Thursday, June 23, 2011 On April 4, 2011, Mayor Higgins, Vice-Chair Stephanie Pick and Smith Vocational Trustee

Chair John Cotton met with all unions, both school and city to advise them of the financial situation and the effect that the cost of step increases would have on the provision of basic city services. The Northampton Association of School Employees President was at that meeting as well as representatives of all of the other unions with the exception of the Firefighters and the DPW employees. We laid out the financial picture for fiscal Year 2012. Given the loss of $1,634,272 in State and Federal Funding for FY 2012, there was no way to afford step increases, let alone COLAs without layoffs that would fundamentally affect the ability of the City and the Schools to provide services to our community. Our hope was that agreement could be reached to roll over contracts with salaries frozen at the 2011 level in order to save jobs, legal and unemployment insurance costs. The Mayor said that the City budget would be presented without providing for any steps or COLAs. Some of the Unions had already begun bargaining for successor agreements to the contracts set to expire as of June 30, 2011. Some of the city units sent letters to begin bargaining after this meeting and continued to discuss the step issue at the bargaining table. Smith Vocational teachers were already in bargaining, having requested to begin discussion via email in early February. There is no record of a request to the Northampton School Committee to begin bargaining from the Northampton Association of School Employees for successor contracts for the next school year. If there is no successor contract in place; the step raises must be paid out in accordance with the prior expired contract. That would have required layoffs to fund those steps. The School Committee voted to write a letter to the Mayor which was sent on May 1, 2011 asking for a further increase to the School Departments appropriation to avoid layoffs and/or negotiations for freezes to employee pay. The Mayor responded on May 9th, declining to increase the appropriation given the stresses on the non-school departments and noted that the city was discussing the concept of a wage freeze with city unions. At the next school committee meeting, the Superintendent stated that he, in good conscience, could not recommend further layoffs. At every budget discussion, the issue of layoffs versus pay freezes has come up. The School Committee and its Budget and Property Sub-Committee has

had those discussions in open sessions and the choice has been laid out in the budget documents available to the public. There was only one legal way to avoid automatically paying the step increases which would have triggered the layoffs of a custodian, an Educational Support Professional (ESP) and the full time equivalent of five and teachers. The Committee needed to open bargaining on the effects of a step freeze since we were not in bargaining for next years contract with the School unions. There is a change in the School Committees ability to afford the terms and conditions of the current contract which is where the step increases are delineated. The loss of funding for next years budget and the inability to make it up from other sources is the Fiscal Exigency. The School Committee sent a letter to the Union on May 27th requesting negotiations over the step increase issue. The School Committee met with the Union on June 15, 2011 and remains ready to continue these discussions with the Union at any time. The School Committee has chosen this path because the proposed cuts would have;

Increased class size in 5th grade at Jackson Street School to thirty three students through the elimination of an elementary classroom teacher Eliminated 6th grade world language Eliminated two desperately needed reading interventionists at the elementary level Reduced an art position at JFK by 40% Reduced a math teacher at NHS by 33% Reduced the Band teacher at NHS from an 83% position to a 67% position Reduced the family and consumer science teacher at NHS from an 83% position to a 67% position Reduced the theater teacher at NHS from a 100% position to an 83% position Reduced the technology curriculum integration specialist from a 100% position to a 67% position Eliminated one full-time Special Education ESP and one full-time custodian

In addition to these reductions, further cuts may have been necessary to adequately fund our unemployment account, as the city and schools are selffunded for unemployment. We are painfully aware of the stress that difficult negotiations place on everyone; staff, school committee members, parents and above all, children. We also are aware of the sacrifices that both School and City employees have made to preserve jobs and services. City employees gave up steps and have received no Cola during difficult years. School employees have taken unpaid furlough days and no COLAs as well. All of the School and City employees have worked collaboratively to keep health insurance costs lower which has benefited both employees and the bottom line of the budget. The School Committee has taken the position that it is better to keep as many staff employed as we can, rather than lay people off during these difficult economic times. Ultimately, the School Committee has the responsibility to vote for a budget that supports our communitys educational goals. We have chosen to move ahead on this path because we believe that it is the better of two difficult choices for the education of the children entrusted to our care.