In spite of hopes expressed by both sides during a series of meetings over summer and into the start of the school year, members of Princeton Public Schools Board of Education (BOE) and the teachers’s union, the Princeton Regional Education Association (PREA), will require a state-appointed mediator to help them work out a new contract.
“The parties have yet to reach a final agreement,” said Patrick Sullivan of the BOE, Monday. “We wish there were an agreement on which the Board could vote С but that has not yet occurred.”
When Princeton Public Schools opened this fall, teachers were working under their “old” contract, which expired at the end of June. Negotiations that would have put a new contract in place stalled over the issues of health care and salary increases.
The BOE last met with representatives of the teachers’ union September 11. Under New Jersey law, when a new employment agreement is not reached before a contract expires, the prior contract continues in place for both parties until a new agreement replaces it.
Talks have broken down over salary increases and healthcare costs. BOE Secretary Stephanie Kennedy stated that “dates are set for November with the state appointed mediator.”
According to PREA Chief Negotiator John Baxter, the union will hold bargaining sessions with the district on October 2 and 22 prior to sessions with the mediator Kathy Vogt, Esq, on November 20 and December 9.
Signs that a mediator would be needed prompted the BOE to formally file for “impasse,” the first step in securing a mediator, on June 12. It can take up to 60 days for a mediator to be scheduled.
In such cases, a mediator is provided by the state at no cost to the district. But if no agreement is reached in mediation, a fact-finder would be called in at a cost of $1,500 per day. The cost of a fact-finder would be split between the two parties. According to BOE negotiator Patrick Sullivan, 40 percent of school negotiations in New Jersey go to mediation.
In a recent statement to Town Topics, PREA President Joanne Ryan, and Mr. Baxter wrote: “At our last negotiations session (Sept. 11) the Board did not change any of its proposals and continues to refuse to bargain premium contributions. PREA members are now contributing to their health benefits premiums at the Tier 4 rate. As a result, take home pay has decreased for a large majority of our members — for many the decrease is well over $100 per paycheck.”
The statement goes on to describe the union’s salary increase as “reasonable” and the Board’s offer of 1.8 percent as “below average.”
“We are also seeking a reasonable reduction of healthcare contributions in years two and three of the contract. We ARE NOT seeking to eliminate our contributions. PREA members were contributing to their healthcare long before the law required us to do so and when very few, if any, other associations were doing so. We will continue to make a significant contribution going forward. But even the Board admits our current rates of contribution are well above the national average. The intent of the Chapter 78 law was that, after 4 years, districts and associations could negotiate the amounts members contributed towards their healthcare. The Board insists that the four-year law binds us to Tier 4, the highest percentages of contribution, for two additional years.”
Ms. Ryan and Mr. Baxter call upon the Board to change its position regarding the bargaining of contribution levels. “We would like to work to craft a contribution formula that makes sense for Princeton as opposed to blindly adhering to Trenton’s one-size-fits-all approach to school districts. Saying ‘yes’ costs the Board nothing — they do not commit to lowering the contributions.”
The two sides continue to disagree over the intent of impact of N.J. law Chapter 78. “By refusing to allow premium contributions to be part of the bargaining process, the Board is taking a substantial tool out of our collective toolbox for the work of crafting a fair contract,” said Mr. Baxter. “12 other school districts in New Jersey, in the same position as Princeton, have already negotiated contracts that include various different formulas for contributions for years 2 and 3. Those school boards have demonstrated that changes to the Chapter 78 formula are not just permitted; they are an equitable way of addressing the legitimate concerns of education professionals.”
“Mr. Baxter’s accusation that the Board refuses to negotiate healthcare contributions is not precisely true,” commented Mr. Sullivan. “What we are saying is it is illegal to negotiate healthcare contributions in conflict with the formula set out in Chapter 78 of New Jersey Law. And regardless of the legalities, we have stated repeatedly that under the 2 percent tax cap that is also law in New Jersey, it is absolutely impossible to give PREA both the salary increases they are asking for (4 percent) and a healthcare giveback.”
“If we want to reduce healthcare costs legally and do it for both sides (PREA and the District), then PREA needs to stop rejecting proposed changes that would contain or reduce healthcare premiums,” said Mr. Sullivan. “As we have explained, if the PREA were to indicate their willingness to accept a salary increase anywhere close to the Mercer County average of 2.4 percent, and at the same time work with the Board to generate savings on healthcare costs, then we would be much further along the road to a compromise.”
“We stand ready to work with the Board to develop a contract that the community, PREA members, and the Board of Education can be proud of,” said Mr. Baxter.