By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich- A school board decision to reduce the number of school days in 2005 has now proved costly to the district.
A payout of $570,000, about $5,000 per teacher, was awarded last month after more than five years of deliberations between the Michigan Education
Association and the school district.
About 100 teachers employed by
the district between approximately
The board then voted 6-1 to cut the
14 days from the school calendar.
Trustee Tim Zirnhelt was the lone
no vote.
The calendar reduction would have
saved the district as much as $50,000 for
each day school was not in session, said
school officials.
The change from the 198 day calendar,
which sparked the ire of teachers and
2005 and 2006 will receive compensation
for 14 school days following a
Michigan Employment Relations Commission
administrative law judge ruling
in December 2009.
‘Ultimately, this means less fund
balance to use during these difficult
times,? said Mike Tripp, school board
president.
‘It will change our budget for the
next few years. Right now we are still
looking at the 2010-11 budget. We are
uncertain where the cuts will come
from. It’s going to change as we continue
to move forward.?
The decision stems from an April
2005 proposal to the Goodrich Education
Association (GEA) by the board
of education, promising no layoffs of
certified teachers if they agreed to
work 14 fewer days. The news followed
a 2005 meeting between school
administrators and teachers, in which
nearly 39 teachers received pink slips.
some parents was necessary, said Kim Hart, then
Goodrich superintendent, to balance a rather hefty
$991,655 budget shortfall.
Schools are required to be in session for students
180 days per year. In 2005, Goodrich teachers had
worked 198 days; with student sessions held at 188
days. The board reduced teacher days to 184, and
reduced student days to 181.
In 2006 the school board successfully negotiated
with the MEA for a 185-day school year.
In June 2008, Dianne Bregenzer, Michigan Education
Association UniServ Director, representing
about 100 district teachers, reported that a Michigan
Employment Relations Commission (MERC) judge
ruled the school district illegally removed 14 days from
the school calendar without collective bargaining.
The district was ordered to pay back those 14 days
on a ‘per diem? basis. The teachers did not get to
work those days, claimed MEA officials, and they
can’t do it without bargaining.
The MERC judges? decision stunned some boardmembers
three years after the issue, two years after
the school district prevailed in arbitration, and a full
year after the district settled a three-year contract
with the teachers that included a significant raise, and
settled the calendar issue.
That same year, acting District Superintendent
Larry Allen said the recommendation to pay the days
back came out of the blue, and school attorneys filed
an exception with the MERC regarding the decision.
‘The bottom line is the 198 days were part of an
extended school year grant to all Michigan School
Districts; when the grant money ran out the district
was unable to fund those days,? said John Fazer, current
district superintendent.
‘The days were unilaterally taken without negotiations.
The judge ruled that was illegal and the teachers
were paid for those days.?
Fazer said the district had anticipated paying this
to the teachers.
‘It’s a cost that we had to work into the budget , it
was just hanging out there. Right now we are looking
at a $2.2 million deficit next year. Yes, it’s significant,
but at some point we would have to pay it anyway.?