Campaign Contributions Pay Off; Labor Agreement with SEIU Approved

This past Monday the School Board approved a collective bargaining agreement with SEIU Local 99. SEIU represents approximately 250 of the District’s classified employees which comprise of the District’s custodial staff, grounds maintenance, cafeteria workers, and bus drivers. The agreement provides those workers with a 5% salary increase effective July 01, 2016 and a 4.98% increase in statutory benefits.

Compulsory financial disclosures included in the staff report also revealed that the the District suffered a $529,000 reduction in one-time funds expected to be received from the state. The District had recently announced it was the beneficiary of $14.7 Million in one-time funds.

TUSD solicited community feedback on the use of these one-time monies by sending out a survey to parents on the subject just prior to last November’s School Board election. A community meeting was also held earlier this year at North High School. The School Board ultimately approved uses for half of the funds at a meeting last June opting to hold $7.75 Million of the monies in reserve for future undetermined uses. No explanation was provided in the documentation or at the meeting for why the one time funds were reduced by the $529,000.

The agreement escalates the District’s soaring deficit spending. A month ago, the District approved a budget showing a $13,843,000 deficit for the current fiscal year. Due to the agreement with SEIU, that figure will rise to an astonishing $14,893,000. The increased deficit spending will take a toll on the District’s reserve. In the budget from last month, the reserve was forecasted to plummet to -$6,208,000 by fiscal year 2018-19. Per the agreement with SEIU, that figure sank even further to -$7,514,534.

SEIU Local 99 had generated some controversy in the past election by seeking that the School Board candidates sign a loyalty pledge and requesting that they respond to a lengthy questionnaire on a wide-range of hot button political issues.

Terry Ragins, who won a fourth term on the School Board in the past election, was endorsed by SEIU although it was never made clear whether she actually signed the loyalty pledge. SEIU and other organizations affiliated with classified employees ended up contributing nearly $8000 to her campaign. Teachers unions kicked in another $5000. Those two hefty amounts formed the bulk of the funds donated to her campaign as the total contributions she received according to required campaign finance disclosures amounted to only $14,558.17.  In addition to the union affiliated contributions, Ragins received just over $1500 in individual contributions mostly stemming from other School Board and City Council Members and District employees.

Don Lee, the other victorious candidate in the past election, was not formally endorsed by SEIU, but still received a $1000 contribution from a political action group associated with classified employees. Lee also received $6500 from teacher unions bringing the total donated to the two successful candidates by union affiliated organizations to over $20,000.

The District reached a labor agreement with the teachers union in June that included a 4% raise and a $2800 cash bonus to all bargaining unit members.