What Happens if They Strike? Part I

The big question throughout District 158 right now is:

What happens if they strike?

Before the accusations of insider information start flying, Bongo would like to point out that his information comes from an attorney who specializes in school district law and strikes. Bongo’s friend Legal Beagle works for the Illinois State Board of Education.

When it comes to strikes, for parents it’s as black and white as my cousin Spot, the Dalmatian. Your kids are out of school, and all of their school-sponsored activities are cancelled until the strike is over. Yes, that includes Homecoming if the rumors are true…

But for teachers, it’s as hairy as my neighbor Colleen Collie. Today Bongo will focus on what happens to the teachers with regard to their pay. Tomorrow Bongo will focus on the other aspect of the strike… teacher benefits. If you have friends who are teachers you should share this information with them, because it’s clear from conversations Bongo has had with his teacher friends that the HEA leadership has not given the teachers the full picture with regard to what they can expect if a strike occurs.

Quite simply, when teachers are on strike, the District doesn’t pay them. What’s even more interesting is that the days don’t necessarily have to be made up once the strike is over. You see, for District 158 to receive its full amount of state aid, kids must be in school for a minimum of 176 days. District 158 teachers currently work 183 days. So right off the bat, teacher income from the first seven days of a strike would be lost forever. As you can see from the image above, that would equate to about:

Estimated Salary Loss for Teachers During a 7-Day Strike

New Teacher: $1,340
Middle of the Road Teacher: $1,912
Experienced Teacher: $3,060

Any way you slice it, it’s a lot of cash.

But it could be even worse for teachers, because the District could agree to dip beneath a 176-day school year and forfeit state aid on a per diem basis. Remember, the amount of state aid the District receives doesn’t come close to covering the cost of educating each child, so dipping below 176 days isn’t really going to pose a huge financial hardship on anyone but the teachers.

How does the teacher loss of income break down? Let’s do the math.

District 158 teachers currently work a 7.75-hour work day and work a total of 183 days per year. So Bongo is creating an hourly rate of pay using the following logic:

(7.75 hour days x 183 days per year = 1418.25 hours per year)
(hourly rate = yearly income/1418.25)

Again, the results are listed in the chart at the top of this page.

Does it seem hard to believe that their daily rate of pay is so high? Just ask any human who has worked as a long term sub. Their rate of pay is equal to the daily rate of a first year teacher, which is pretty close to the low point on the chart above.

Now, it is not uncommon for unions to arrange for loans for teachers and for the unions to pay for the interest through money they have collected over time from dues.

But teachers need to keep this very important issue in mind. Loans have to be paid back, and if teachers are assuming they’ll just pay it back once the strike is over and they get back to work, they’re forgetting one undeniable fact:

Income from a shortened school year will be lost forever, yet the loan money will have to be paid back in full.

Has the HEA leadership told the teachers that if they strike every one of them will have a lower yearly income for 2008-09? Bongo doubts it. Furthermore, do you think teachers have been informed that the loans won’t last indefinitely and in the event of a long strike there will eventually be a cap on what can be offered?

So while loans seem like a quick fix on the surface for teachers, paying back those loans could prove tricky for teachers who probably aren’t considering the fact that each day they spend on the picket line will decrease the amount of money they’ll have to pay that loan back. Especially if these are the same teachers who think District 158 should spend down their own fund reserve in order to pay for the new contract. After all, isn’t the school district fund reserve the equivalent of the human’s home savings account?

Think about it. Why have a fund reserve or a savings account? District 158 has a fund reserve because they need money available for unforeseen expenditures, to cover gaps in cash flow and because they know that in a few years they are going to have a huge expense…staffing a new high school or large high school building addition. Humans, similarly, have savings accounts to cover unforeseen expenditures, to cover gaps in cash flow and when they know they will have a large expense coming up.

Tune in tomorrow to learn about the financial hit teachers will take with regard to their benefits if they go on strike.