appears TUSD officials want to use the money they'll save through these cuts to fund all-day kindergarten plus various support programs TUSD Board President Brenda Even would like to put up. But, Granberry said, TEA members aren't sure what those support programs are.
"On May 3 they told us they were non-negotiable, meaning they would not disclose what the programs are, who they will serve, how many there are or how much they will cost," Granberry said.
"Shame on you for eliminating class size caps in the consensus agreement," new TEA president Frieda Baker told the board at last Thursday's meeting. "Shame on you for picking on food service and bilingual assistants to try and save dollars," she continued, referring to the proposed loss of benefits for part-time workers. "Please stop this nonsense. Let us talk and work together to improve education."
The abbreviated board--Joel Ireland was absent and Jim Christ could hardly keep his eyes open--listened stonily as teachers, nurses, bus drivers, crossing attendants and bilingual classroom assistants spoke about unsafe crosswalks, lousy heating and cooling systems and the dire need for classroom aides.
The board did not address the protesters directly, but members did provide written responses regarding the hot button issues of bilingual aides and classroom size.
Proposing to save an estimated $1.3 million by "staffing schools, not classrooms," the district maintains that, "with few exceptions, class sizes will not exceed what is currently mandated by the consensus agreement." But a school would have to reach a total of 28 more students before another teacher would be hired.
TEA bargaining coordinator Anna Baker Free said, "They're saying no class caps whatsoever. We don't want to go back to the days of 45 or 50 kids in a class, especially with the emotional needs many of these kids have today. Our job is tenfold harder to do today than it used to be." Baker Free said among board members only Christ and Ireland are against the proposed changes.
But board member Gloria Copeland said she's in favor of the 1.75 percent across-the-board pay raise and the revised bilingual assistant changes. "I'm investigating everything else," she said. "Nothing's been voted on. Negotiations are just that, negotiations."
After more than two months of spring talks, there's a definite chill in the air. Call it an impasse--TUSD does. Now an arbitrator will most likely be assigned to spark an early thaw. Meanwhile, 62,000 children will be waiting.
