This has been my most difficult year since I began teaching in 1974.  We have seen unprecedented attacks on public education based financially and ideologically.  We have seen our colleagues lose their jobs, our class sizes increase and our resources slashed.  This nonsense about “working smarter” and “doing more with less” can easily be seen for the sham that it is.  We are doing less with less.  It is not business as usual by any stretch of the imagination.  We are suffering and our children are suffering from a lack of commitment to the future.

     Next school year looks to be even worse with more cuts and layoffs outlined in the district’s fiscal solvency plan dated January 6, 2010.  The district has issued 66 more pink slips for next year.  Your PRPE Executive Board and Negotiations Team are working closely with our state affiliates (CFT and CTA) to thoroughly analyze the district’s financial situation and find a solution that best protects our jobs, salaries and benefits while we continue to do our best to provide a quality education to our students.  As we explained during the general meeting held on February 10th the last resort before district bankruptcy and state receivership is a degradation of our working conditions.  We will make sure that the district provides complete transparency of its finances.  We will not rest until we are convinced that we have seen all the relevant financial data and that all cost savings options are explored and implemented including a retirement incentive.  Every retiree in essence saves a job and if you are eligible this might be the best year yet to exercise that option.  I realize that every person has different circumstances and each person will need to evaluate his or her situation and do what is ultimately right for his or her family. 

     We will continuously promote the idea of shared sacrifice.  The employees and our students have absorbed 100% of the pain up until this point.  That cannot continue.  Balancing the budget on the backs of employees and students is “business as usual” and we are not prepared to accept that model because we know that it no longer exists. Everyone must be a part of the solution. Every employee unit must share the burden in proportion to their percentage of the budget.   The school board, the administration, district employees and the community must accept their fair share of the burden and realize that our children require us to act like adults.  The school board must reduce their compensation, the administration must reduce their numbers and not just take furlough days, employees must cope with reduced resources and finally the community must step up as it did in 1977 and tax itself to support the education of its children. A parcel tax of less than $10 a month could raise $2M! Do you think that the price of a movie a month is worth our children’s future?

     There will be pain and more suffering.  There will be howls of protest from many corners, but in the end it will show us something about ourselves.  We will return to the table on March 17th to begin our discussions with the district and fight for every member we represent and most importantly for all those outstanding teachers who received notices. Please contact your PRPE site representatives who have worked so hard for you with your ideas and concerns. Please also review the contract online at pasoteachers.org so you can respond to our negotiations survey that your team will send out by 3/15. We know where our priorities lie and we will soon know if the other stakeholders in this endeavor will stand together with us.

Jim Lynett

PRPE President