NASD Posts Contract Update as of 10-31-06

The NASD is on the offensive in the area of public relations with another release on its web site of contract negotiations information. The most recent is a Contract Negotiation Update 10/31/06 (read it here in PDF format).

(With a notable exception you can't miss below, I'll keep my opinion out of the summary and save it for the comments)

The document highlights eight negotiation 'facts'.

1. Healthcare - makes a few points including the NAEA requested specific services and NASD offered to make available alternative plans to meet individuals' needs. Also stated (as was noted here previously) that the Administrators receive the same medical plan as the teachers and that no new proposals have been made by NAEA regarding healthcare.
   
2. Negotiation Status - restates the recent request by the NAEA, to meet, the NASD to arrange the meeting and then the response by the NAEA's PSEA negotiator that stated:
1. Generally speaking, I do not see it as being anything but a waste of time to
   meet unless the District has a better proposal to make as I do not believe that my team is prepared to modify their offer….
   
3. Real Estate Tax - in addition to stating that whichever contract proposal is approved the taxes will go up, the NASD states that:
1. that residents of the Nazareth Area School District currently rank 164th out of the 501 school districts in local tax burden paid to support public education. Nazareth residents now rank among the top 1/3 of the school districts in the State in their
   local tax dollar contribution to public education. This ranking is determined on the basis of the equalized tax mill rate determined through a formula provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
   
4. Act 1 - almost too much to address here, but in short Act 1 caps the amount a district can raise mills on a percentage basis in a year. NASD is concerned that with building projects planned and other costs of operation it will not be able to operate without cutting 'critical' programs. It also notes that a voter referendum can be used to increase over the cap.
1. This section is fear mongering at its best. Each year during the budget if the NASD needs a big tax hike they threaten to cut band, music, technology, and any other area they expect people to be upset about. The people come in and complain, the tax hike goes through, because the people "wanted it".
   
1. This is the area where the Board needs to be accountable for its fiscal decisions (such as the building projects) and not simply threaten to slash education if the people don't accept another tax hike. The education should be at the top of the list, not at the bottom. Further, if this is the business environment in which the NASD finds itself, they must plan ahead based on having to accommodate it and it does not appear they are doing this given the building projects being discussed and planned for.
   
5. Salary Compaction - first addresses the complaint that the salary comparison on the NASD site is not fair. Next addresses fact that NAEA previously wanted higher top scale and was willing to concede on entry level pay resulting in Nazareth being about $6000 below Parkland in year one, but $7000 higher on top level. (again this compares parkland's current to Nazareth's proposal so its not quite 100%, but the approach/reasoning why is explained).
   
6. Past Negotiations - state that in 2000 contract was virtually resolved before it began and in 2003 a mediator was present throughout. Both times meetings were held at the NASD offices.
   
7. Professional Negotiator - NASD defends its hiring of a professional negotiator on the basis that the cost is minimal considering the overall cost of the contract and that the NAEA utilized the services of the PSEA's professional negotiator and the NASD needed to balance that.
   
8. Administrative Raises - Notes the NAEA has inaccurate facts, including an increase for an individual whose number of days and responsibilities changed significantly, but was included as a standard raise for the same work.
   

There is also a 9th fact in the document titled NASD/NAEA Last Offer Salary Comparison (read the PDF here).

This chart shows a comparison between the NASD and NAEA's proposal. The notable exception is it shows the 16 compacted steps instead of the 21 (I believe) current ones that the NAEA wishes to keep. This means that some individuals who would have increased a step will not under the compaction plan, because there are fewer of them.