ARBITRATION; COLLECTIVE BARGAINING; CONTRACTS; TEACHERS; WAGES;

TEACHERS;

You asked for (1) a brief description of the collective bargaining and binding arbitration process for teacher contracts, (2) the 2003-04 teacher and school administrator contract negotiation schedule for Bolton and all other districts, and (3) a comparison of teacher salaries in Bolton with state averages and with other districts in the same Educational Reference Group (ERG).

SUMMARY

The process by which local school boards and teachers’ unions must negotiate collective bargaining agreements covering salaries, benefits, and working conditions is established by a state law known as the Teacher Negotiation Act (TNA). Under the TNA, the process has three major phases: negotiations between the parties; followed by mediation if negotiations fail to produce an agreement; and, when impasses remain, binding arbitration. The State Department of Education (SDE) oversees the TNA process.

The TNA requires teacher contracts to be finalized no later than the deadline for the local board of education to submit its budget to the local fiscal authority. Thus, it ties its deadlines for each step in the process to the local budget submission date. Unlike the deadlines in the laws

governing collective bargaining for state and municipal employees, the TNA deadlines are firm. The parties cannot waive them by mutual agreement. The TNA process thus prevents Connecticut teachers and school administrators from working under an expired contract or without a contract.

Although the TNA gives each school district has the same amount of time to complete the process, differing budget submission deadlines produces a different negotiation schedule for each district. We enclose a copy of the SDE’s 2003-04 negotiation schedule showing budget submission deadlines and negotiation and, if necessary, mediation, and arbitration starting dates for each district negotiating new contracts this year.

According to 2002-03 teacher salary data for 54 school districts provided by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), Bolton’s minimum annual teacher salaries at each credential level (BA, MA, 6^th year, and Ph. D) are comparable to those of 12 other districts with similar socioeconomic characteristics. But in all but one case, they are $ 1,000-$ 2,000 below the average for the 54 districts. Bolton’s maximum salaries for the various credential levels are lower than maximums in the 12 similar districts, and from 4% to 21% below the 54-district average maximums.

TEACHER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND BINDING ARBITRATION PROCEDURE

Process and Deadlines

The process for negotiating teacher collective bargaining agreements is set out in state law, which specifies the negotiation steps and the timetable. The TNA requires teacher and school administrator contracts to be in place by the date the local board of education must submit its budget to the local fiscal authority. The law therefore sets starting and intermediate deadlines for all its steps so as to achieve that result. Unlike the state and municipal employee collective bargaining laws, the TNA does not allow the parties to mutually agree to waive the deadlines.

Table 1 below shows the TNA process from beginning to end, assuming impasses at all intermediate steps.

Table 1: TNA Collective Bargaining Process and Timetable

If the parties reach an agreement prior to arbitration, the local board of education must file a copy with the town clerk of the district “forthwith. ” The town clerk, upon receiving a signed copy of the agreement, must notify the public that an agreement has been filed. The contract terms are binding unless rejected by the district’s local legislative body at a meeting held within 30 days, or at a referendum in which at least 15% of the eligible voters of the district participate. If the agreement is rejected, mandatory binding arbitration ensues within five days after the rejection. The date binding arbitration begins is considered the 135^th day prior to the budget submission date (see Table 1).

Arbitrator Decision Criteria

Initial and review arbitrators are required to decide between the parties’ last best offers on each disputed issue based on criteria specified in the law.

Arbitrators must give priority to the public interest and the financial capability of the town or towns in the school district, including other financial demand on those towns. The law establishes an irrebuttable presumption that a town’s budget reserve of 5% or less is not available to pay for any item of an arbitration award. (An irrebuttable presumption is one in which proof of a fact’s existence is legally conclusive. )

The arbitrators must also consider, in light of the town’s financial capability:

1. negotiations between the parties, including offers and range of discussion on the issues;

2. the employees’ interests and welfare;

3. the average change in the cost of living over the preceding three years;

4. the employees’ existing employment conditions compared to those of similar groups of employees; and

5. the salaries, benefits, and working conditions prevailing in the state labor market, including terms of recent municipal employee contracts and developments in private sector wages and benefits.

Appeal of Arbitration Award

Either party to a TNA award may, within 30 days after the award is issued, ask the Superior Court to vacate or modify it. The court may do so after a hearing if it finds that the party’s substantial rights were prejudiced because the award: (1) violates constitutional provisions or statutes; (2) exceeds the arbitrators’ authority, (3) used illegal procedures; (4) is affected by some other legal error; (5) is clearly wrong according to reliable, truthful and substantial evidence on the whole record; or (6) is arbitrary, capricious, or shows an abuse of, or a clearly unwarranted exercise of, discretion.

TEACHER SALARY COMPARISON

Table 2 below shows 2002-03 teacher salary ranges for Bolton and 12 other economically and demographically similar towns and school districts as determined by the State Department of Education. SDE places school districts in nine groups, known as education reference groups or ERGs, based on socioeconomic status and characteristics of need derived from census, poverty, and enrollment data.

Bolton and the other districts listed in the Table 2 are in ERG C. ERG C has 38 school districts, including many regional school districts. The data below, which was provided by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), covers the 13 ERG C districts for which CABE has data. Since teachers are typically paid according to their credentials, the table shows each district’s 2002-03 minimum and maximum salaries for teachers with bachelor’s and master’s degrees and 6^th year certificates. In addition, some of the districts, including Bolton, have separate salary scales for teachers with Ph. D degrees, which are also shown. The state averages given are based on data from the 54 districts for which CABE provided data.

Table 2: Minimum and Maximum Teacher Salaries for

Selected ERG C Districts 2002-03

Source: Connecticut Association of Boards of Education

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