December 9, 2013.

The Bargaining Team met today with the school district’s team to consult on Common Core and the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).

The District will be developing an implementation plan that they expect to complete by the end of this school year. A key step to the development of the plan is the Board of Trustees Study Session scheduled for January 14th at 4:00 p.m. at the District Office. While there have been surveys by both MUTA and the District, we strongly encourage you to attend the session. It will be an opportunity to hear from the administrative committees on the work they have done and their suggestions to the Board. It will also be an opportunity to voice your own concerns and suggestions.

There is funding from the State available for the implementation of Common Core and, due to the LCFF, additional ongoing funding for the district’s budget. Your Bargaining Team is encouraging the District to provide meaningful professional development for the successful implementation of Common Core. There is also a requirement for a plan (LCAP) to utilize the funds from the LCFF and we will be consulting with the district on that plan as well.

MJUSD and MUTA met on the 20th and 21st to discuss the District’s Financial Health and to discuss contract language changes for the upcoming school year. MUTA requested financial data from the district and both sides discussed their initial proposals. No tentative agreements have been reached.

Negotiations will continue in May.

Your Bargaining Team entered into a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the school district concerning the implementation of the School Improvement Grant at Ella. The MOU addresses the length of the work day, compensation, transfers, instructional minutes, prep periods, and evaluations specifically for Ella. The complete text of the MOU can be viewed here.

On May 25th there will be a Public Hearing regarding the "turnaround" model to be implemented at Ella next school year.

No new bargaining dates were set.

AMUTA and MJUSD signed a Tentative Agreement for a reduction of 3 work days and a resulting 1.64% salary decrease only for the 2010-2011 school year. The pay scale will revert to the current rate as of July 1, 2011. Step and Column increases have been preserved. The Tentative Agreement needs to be ratified by the MUTA members in order to be final. If ratified, this will conclude the economic portion of the 2010-2011 contract.

We also discussed Ella School and will continue discussions at the May 17th Bargaining Session. The district says that the staffing at Ella School will be established by Wednesday May 19th. After the 19th there should be a list of openings in the district for involuntarily transferred teachers.

As you can see in your district e-mail, your Bargaining Team and the District agreed today to have an announcement sent out that explains the current situation at Ella School and asks that teachers who would like to transfer to Ella next year submit a Voluntary Transfer Form to the personnel office by May 10th. While there are assumptions being made about what the working conditions at Ella will be, there are still issues that must be bargained and the District has not yet completed the plan, which must be submitted by June 1st, for the School Improvement Grant (SIG). Two MUTA members will be working with Lennie Tate to develop the plan and your Bargaining Team will keep you informed as we continue this process.

In order to preserve "Step and Column" your MUTA bargaining team proposed a one year reduction of the work year to 180 days (179 instructional days and 1 "Buy Back Day") with the resulting loss in salary of 1.6%. We expect that this will limit any further negative economic impact on our members. The team expects that any savings, above what’s necessary to close the deficit, will be used to prevent member layoffs, and to rehire laid off members. We also proposed an incentive to encourage teacher attendance, and the possibility of increasing "no tell" days.