Board yet to settle any union contracts

For many years, the Brainerd School Board negotiated its contracts with its six non-certified union groups one year and with its two certified union groups the following year.

But the board has yet to reach settlements with any of the district's eight unions, which represent all but 12-15 employees out of the nearly 1,050 employees in the district. The six non-certified groups have been working without a current contract since June 30, 2008; the contracts for the two certified union groups expired June 30, 2009.

If the board and teachers' union, Education Minnesota Brainerd, do not have a settled and ratified contract by Jan. 15, the district will be penalized by a reduction of nearly $200,000 in state appropriations, according to state statute.

Steve Lund, director of business services, said with future salary and benefit costs an unknown for nearly all employees, an amount that accounts for about 80 percent of the district's $70 million budget, it makes it difficult for him and his staff to complete a budget revision in December. Lund said he would like to see negotiations for all union groups completed at the same time from now on.

"I would like to do it all in the same year, personally," said Lund. "I think it's very important we have fair and equitable treatment across our organization. It can be problematic when you have groups settling in opposite years."

Board member Kent Montgomery said board members have discussed the idea. He noted that the teachers and administrative unions settled their 2007-09 contracts before the 2007 failed referendum, receiving a 1.5 percent wage increase the first year and a 2 percent increase the next year of the contract. In contrast, the six non-certified unions representing food services staff, head cooks, clerical staff, educational assistants, interpreters for deaf students and custodial staff have yet to reach an agreement with the board after the $5.5 million in budget reductions in 2008 and economic downturn that followed.

Lund, Montgomery and Superintendent Steve Razidlo all said that there are several factors why the district hasn't settled contracts with any of its unions. Last fall Steve Dickinson resigned as director of business services, delaying the negotiations process until the board had hired Lund and he was brought up to speed last spring. The 2008 budget cuts and subsequent economic downturn also played a factor in why both sides of the negotiations table have not reached agreements, they said.

"It's a tough negotiations climate now," said Razidlo. "There's no escaping that."

Razidlo said the district has been meeting frequently with its union group representatives, particularly with its teachers' union representatives because of the impending Jan. 15 deadline. He said the board and teachers' union representatives have been meeting weekly.

While board members cannot comment on the negotiations process, Montgomery said both sides of the bargaining table have been cordial and respectful.

"There's been a long history in this district of mutual respect," said Montgomery.

Razidlo said the board has made a priority of putting resources back into the classroom, in terms of hiring back teachers to reduce class sizes. Settlement increases would have an impact on the district's financial picture.

Of the district's $70 million budget, about $50 million is spent on salaries and benefits. Of that, $24 million is solely salary costs. A 1 percent wage increase for all union groups would cost the district an extra $370,000 per year, equivalent to adding 7.3 full-time equivalent teachers to the staff. The average starting teacher salary in the district, including benefits, is $50,634, said Lund.

The board this fall voted to not increase health insurance premiums for district staff, based on the fund balance that remained in the self-insured health plan.

The district has 437 full-time-equivalent teachers. Of those, 198 teachers, or 45 percent, have reached the top of their salary schedule and would not be eligible to receive step or lane increases. If the board was to negotiate a zero percent wage increase for teachers, these teaching staff would receive a true zero percent increase, Lund explained.

However, teachers, and a few other union groups, are eligible to receive step and lane wage increases, in addition to any negotiated contract settlements. Administrators do not receive step and lane increases. Teachers receive a lane increase by taking additional courses or completing advanced degrees while steps are annual increases for each year they have been employed by the district up to 18 years. At 18 years of service, teachers are no longer eligible to receive step increases.

Of the district's teaching staff, 281 teachers are eligible for lane movement, typically a 3 percent wage increase, depending on degree or coursework attained, said Lund. Step increases equal about a 2 percent annual wage increase up to 18 years of service, said Lund.

Lund said the district budgets $350,000, or 1.4 percent, of the salary budget for step increases and about $100,000 for lane changes, although he increased the lane change budget by about $20,000 this year because with teacher retirements the district has hired younger teachers who are more likely to earn additional degrees or complete more schooling.

Following budget cuts and riding the first year of a two-year boost in federal stimulus dollars, the board has now built up a fairly comfortable $6.5 million unreserved fund balance, representing 10 percent of the district's expenditures. But Lund said these funds could easily disappear, depending on what state lawmakers decide to provide schools during the spring of 2011 legislative session. So when the district bargains with its union groups, Lund said negotiators on both sides of the table need to consider the district's long-term financial situation.

Lund said state lawmakers cut 8.7 percent, or about $4 million, from the district's budget to balance the state's budget, backfilling those dollars with federal stimulus money. In two years those federal stimulus dollars will be gone and Lund noted that on Sept. 30 the state released figures that it had $52 million less in general fund revenues than was previously estimated.

"That's a large question mark for us," Razidlo said of state funding.

The district's monthly payroll during the school year is approximately $4.6 million, Lund said.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.