Educators, Toppenish School District quarrel over contract

Health insurance contributions, monetary benefits and language surrounding a harassment policy are at the heart of a heated battle over a two-year contract between the Toppenish School District and its educators.

The district and Toppenish Education Association, which consists of 212 certified teachers, counselors and librarians, are tentatively set to meet again on Sept. 21. They've already met more than a dozen times in the past several months.

In the meantime, the terms of the previous contract -- which expired Aug. 31 -- are being honored.

Mike Horner, a field representative for the Washington Education Association, described the district's behavior during negotiations as juvenile.

"It's preposterous what they're doing," said Horner, who represents the teachers. "I have hope on the 21st there can be a meeting of the minds. I don't have much faith in it because of the behavior of the district."

District officials, though, counter that times are tough and they can't spend money they don't have.

"We do value our people. They do a great job of educating our kids," said Assistant Superintendent John Cerna. "But we have to keep a budget."

The union is asking for three main concessions.

It wants the district to pay $70 a month for health insurance, over and above what the state allocates. The amount would increase to $74 a month the second year.

It's asking for a $1 raise this year and another $1 raise next year for each hour spent working beyond the seven-hour work day to correct homework, attend meetings or perform other duties. The current rate is $29 an hour.

The union is also asking for language concerning bullying and harassment to be written into the contract.

District officials want to maintain the existing contract and deem the harassment and bullying language unnecessary because it's already included in a policy.

Dave Andrews, the district's business manager, said the financial requests from the union total $361,712 the first year and $476,832 the second year. At the same time, the district's budget for this academic year is $34 million, and there is only $1.8 million in unrestricted reserves.

"Schools have a half a month (of revenues) in reserves. That's a slim budget we're working on," he said. "If something happened, we'd have enough to be OK for a couple weeks. Then we'd be out of business."

Horner said school districts don't close and that Andrews is getting his numbers by compounding the cost over two years. He maintains he's asking the district to increase its financial contribution by about $90,000 a year.

Both sides said the other is using faulty data and they each have documentation to back up their claims.

Terri Winckler, president of the Toppenish Education Association, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 or at esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.