Sycamore Taxpayer

May 19, 2011
Contact: Erika Daggett, Chief Information Officer For Immediate Release
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Teacher contract approved, administration and teachers agree to salary freeze
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The Sycamore Board of Education approved a one year collective bargaining agreement with the Sycamore Education Association during their May 18 meeting.
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SEA represents approximately 449 employees, including teachers, guidance counselors, school nurses and media specialists. SEA ratified the agreement on May 16.
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The terms of the contract include a salary freeze for the 2011-12 school year including no wage adjustments for longevity, which are also known as ‘steps.
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’“The cohesive and professional collaboration between members of SEA and the district are evident in this agreement,” said Diane Adamec, Sycamore Board of Education president. “The outcome is good for everyone in the district including taxpayers, staff and students.”
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During their meeting, the Board also approved a resolution stating that administrators’ salaries will not increase in 2011-12.

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Sycamore Teacher Contract effective August 1, 2008 through July 31, 2011

http://www.serb.state.oh.us/sections/research/web%20contracts/08-MED-03-0351.pdf

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“The black hole of school spending”

A major source of spending problems in Southwest Ohio’s public schools. All schools surveyed had very similar union contract terms.

Note: Sycamore’s district payroll costs (personal services) are expected to increase by $1,145,626 in the current 2010-2011 school year. Benefit costs are expected to drop by $404,897 when compared to FY10.

Ohio state law automatically creates a great expense for schools by allowing public school teachers up to 15 paid sick days per year. Local school boards typically compound that cost by giving teachers three paid personal days per year, to use for any reason. A few districts only offer two personal days, but several we studied offered four.

For the majority of districts, teachers can take as many as 18 paid days off during the academic year, which typically involves 185 work days. That means they are free to take nearly 10 percent of their work year off with pay. In many districts unused personal days can be converted to unused sick days.

Several scholars around the nation have studied this trend in recent years, and have come to the conclusion that many teachers view paid sick and personal days as opportunities that should be taken. That means many take all or most of their paid days off, creating significant expense for schools, both in regular salary for days not worked, as well as the cost of substitute teachers.

This district’s teachers are also granted 15 sick days per year, and can accumulate up to 325. Sycamore teachers also get four personal days per year. In 2008-09, the district paid out $779,440 for substitutes to cover teacher leave.

SEVERENCE PAY (UNUSED SICK DAYS)

In an attempt to convince teachers to report to work as much as possible, every contract we reviewed allowed teachers to accumulate unused sick days, usually up to several hundred, and sometimes with no limit. When they retire, they are allowed to cash out a fraction of their unused sick days as severance pay. The severance is usually based on last and highest salary, which means a teacher could have banked a sick day in 1985, then get reimbursed at his current wage level. These payout costs are significant for districts every year.         

SYCAMORE – Teachers can claim one-third of unused sick days at their rate of pay upon retirement. Teachers can accumulate up to 325 unused sick days. The district paid $279,079 for this benefit for the 2008-09 school year.

HEALTH INSURANCE

There’s no argument that the skyrocketing cost of health care and insurance has been crippling schools throughout the nation. But teachers’ contracts consistently call for the district to pay around 90 percent of individual teachers’ health care coverage. These costs put a significant dent in a school district’s budget. 

KINGS – The district pays 85 percent of health insurance premiums for employers who work more than 18.75 hours per week. Employee co-pays range from $10 for certain prescriptions to $75 for emergency room visits. The district paid $2.4 million for health coverage in 2008-09.

LAKOTA – Three different health plans offered and the district pays between 88 and 90 percent of premium costs. The district paid $8.9 million for health coverage in 2008-09. See

Example 4 below.

EXAMPLE 4

OAK HILLS – The school board pays 90 percent of a teacher’s single, double or family health benefit. The district paid out slightly more than $3.9 million for health coverage in 2008-09.

INDIAN HILL – Board provides PPO and HMO plans and covers 85 percent of premium costs. The district paid $1.8 million for health care coverage in 2008-09.

It’s obvious that districts could save a great deal of money if teachers and other employees accepted responsibility for an extra 10-15 percent of their health care premiums, at least on a temporary basis.

SUPPLEMENTAL CONTRACTS/STIPENDS/BONUSES

Every school district pays out a significant amount of money for supplemental costs, like salaries for athletic coaches or student group advisors, teacher tuition reimbursements, or stipends for teachers to serve on special committees or perform extra functions like being a department chair or tutor.

KINGS – The district pays 85 percent of health insurance premiums for employers who work more than 18.75 hours per week. Employee co-pays range from $10 for certain prescriptions to $75 for emergency room visits. The district paid $2.4 million for health coverage in 2008-09.

LAKOTA – Three different health plans offered and the district pays between 88 and 90 percent of premium costs. The district paid $8.9 million for health coverage in 2008-09. See Example 4 below.

 

EXAMPLE 4

OAK HILLS – The school board pays 90 percent of a teacher’s single, double or family health benefit. The district paid out slightly more than $3.9 million for health coverage in 2008-09.

INDIAN HILL – Board provides PPO and HMO plans and covers 85 percent of premium costs. The district paid $1.8 million for health care coverage in 2008-09.

It’s obvious that districts could save a great deal of money if teachers and other employees accepted responsibility for an extra 10-15 percent of their health care premiums, at least on a temporary basis.

ODDS AND ENDS:

CLASSROOM OVERAGES

SUBSTITUTE PAY FOR DOWN-TIME TEACHERS

PROFESSIONAL LEAVE

EARLY RETIREMENT/ EARLY NOICE OF RETIREMENT  

TEACHER TUITION REIMBURSEMENT

PAID SABBATICALS

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION

CLOSED NEGOTATION CLAUSES  - Several districts have contract language stipulating that details pertaining to contract negotiations not be released to the public, despite the fact that they are negotiating over tax money. They include Kings, Mason and West Clermont. See Example from the West Clermont contract below.

3.06  NEWS RELEASES
No information pertinent to matters then under negotiations shall be given or released to the news media or general public during negotiations and prior to the declaration of impasse without the mutual consent of the parties. Once a declaration of impasse has been made, either party may make whatever news releases it deems appropriate without the consent of the other.

FORGIVING DRUG POLICY – In the Sycamore district, teachers are not allowed to “unlawfully manufacture, distribute, dispense, possess or use” illegal drugs or alcohol. If they violate this policy, they are expected to “satisfactorily participate in a drug abuse assistance or rehabilitation program.” This suggests that a teacher could sell drugs to a student and avoid termination if they agreed to treatment.

PRIORITY PLACED ON UNION CONVENTIONS

If teachers had taken responsibility for another 10 percent of their health premiums, the district could have saved nearly $400,000. If the 18 paid sick/personal days had been cut in half, the district might have saved $800,000. Cutting the number of paid sick/personal days might have also trimmed about $400,000 in substitute teacher fees. If step raises had been cut in half for a year, the district could have saved $400,000. Cutting supplemental costs and stipends in half would have saved about $240,000. Cutting the reimbursement for unused sick says in half would have saved about $214,000. Forcing teachers to occasionally sub on their down time without extra pay would have saved $37,000.

A conservative estimate is that the Oak Hills district could have saved about $2.5 million in 2008-09, if the school board and union had agreed to sit down and cut labor costs, at least on an emergency basis. That may not be a fortune in school operation terms, but taxpayers probably would have liked to know that the district was doing everything possible to trim unnecessary costs, instead of just asking for more money from the cash-strapped public.

The following pages provide an easy-to-read synopsis of some of our findings. We hope our work will encourage Ohio residents and journalists to dig deeper into labor costs in their local school districts, and learn how schools could operate more efficiently if they weren’t burdened with so many contractual responsibilities.

CLOSING NOTE

In the course of our study, we contacted officials at all 19 districts, asking for actual financial statistics to illustrate the costs of various teacher contract provisions. While they had more than three weeks to respond, just over half of them did so. We very much appreciate the cooperation of the school officials who took the time to provide us with valuable information.

Even without a full response, it’s clear from the information we gathered that school districts in Southwest Ohio could be run more cost efficiently if there was a joint commitment from school boards, administrators and teachers unions to do so.

Contracts reviewed:
Cincinnati, Forest Hills, Indian Hill, Kings, Lakota, Little Miami,  Loveland Madeira, Mariemont, Mason, Mount Healthy,  North College Hill , Northwest, Oak Hills, Princeton, Reading, Sycamore, West Clermont, Wyoming.

About the Organization

Education Action Group Foundation, Inc. is a Michigan-based 501(c)(3) public charity. It has been researching and promoting school spending reform for nearly three years. A similar analysis of Michigan teacher contract was conducted in the winter of 2010.

Originally focused solely on Michigan schools, EAGF has since also begun analyzing school spending across the nation. The organization also publishes several websites, including NEAexposed.com and AFTexposed.com, two weekly newsletters, the EAG Insider (Michigan) and the Ed Reform Radar (national). The websites and newsletters focus on the agenda and tactics of the national teachers’ unions.

EAGF is currently producing a feature-length documentary film on American public education, focusing on Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

This project was funded by The Foundation for Educational Choice of Indianapolis, Indiana.