Schools and Education Will Tonight

BRADENTON – Board decisions have been under scrutiny from outsiders and insiders in the past couple of weeks. A special meeting tonight is expected to clarify much of the uncertainty regarding teacher’s retroactive pay cuts, Sunshine Laws and board unity. While a public vote isn’t technically necessary, one is expected to be taken to alleviate many of the public’s concerns regarding how the school board has handled recent decisions.

Two board members, Julie Aranibar and Karen Carpenter opposed cutting teacher salaries, implementing furlough days, increasing employee health insurance premiums and eliminating step increases. The opposition came as a surprise to other board members and Superintendent Tim McGonegal, some of whom publically criticized their dissension. 

The unexpected 3-2 vote on February 15 followed eight executive sessions that were closed to the public. During the sessions the board reportedly all agreed to implement the cuts. State law permits discussions about contract negotiations to be held in private, but after being accused of ”playing politics“ by McGonegal, Aranibar and Carpenter have now said they will no longer participate in any closed sessions. The two have also pointed out that McGonegal's accusations seem to contradict their instructions that no one is to discuss what is said in executive sessions.

Julie Aranibar justified her decision in a TBT editorial on February 19, stating that the discussions in executive sessions are based only on facts presented on the table at that time and that while the superintendent's position was ”there is nothing left to cut,“ the Magistrate tied pay and benefit issues with budget issues. Aranibar also learned the projected healthcare deficit was expected to increase and large consultant fees were ”hidden in the consent agenda“ and not marked for discussion. 

”The presentation at the impasse hearing made a clear case that we still have work to be done in budget spending areas,“ wrote Aranibar. ”Healthcare alone needs to be fixed first, rather than cutting pay first in order to fit into the benefit plan.“

While the original plan proposed by McGonegal was to reduce teacher salaries by one-half percent, the board insisted on a total of $14 million in budget cuts – an increase from McGonegal’s original recommendation of $11 million. McGonegal and the teachers union failed to reach a contract agreement and an impasse was declared; as a result of the delay, the pay cuts were going to be retroactive to the beginning of the school year in order to attain the required savings. The formerly proposed one-half percent immediately jumped to 2.75 percent. 

Teachers were livid that a year’s worth of pay cuts would be taken out of their last 11 paychecks, amounting to a decrease of approximately $100 to $150 for each paycheck. This prompted a string of protests outside district headquarters.

Then the school district’s public information office announced that the board had decided the night before in another executive session that pay cuts would not be retroactive and would instead take effect February 16. 

The special meeting on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. is expected to avert the whirlwind of district scrutiny that has continued to wreak havoc on the character of board members.