School teachers will pay less for health insurance than the School District wanted, but will not receive a retroactive pay raise.
That’s the recommendation of Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Tom Young, who was handed the task of mediating a year-long contract impasse between the Indian River County School District and the Indian River County Education Association, the union that represents teachers in the district.
Young reviewed a total of 13 issues in dispute, and in a near split decision, ruled in favor of the district in seven matters and in favor of the union on the other six.
“When looked at in totality, the special magistrate’s recommendations show that he listened carefully and deliberated intently on each issue,” said teachers union president Liz Cannon, “Impasse is never a fun process, but it is at least a fair one, where recommendations are issued by an impartial third party.
“We urge the school district to do the right thing for students and for staff and accept all of the special magistrate’s recommendations.
Attorney Mark Levitt, who represented the school district during negotiations, could not be reached for comment.
The final decision to implement Judge Young’s recommendations is still the School Board’s, Cannon said.
If the Board accepts Young’s recommendations, the teacher’s union would also have to vote to accept the terms. If the Board rejects any of the judge’s recommendations, the Board would have to schedule a public hearing to address the issues.
The impasse came as the school district and teacher’s union tried to negotiate a contract for the 2018-19 school year, but some of their arguments and rulings overlapped into the current 2019-20 school year.
The union’s biggest victory was over health insurance rates. School negotiators wanted employees and the district split the cost of a 5-percent increase in employee health insurance costs for the 2019-20 school year, but the judge ruled that the district will have to cover the additional expense.
Young noted in his ruling that Indian River Schools contribute less to employee health insurance costs than most other surrounding districts of comparable size.
Young also ruled that a one-time lump sum payment of $647 per person be deposited in the employee health insurance fund in lieu making the 2019-20 agreement retroactive to the previous school year. The total cost to the district of that proposal would be $530,497.
Both sides agreed on a general wage increase of $600 for each teacher, but Judge Young rejected the union’s argument that, due to the cost of living, the $600 increase should apply retroactively to 2018-19 for a total of $1,200.
Judge Young also sided with the district on several other issues, rejecting the union’s proposals to pay new teachers from outside the district a lower salary than current employees with the same experience; the proposal to increase the pay for teachers who agree to work seven periods instead of the required six; and the proposal to delete contract wording that gives the district the right to decide whether to renew the contract of a teacher with one year of experience or less.
Young pointed out the wording is required by Florida law.
The judge also sided with the district in matters related to sick pay and paying for teacher training.
Judge Young took the union’s side by rejecting the district’s proposal to require all certified personnel to complete training in how to teach English for speakers of other languages. He also ruled against the district’s proposal to change when a teacher can appeal an evaluation.
Cannon and other union officials noted that change would have required teachers to file their appeal before they know if their contract would be renewed.