15-B Insider -- February 2002

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA) WILL IMPACT SOME PARAPROFESSIONALS

Among the many issues included in this newly signed Federal law (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) is paraprofessional language which has been summarized by Roberta Stanley, Michigan Department of Education Federal legislative contact, as follows: "New paraprofessionals can be hired into a Title I position if they have two years of post secondary education or an associate's degree, or they can qualify by meeting a local standard that includes an assessment of reading, writing, and math skills. Current paraprofessionals have four years to meet one of these requirements." According to the Act, each local educational agency (such as school districts, ISD, and consortium of districts) receiving assistance shall ensure that all paraprofessionals hired before the date of enactment and working in a program supported with funds shall, not later than four years after the date of enactment, satisfy the requirements listed above. The "local standard" is supposed to be a rigorous standard of quality. The Act also stipulates that all teachers hired after the date of enactment and working in a program supported with funds shall be highly qualified. Our Northern Zone Lobbyist, Linda Myers, is telling us that this new law will raise the standard for all paraprofessionals in districts receiving the federal funding.

ESP employees can tell you the meaning of a percentage wage improvement. It isn't always well received by ESP employees because it widens the gap between employees in the bargaining unit. For example, let’s say the Paraprofessional classification starting wage is $9.00/hour and the custodial classification starting wage is $11.00/hour. The gap is $2.00/hour. Let's do a hypothetical settlement of 3% each year for three years and see what happens to the gap. Paraprofessional wages for the three years would be $9.27, $9.55, and $9.84. The Custodial wages would be $11.33, 11.67, and $12.02. The gap is now $2.18/hour. It is not surprising that ESP employees sometimes try to bargain across-the-board hourly rate increases to keep the gap from growing. There is a potential solution to this problem, and that is to bargain the same wage schedule for all employees regardless of classification. Teacher contracts somewhat stay out of this gap problem by having wage schedules based upon level of education rather than what you teach (do).

Feb. 21 15-B Retirement Workshop – 6:30 p.m. – RSVP

Feb. 25 – March 1 Roger on vacation (skiing)

Feb. 28 Lobby Day – Lansing

March 11-15 Roger on vacation

March 18 Coordinating Council Meeting – 7:07 p.m.

This court decision came to light in a management-employee discussion in one of our 15-B districts. The case involved a 15-year old student who exited the bus from a rear exit and was hit and killed while crossing the highway. The essence of the discussion was that ultimately the bus driver could be held legally responsible in some situations. Should something go wrong like an accident, there is no immunity. The court in this case ruled that the driver could be held legally responsible for the safety of passengers discharged near a highway when the driver knew they must cross that highway to reach their homes. It should also be noted that the lower court had ruled in favor of the driver, and this ruling overturned that decision. Under some circumstances, a school bus driver's responsibility does extend further than simply discharging a passenger in a reasonably safe place. Furthermore, it seems that drivers need to make very sure that they exercise due care so as to not unreasonably endanger the person or property of others, and that could include making sure the bus they are driving passes its pre-trip inspection before it is used to transport students. Our liability insurance provides us with some (up to $1,000,000 per occurrence) protection. "Be careful out there!"

There has been much discussion about the economy lately, and it now seems like the Legislature and the Governor may have found a way to fully fund the 2002-2003 foundation allowance as well as the categoricals such as "At-Risk", School Readiness, Vocational Education, etc. However, that does not mean that our local Districts will not still cry "The sky is falling!" at the bargaining table. The following information was obtained from the Michigan Department of Education Form B files:

General Fund Balance as a Percent of Current Operating Expenditures

Footnote: We know that Manton is currently experiencing financial difficulties; McBain has added five classrooms to its building without a bond issue; and Cadillac is sliding money out of its fund balance to prepare for leaky roofs. Do your homework here, bargainers! As you can see, most of our local districts have been turning a profit. Our members deserve uncapped health insurance and competitive wages.

As you may recall, Proposal 1 (the voucher initiative) became a contentious issue last year. Our "All Kids First" campaign versus their "Kids First, Yes" sent Proposal 1 down by a 3:1 margin. However, Mrs. Betsy DeVos is now returning as Chairman of the Great Lakes Education Project, a political action committee (PAC) that intends to exert its influence in the Legislature - and especially in the GOP primaries. She apparently is looking to elect Republican Legislators who embrace more choices for families such as parochial schools and more charter schools. According to political columnist George Weeks, in the expected primary match up for our 35^th State Senate seat with Representative David Mead of Frankfort she intends to support Michelle McManus. Representative Mead has taken a stand against lifting the cap on charter schools, and his voting record on public education issues has been favorable. She has also targeted Representative Mike Pumford in a downstate GOP primary. Representative Pumford has indicated that he "can afford to lose the billionaire vote as there aren't a lot of billionaires in my district." Mrs. DeVos is able to raise huge chunks of money at one time ($25,000 from a single contributor). To match this "big money", we need 1000 people contributing $25 each. The positive side of this is there are 999 more voters than with a single contribution! Perhaps "we the people", after watching the Enron debacle, have just about had our fill of "big money" deciding what public policies are best.

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