CAT Tracks for January 15, 2009

Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for January 15, 2009

BEFORE & AFTER PICTURES

As promised...

Yesterday, I made mention of the relative financial state of Cairo School District Number One...TODAY, as compared to June 2005, a couple of months before the "new" 3-year contract was to go into effect...the one that was to give employees a 4% increase each year over their previous year's wage. (This is also the contract that introduced a severance package for long-term, loyal employees...employees who had given at least 20 years of service to CSD #1.)

The administration (BOE and Superintendent) at that time made no mention of "gloom and doom" over the provisions contained in that contract.

Oh, as always, there were concerns...everything was far from "rosy". The District had been through a horrendous labor-management conflict a couple of years prior...a mutual "suicide" that led directly to the District's "take over" by a Financial Oversight Panel (FOP). The District was experiencing a significant loss in student population, a loss in local revenue due to a declining tax base, an uncertainty in state and federal funding. In short, the SAME problems confronting the District in 2009 were ever-present in 2005.

However, as previously mentioned, District officials - to their credit - did NOT decry the provisions in the contract. (In fact, for the first time in - forever? - CAT and BOE negotiated and ratified a new contract without the public even reading about it/hearing about it in the local media.) Maybe this was an "afterglow" from the devastating strike of 2002. Maybe memories were fresh...maybe one and all had learned "a lesson"...maybe history was not to be repeated!

That is why Tuesday night's negotiating session was so depressing...it was deja vu, all over again.

In yesterday's posting, I indicated that I would provide you with documentation that employee pay raises do NOT have to mean the destruction of instruction...the financial peril of the school district. I offer the postings below as "Exhibit 1".

As you will see, I have posted three CSD #1 Treasurer's Reports below:

December 2008 - The most current...the one to be adopted at tonight's BOE meeting.

June 2005 - The aforementioned "financial picture" of CSD #1 a couple of months BEFORE the 2005-08 Contract went into effect.

June 2008 - I'm always concerned about "comparing apples and oranges". Treasurer's report can vary significantly from month to month throughout the year. For instance, in June of each year, the District makes "lump sum payments" to employees who choose to paid their already-earned "summer money". The District also makes extra duty payments that it normally does not make. Etc.
Therefore, in case you wonder about comparing June 2005 with December 2008, heeeeeeeeeere's Junnie! (Yes, I'm still trying to maintain a sense of humor...lame as it may be at times.)

Okay, that's all for now!
I shall return tomorrow...with some editorializing to...well, you know. However, as a bonus, I shall have a guest commentator.
Who, you might ask?
Hey, that's "the tease"!
Stay tuned...