Greeley teachers reject offer

Greeley teachers this week overwhelmingly rejected the latest contract offer from the district, pushing to three the number of large school districts statewide with educators still working for last year’s pay.

District and union leaders in Greeley, Boulder and St. Vrain have yet to hammer out contracts, more than a month after students returned to school.

“We have never had three locals at crisis level in their bargaining this late in the year,” Deborah Fallin, spokeswoman for the Colorado Education Association, said Tuesday.

“Crisis level” means an impasse has been declared in negotiations and third-party mediators have stepped in, with little success.

Teachers and administrators in a fourth district, Westminster in Adams County, are still talking but those negotiations are amicable and no impasse has been declared, Fallin said.

St. Vrain Valley teachers and administrators are slated next week for fact-finding, where the two sides will present their arguments to an arbiter who then issues a ruling. That ruling isn’t necessarily binding.

In Boulder, mediated talks broke down seven hours into a scheduled two-day meeting and union leaders have filed the required notice with the state labor department that they may take job action.

That includes a strike, though Boulder Valley Education Association President Melissa Tingley has said the notice was intended only “to keep all our options open.”

In Greeley, more than 90 percent of teachers rejected the district’s “last, best and final offer” made at mediated talks on Sept. 25.

“They very clearly believe that their contract is not being honored,” Greeley Education Association President Andi Lee said Tuesday. “They consider it a broken promise.”

The district’s offer would cover increased medical and retirement costs for teachers, pay more to teachers who earned more college credits and increase hourly pay for non-classroom work from $18 to $25.

It contains no cost-of-living increase and would not cover the annual increases usually given to teachers for another year of experience, known as “steps” on a teacher salary schedule. A step increase equals about 3.75 percent for Greeley teachers.

Lee pointed out a teacher salary schedule, including steps, is typically included in an approved contract. State law requires districts to post their salary schedules online and prospective teachers review them to determine potential earning power.

“If you’re not offering the step, you’re not honoring the contract,” Lee said.

Greeley union leaders asked for the usual step increase plus a 2 percent cost-of-living raise, she said, “which is the average salary increase that it looks like other districts around us are receiving.”

But Greeley School Board President Bruce Broderius issued a news release Tuesday stating that, “to meet the union’s requests, the district would need to lay off current employees, including some teachers themselves.”

“That would be financially devastating to those employees and their families in this current economic climate,” Broderius said.

Colorado school districts received 4.9 percent in additional funding this school year, thanks to a constitutional amendment protecting education dollars. But state lawmakers required districts to freeze 1.93 percent of that money until Jan. 29, when they’ll determine whether it can be released.

It appears increasingly unlikely, given the dismal state revenue projections, that districts will be able to use that money.

Teachers’ union leaders across the state have pushed for districts to use at least some of this year’s additional funding for pay raises. Metro-area districts such as Cherry Creek and Denver have been successful in bargaining cost-of-living increases of 2 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Other districts have not fared as well. In the Mapleton school district, for example, teacher pay is frozen at 2008-09 levels.

In St. Vrain, the district’s offer includes a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase. In Boulder, it’s a 1 percent cost-of-living increase. Both district offers include the funding of “steps.”

Greeley’s Broderius argues, however, that the district is among the lowest-funded in the state and that “we simply do not have the level of revenue that most other districts have.”

What’s next for Boulder and for Greeley is uncertain.

Boulder district officials have asked for “fact-finding,” the process set to begin in St. Vrain. Teachers’ union leaders are asking “clarifying questions” about what that would entail, according to a district spokesman.

In Greeley, Lee said, “the negotiations’ ball is pretty much in the district’s court.”

“All they need to do is indicate a willingness to come back and negotiate a fair contract,” she said, defining fair as including “steps.”

Leaders in both districts are making their appeals in the court of public opinion.

In Boulder, teachers’ union leaders released a district poll obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act that showed more than half of respondents believe the district could save money by cutting back on the number of administrators.

The poll, conducted in June and July, also found 67 percent of respondents picked teacher compensation as a top priority.

Meanwhile, Boulder Superintendent Chris King sent an email to parents saying the district is developing “contingency plans … to keep schools open, continue offering education services and keep children safe” if teachers call in sick in groups, strike or take other possible job actions.

Last spring, Boulder teachers upset by contract talks did stage sick-outs.

In Greeley, Broderius’s statement warning of possible layoffs was posted on the district’s web site and emailed to parents. An administrator emailed teachers last week explaining the district’s offer.

The district also has posted a list detailing how its additional state and federal dollars are being spent this year.

In response, union leaders have sent emails telling their side of the story, including questioning why the district has made new hires this year. The district’s own list includes five new assistant principals.

“If we’re truly heading into a financial crisis, why are we hiring so many people that don’t necessarily work in the classroom?” Lee asked.

Nancy Mitchell can be reached at nmitchell@pebc.org or 303-478-4573.