D 158 Makes Their Case for No Strike

Well, I'd say the ball is definitely in the HEA's court.

In response to allegations that the board has not been negotiating, the District issued two press releases on Wednesday afternoon and publicly explained just what has been happening during the last few negotiation meetings.

One of the releases included a 12-point bulleted list that summarized the sessions. You can read it here.

The other is a letter from Dr. Burkey to HEA Co-Presidents Julie Hunter and Kim Aschenbach, stating that the board is looking forward to signing off on some tentative agreements at this Sunday's negotiation meeting. You can read that letter here.

Hardly the kind of documents you would expect to see from a team of negotiators who were "not negotiating." Don't you think?

The most important excerpt of both documents, in Bongo's humble opinion is this:

"The Board pointed out that prior to the two-year contract that expired in June; the HEA membership received 7.5% (base and step) salary increases for four consecutive years. During several of those years the District was operating at a significant deficit, which ultimately created negative Operating Fund Balances by the end of fiscal-year 2004. The District was borrowing large amounts of tax anticipation warrants and incurred large interest expenses as a result. The district ended up approving a referendum to eliminate the deficits and to increase Operating Fund Balances. The Board has stated to the HEA team that the District is not interested in going down this path again."

Now Bongo hasn't barked this in a while, but he wants to remind all humans that on the whole, Bongo LOVES teachers. He wants them to be paid fairly and competitively. Bongo appreciates the job they do and recognizes that learning can not take place in a school without good teachers. Remember... a few bad apples (HEA union leadership) shouldn't spoil the whole bunch.

Bongo encourages all of his loyal readers to take a few minutes and really read the documents; especially the negotiation update. And then Bongo urges all parents and taxpayers to answer the following questions:

1. Is the board's offer of 5.5% in year one generous enough or should past mistakes (ie deficit spending) be repeated?

2. Are you ready to vote "yes" to a tax increase request in a few years when its time to staff a new high school or large building addition and there's no money in the Education Fund to hire new teachers?

3. Do you want your board of education to operate a balanced budget or do you want them to operate in the red?

Bongo has all four paws crossed for a successful negotiation session on Sunday!