Several+districts+in+negotiations,+aware+of+funding+issues

=By Jodi Weigand= =//Published by the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW//= =//8/21/11//= = = = = = = =School starts soon, but lingering labor unrest again threatens to disrupt classes in Western Pennsylvania.= =Teachers' contracts have expired or expire at month's end in 19 school districts, including Bethel Park, where a six-week strike ended last year without an agreement.= =Local union president Diann Smith said it's too soon to tell whether it will happen again.= ="Last year we held off as long as possible," she said. "My goal is to have as smooth a transition back to school as possible."= =Teachers walked out in three districts last year, all of them in Allegheny County.= ="I don't think it says anything bad about our region," said Butch Santicola, spokesman for the regional office of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. "A strike is a natural part of the process and two of the three of those have settled, I think that's pretty good."= =Bethel Park, Allegheny Valley and Moon teachers went on strike for a combined 57 days last year. The latter two groups reached agreements this summer.= =Of the local districts negotiating new contracts, Bethel Park, Clairton and Brownsville have been in talks with their school boards since last year. The other districts' contracts expired this summer.= =Talks in Southmoreland and Hempfield Area in Westmoreland County have been slow-going, union and district officials said.= =The sticking points are the usual issues of health care benefits and salary, but negotiations might be trickier this year due to state education funding cuts that prompted many districts to lay off teachers and cut programs. Districts also are facing a 30 percent increase in payments to the teacher pension plan in 2012.= ="The governor really hurt the funding aspect of the schools, and the projections are that this year could be difficult as well," said Butch Santicola, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which represents all the districts negotiating contracts except for Bethel Park. "But that doesn't mean that an agreement can't be reached."= =An increasingly common request from school boards is that teachers take at least a one-year pay freeze in any new contract, said Tom Templeton, an assistant executive director at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.= =In March PSEA president Jim Testerman asked union members to consider pay freezes, and some already have agreed.= ="School boards are really coming to the table with (a mindset of) 'how can we be as fair as we can possibly be' and at the same time looking at things increasingly through an economic lens," Templeton said.= =Southmoreland negotiated two-year pay freezes with its custodians, secretaries and administrative personnel, said board president Sam Accipiter.= =He said he'd like to think teachers would be open to a pay freeze, too.= ="They should be compassionate enough about their district to do that," Accipiter said. "Everybody has to take a little concession for a few years."= =The president of the Southmoreland teachers union couldn't be reached for comment.= =In Bethel Park, the district said it couldn't afford the provisions an arbitrator recommended. Both sides rejected the proposal.= ="We know economic times are tough. ... However there has to be something for both sides," said Smith, the union president.= =The union and school district negotiating teams plan to meet Aug. 31, said Smith.= ="I think it will set the tone and that's what's very important," she said. "I really need to see that they're willing to compromise and get this done."=

= Coming due = =Western Pennsylvania school districts where teachers' contracts have expired or will expire at the end of the month:=

= Allegheny County = =Bethel Park= =Clairton= =Cornell= =Hampton= =McKeesport= =Northgate= =Shaler= =Steel Valley= =Wilkinsburg= =Woodland Hills= =Allegheny Intermediate Unit= =PA Learners Online charter school=

= Beaver County = =Ambridge=

= Butler County: = =Mars=

= Fayette County = =Brownsville= =Washington County= =Burgettstown= =Bethlehem-Center= =California=

= Westmoreland County = =Hempfield= =Mt. Pleasant= =Southmoreland= =Central Westmoreland County Career and Technology Center=

= Read more: [|Several districts in negotiations, aware of funding issues - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] = = = = = =News= =home=