Furlough MOU Update, #3

Dear REA and Community,
 
Jeffrey Fuller (REA President) and Brian Jay (REA Bargaining Chair), along with OSEA leadership, met with the district on July 16 to continue our negotiation for the Furlough MOU. 

The District responded to our previous proposal with a counter reversing our proposed four (4) days of furlough back to their original proposal of ten (10) furlough days. Despite having $700,000 more coming in via the State School Fund than planned for in the 2025-2026 adopted budget, and needing to spend approximately $1.5 million less on PERS, the district maintains they still need 10 furlough days to make ends meet. 

The district did agree with our proposed last four (4) student days of school and upped it by one (1) more. If ratified, this would eliminate the last five (5) student contact days of the 2025-2026 school year. They did, however, leave the final two workdays of June 15 and 16 in place. If we were to agree, this would come out to June 8,9,10,11,12 – with the final workdays being June 15 and 16. 

Unfortunately, the district – once again – proposed cutting the five (5) teacher planning days. Their excuse continues to be that they do not want to pursue getting a waiver from the state (which the district has done during previous furloughs) and do not want to impact student contact days. We again argued that the prep days were put into place to help alleviate teacher burnout, minimize the amount of sick days taken and the subsequent amount of subs in the building – which costs the district more and is not good for students -  and allows educators to prep, plan and collaborate in order to make student contact days truly count for students. In this upcoming year more than any, we will need that prep time to make student contact hours meaningful, not just tick boxes. It continues to be our belief that seat time for the sake of seat time is not as valuable as well prepared lessons by students' teachers as opposed to subs. 

As for the trigger language, the district accepted two (2) of the three (3) proposed triggers (Independent Outside Audit and State School Fund triggers) but pushed for funding thresholds well above – practically double - what is needed to bring back a furlough day. Their concern was partly due to funds needed for charter schools, but the amount was still well above what would be needed. We also proposed language about “other” funding that could be used for compensation. The district struck that out of fear that grant money would come with requirements as to how it’s spent. 

Finally, the district struck language that would protect members from being laid off, non-renewed or terminated for any reason related to budget, funding or program cuts during the life of the MOU. The fact that the district is unwilling to guarantee that their proposed method to alleviate budget shortfalls will actually work, while maintaining that there is no question that 10 furlough days are needed, is problematic at best.

Our counter, was to concede to the five (5) furlough days in June (striking the planning days), strike their high trigger language thresholds, while adjusting our proposed numbers to give slightly more wiggle room for charters, restore the additional funding trigger language, and change language about non-layoffs to language requiring the district to come to the table and bargain any necessary reduction measures first. Again, protecting our members’ jobs, pay and time is of the utmost importance!

We have scheduled two (2) more bargaining dates – at the end of July and early August, when we will see how the district responds.

Finally, we felt the district was hinting at moving forward with their last, best offer when the 90 days of mandatory bargaining are completed on August 10. OSEA and REA have informed the district of our “commitment to bargain in good faith, even beyond the ninety-day statutory period.” Our goal is to have a MOU prepared for both OSEA and REA members to vote on when we return to work.

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