HEA Bargaining Update

Keeping You Informed

September 8, 2005

Your HEA negotiating team met with the board and their attorney, Barb Ruga on Tuesday September 6. The majority of the evening was spent having Ms. Ruga hand out a bunch of documents relative to the final figures they have prepared for the 2004-2005 audit.

To paraphrase this rather lengthy presentation, “the board and administration made an inept $900,000 mistake in how much they thought stuff was going to cost last year. It was the fault of computer software and the people using it.”

None of the facts presented last night have anything to do with the board’s ability to reach a fair contract agreement with our teachers. The fact is, for the 4 years prior to 2004-2005, the district settled contracts with us and grew their fund balance. This major mistake in the board and administration’s ability to manage the school’s finances still only drops the fund balance to the level it was in 2000-2001. Four year’s worth of fair negotiated settlements have occurred since then.

There is no reason to think that another one can’t and shouldn’t be expected now.