Some Retirement News

Hi MLEA members,

A couple of things to think about this month, both related to retirement:

1) As per Article V Section 11 of the current contract, if you notify the District in advance of your intent to retire at the end of the current school year you'll receive a Notification Stipend to be added on to your base contract amount. Given the fiscal mess that we're faced with it's a real blessing to know what the staffing for the next year will look like as early as possible; to that end, the District has agreed to both raise the amount offered from $1,000 to $1,500, and keep the amount level until March--under the current language, it would step down a couple hundred dollars per month.

If you have any questions about this part of the contract, please give me a call!

2) For those of us on Plan 3, this is the month where you can change your contribution option either up or down. There's a form that you'd have to turn in to Lynn Paul in the payroll office; you can find it, and more information, here:

http://www.icmarc.org/xp/plan3/trs/contributionrateflexibility.xml

Happy New Year!

--Ryan--

Where the Jobs Aren't Going To Be

Interesting list in the Spokane Journal of Business' December 23rd edition on the largest employers in Spokane County.

#1 is the State of Washington
#4--Spokane Public Schools
#5--Spokane County
#6--City of Spokane
#7--The US Government
#11--Community Colleges of Spokane
#12--Central Valley School District
#14--Eastern Washington University
#18--State Department of Corrections
#25--Eastern State Hospital
#30--Lakeland Village
#31--East Valley School District
#45--Cheney School District
#50--Washington State DOT
#55--Deer Park School District
#58--West Valley School District
#59--Medical Lake School District

9 of the top 60 employers in the county are school districts, the community colleges, or state universities. If you put them all together, you have 8,565 jobs.

Now think about the cuts that could happen--if you laid off 5% of those people, you'd have 428 more people out on the streets looking for work. This, in a county where unemployment is currently 7.9% and a state where nearly 1-in-10 people can't find a job.

I guess that's why I can't really be sympathetic to the belief expressed by some that the government doesn't create jobs; the underlying bias in that statement is that a government job isnt' a "real" job, and that's a slap in the face. And if we don't save some of these pesky government jobs, you're going to be looking at a lot of unemployed school employees slowing the recovery down even further.

The Medical Lake School District is the 59th Largest Employer in Spokane County

This, according to the December 23rd edition of the Spokane Journal of Business.

It sorts of puts in perspective jost how important teachers are to the local economy.

The Governor's Education Budget

MLEA Members,

The big news last week was that the Governor released her supplemental budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. I mentioned in October that the picture wasn't very bright, but now we have a guide for how things could be. The cuts to the MLSD in her budget include:

• $1,085,361 in levy equalization funds, which helps to bridge the gap between property-rich and property-poor school districts in Washington.
  
• $199,137 in I-728 money, which we use for class size reduction.
  
• $268,799 from what is known as "K-4 Enhancement" funds, provided by the state to allow lower class size in the primary grades.
  
• $31,667 when the last state-funded Learning Improvement Day goes away.

There are also some other cuts to categorical programs and gifted education funding; when you put it all together, the potential deficit that we're looking at for Medical Lake next year is in excess of $1.5 million dollars.

To say that things are going to be tight would be an understatement on a magnitude of 10. The Governor is talking about a "revenue increase" that would allow us to avoid some of the worst cuts, but it remains an open question whether we'll be able to get that done for the 2010-2011 school year or not.

What can you do about it? Quite a bit, actually.

1. Contact your legislator to let them know how much these cuts will hurt. Losing teachers will hurt. Losing funding for gifted education will hurt. Losing the levy equalization that allows a district like ours to stay in the black will hurt. I think they know this, but they also need to hear it loud and clear from us as often as we possibly can.
   
2. If you're not already a member, please consider joining the WEA's Political Action Committee. It's an easy way to make a difference for $2.25 a month.
   
3. Stay together. We're all in this handbasket, wherever it may be taking us.

I'll be coming around in January doing building meetings at each of the schools; a schedule will come out next month. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or call on my cell phone.

We live in interesting times.

--Ryan--

WEA Republican Educators Caucus

Hi MLEA Members,

There's a new group starting up within the WEA called the WEA Republican Educators Caucus. The intent is to give Republican and Conservative educators more of an active voice within the organization and make sure that their viewpoint is heard; it's an effort being put together by Ken Mortland, a retired member and former high school teacher who I've had the pleasure of meeting through my WEAPAC work and some who I think very highly of.

If you're interested in being a part of the effort you can get more information off of the the Facebook page that has been set up, here. You can also email me and I'll happily send you an information packet, or you can email Ken directly at wearec1130@aol.com.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

MLEA Budget Approved

Thank you to everyone who voted!

Weingarten Rights

A little bit of labor law for a Wednesday morning!

One of the ways that collective bargaining benefits us is through the codification of what are known as "Weingarten Rights" from a 1975 Supreme Court case of the same name. Fundamentally, what Weingarten means for you:

*You have the right to Union representation at a meeting with a principal, superintendent, or direct supervisor if you "reasonably believe that discipline" could result from the meeting. That's a tricky phrase, though, because "reasonable" has everything to do with your thoughts and feelings at the time, and "discipline" could be anything from a verbal reprimand to a loss of status to termination.

Bottom line: if you're requested to attend a meeting and you're not comfortable going on your own, you can request representation. If you're in a meeting and it takes a turn against you, you can request representation. If after a meeting you need to talk about what it could mean, you can call your Association Rep and debrief.

If you have any questions about Weingarten Rights, or any other aspect of the Association, please feel free to ask!