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AEA's Perspective on the APS Financial Situation
As the school year closes it is natural that there is frustration about the inability of the District and Association to conclude negotiations for this year. The District's financial situation this year has clearly been out of the norm; and unfortunately, the "legitimate" educational interests of the District are being pitted against the "legitimate" interests of employees to receive an appropriate cost of living salary increase. Here's a little more background on the District's financial situation from the Association's perspective.

The District presently has a budget imbalance of about 10 million dollars, i.e. spending exceeds revenues by this amount. The District has attributed the imbalance to enrollment decline and one time spending for VISTA 2010 which is true to some extent. This spending imbalance has actually occurred over the past two years. Prior to last year, District reserves had actually been increasing at a healthy pace for several years.

The District's enrollment "decline" is nearly all attributed to increases in charter school enrollment that creates a net decline in revenue for the rest of the District. This net decline is the result of a 600 student drop this year and approximately a 150 student drop last year. This accounts for about 5 million dollars in revenue loss. Next year the District anticipates another 600 student drop. This likely will occur, but it may not. We won't know until October, but the District is making staffing cuts and financial plans accordingly. Next year the District is cutting 60 teachers for a savings of about 4 million. It is also making division cuts of another 2.2 million. These two cuts would cover most of the loss created by enrollment declines for the 06-07 and 07-08 school years.

The reality is the District has created ongoing expenditure increases that have contributed to this budget imbalance. Two years ago in negotiations the District "bought" 30 minutes a day of teacher duty time for essentially a 3.5% salary increase. This provided for more teacher planning time at a compensation rate that is approximately half of teacher per diem pay. This extra time costs the District about 4 million a year. Two years ago the District also created the Division of Assessment and Research which increased expenditures another 2 million dollars. These two items alone account for nearly 6 million a year in increased ongoing expenditures.

It is important to understand that the District is receiving an increase in revenues this year. The State is increasing per pupil funding by over 3.5% and the District, next year, will likely have a revenue increase of several million dollars more than this year. Unfortunately, the spending imbalance creates the situation where the District has determined it has little revenue for cost of living increases, while other districts are giving appropriate cost of living raises to their staff members. Some of these districts also have budget deficits, but recognize the importance of a cost of living increase for their staff members.

The Association is not convinced that the District is unable to fund a cost of living increase and we are not sure that the District has looked hard enough for appropriate budget reductions. We believe there is revenue available for a cost of living increase. We are pleased that the topic of a budget (mill) election is at least being discussed. The District is overdue in exploring this option.

The District's position that there are not resources to offer a cost of living increase means employees will make a significant compensation sacrifice while the District appears to feel minimal budget pain. If the District does indeed have no revenues for a cost of living increase then it needs to look inward. It is one thing to share the burden of a difficult financial situation; it is another for employees to absorb what feels like the full burden of this financial problem. If employees do not receive a cost of living increase this year this would be the case.

We will continue to keep members informed as we move toward mediation and, of course, thanks for your support.

AEA Bargaining Team: Sylvia Carnahan, Laurie Foster, Jaime Green, Brenna Isaacs, Amy Nichols, Frank O'Hara, Vicki Reinhard, Cathy Wildman-5.12.08

AEA Officer/Board Directors Election
Elections for AEA Officer and Board Directors concluded on Tuesday, April 15th. The results are as follows: AEA President: Brenna Isaacs, AEA Vice-President: A run-off election will be held between Cathy Wildman and Vicki Reinhard for this office. Elementary Board Directors: Micki Amick, Middle School Board Directors: Michelle Spike, and Monica Wilbanks, High School Board Directors: Amy Nichols, Angie Willsea and Tony Bullock. Join us in congratulating these Association leaders!

The run-off election for Vice President will be conducted May 6-13.

AEA FAC Well Attended
AEA members and invited guests enjoyed the Almost the End of the Year FAC at BJ's on April 25th. Click here for photos……

AEA Granted NEA ELL Training
AEA will be offering an NEA ELL training next fall. Developed as the result of a new business item passed at the NEA RA, this four day training will be offered to AEA members interested in learning about and developing strategies to meet the needs of English Language Learners. Read more about this opportunity and watch for additional information on when the training will occur.

ELA Caucus Professional Development
The AEA ELA Caucus invites you to attend a presentation by Dr. Robin Waterman. Dr. Waterman is a researcher and author who is currently coordinating the ELA Parent Advisory Committee (EPAC) for APS, and is starting a Family Resource Center in Aurora. She challenges the traditional model of parent involvement, and will show us ways to strengthen the collaboration between culturally/linguistically diverse families and schools.

The session titled FAMILY-SCHOOL COLLABORATION: Redefining Parent Involvement will be offered on Tuesday April 29. Click here to see the professional development flyer.

ESEA Update
It's an election year and not much activity is expected on the reauthorization of ESEA. But, we are continuing to work hard to move the needle on this issue. Meetings are underway with education partners - like AASA and AFT - and Congressional leaders to shift the debate to a different framework for ESEA so it focuses more on the whole child. Congress and the President got it wrong in 2002. Now we are going to make sure they get it straight in 2008. And on the education funding front, Congress is in the process of finalizing the FY09 budget resolution. Both the House and Senate passed their respective versions in early March and are working on a final version which was due by April 15. Both versions provide significantly more money for education and NCLB than the President's budget, ensuring more resources for students and schools that need help.

Pilot Schools Initiative Getting Lots of Attention
Last October AEA & APS worked in collaboration to negotiate an innovative idea called Pilot schools. Pilot schools originated in Boston over 10 years ago as a collaborative effort between the union, district and school committee, primarily to stem the tide of charter schools. Aurora's first Pilot school will be William Smith, slated to open next fall as a small expeditionary learning high school. Three other letters of intent have been submitted to the Joint Steering Committee. Read more about Pilot schools……