Updated at 9:32 p.m. to include a statement from the school board.
They’ll give it one more shot.
Burlington teachers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to strike if negotiations with the Burlington School Board fail next week. The last-ditch session is scheduled for Wednesday. Teachers won’t show for work next Thursday if a negotiated settlement isn’t reached, according to Burlington Education Association president Fran Brock.
“We did not ever think it would come to this,” Brock said Thursday afternoon following the union’s vote, “but the leadership of this board has decided that division, political gamesmanship, and walking away and imposing employment conditions was a better course than settling during more than a year of talks.”
Some 96 percent of the 400 teachers voted in favor of the strike, Brock told Seven Days.
The vote comes after the school board last month imposed terms of pay and benefits on the teachers’ union. The employment policy gives teachers a 2.75 percent raise and an average salary increase of $1,900 for the year. The Burlington Education Association had most recently called for a 3.25 percent increase.
The two sides spent more than a year negotiating a new contract before the board imposed the terms. The union filed a grievance and the school board agreed this week to return to the table October 19. Ira Lobel will mediate the discussions.
“As indicated previously, for the current year contract, there is no additional money available to allocate to teacher salaries,” board member Miriam Stoll said in a statement posted Wednesday on Front Porch Forum. “However, the Board is able to consider possible ways to reallocate the monies targeted to teacher compensation in the current budget to better generate agreement. In addition, the Board is ready to discuss any topic pertaining to negotiations for the next contract year.”
“Teachers take this action with thoughtfulness and sadness,” Brock said in a statement she read to reporters. “We are acutely aware that a strike is disruptive for students, families and for the community. But we can no longer stand by and allow the school board to continue to demean us, to disrespect us, to devalue us and the teaching profession.”
The school board was scheduled to meet Thursday night at Edmunds Middle School. Brock planned to attend and to read the statement during the public comment period.
Later Thursday, the board issued a statement, saying it’s “very disappointed” in the strike vote after the board made a “reasonable and fair” final offer.
“It is unfortunate that teachers feel that an average salary increase of over $1,900 — almost three times the cost of living — is somehow unfair and disrespectful,” the statement reads. “We hope the teachers will reevaluate their decision to threaten to strike and not disrupt the education of the city’s children.”
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Beth Brodie, sincerest apologies and I am happy to issue a retraction and correction: One of Burlington’s top teachers did not earn $109,000, she only earned $93,000 last year.
Holy cow, it seems like the unfortunate tactics pervading the national election are trickling down into Burlington. Teachers here are very highly paid compared to the taxpayers who fund their salaries. Instead of arguing about the $109,000 top teacher salary, why not own it and tell us why you think it’s not fair or not enough.
I see one teacher is upset that there are teachers living in other communities who earn more than $109,000. That is a valid argument. Burlington teachers don’t want other teachers to make more than they do. As a Burlington taxpayer, I disagree. I’m upset that taxpayers in other communities pay less than I do toward teacher salaries.
I think it’s perfectly fair if Burlington teachers are not the highest paid teachers in the state. Others are free to disagree. Vermont is rather notorious for how much we pay to educate students because we think that’s a good and important use of our money. It’s fine that teachers are upset it’s not more, but it’s equally as fine that as a taxpayer who pays them, I am upset that it’s too much. Neither side is bad or evil here.
Folks: “average” and “median” are not synonymous.
Beth Brodie: you appear to be acting out in anger, not rationality. Your prior contract, that the NEA negotiated, spoke of paying teachers the “middle of the middle” but that contract is over. The BEA took a harsh, take no prisoners approach to the proposed contract and the school board could not accommodate their demands within the very real constraints on their budget. Yet they still delivered a pay rate which is above the “middle of the middle.”
Are you upset that the administrators that have to deal with you get paid for doing so? By your own admission you are paid more than most teachers in the county. The independent fact finder did not have to balance the school’s district’s budget. Tell us, without all the dramatic outrage: What is so unfair about the school board’s proposal? You have no choice to strike? . . Why? The BEA says it’s not about money . . it is ego? Do you want to trash the education system in Burlington until someone will give you some little gold stars on your forehead?
Julie Green get your facts straight…I WAS a top paid teacher in the BSD last year and I can assure you that you are over $16,000 off on your estimation. There are many administrators that make over $100,000, so perhaps that’s where your confusion comes in. BTW I have a doctoral degree and 32 years of experience. No…I don’t think that was too much money for that level of education, experience and hard work. The BSD teachers get paid less than the teachers in Essex, South Burlington, Chittenden East or Chittenden South. Let’s remember, they were PROMISED in a legal contract, that they would reach the middle of the middle for pay scale for Chittenden County. The board has reneged on that promise. They do not want to strike, but they have been left no choice. The independent fact finder found with the teachers and the board ignored it and imposed a contract. The level of misinformation that has been propagated throughout the community has truly muddied (and poisoned) the discussion.