The Galt Joint Union High School District finally published its unaudited actuals.  Essentially, these are updated budget numbers as of September.  Here are the highlights:

• The District's ending balance on June 30, 2010 was $3,681,583 in the positive!
• The District will receive about $1.1 million more in 2010/11 than they expected in June
• SInce the District is anticipating a $1.4 deficit in 2010/11, the worst case scenario leaves them with an ending balance of over $3.3 million

It is unclear why the District insists on hurting the education services we offer the community when the money is clearly in its bank account.

Academic –Administrative Personnel Federation – Local 3983

To date your negotiation team has met with the administrative team on:  February 24, 2010, March 4, 2010, March 17, 2010, March 31, 2010, April 14, 2010, May 4, 2010, May 26, 2010, June 7, 2010, June 16, 2010 & June 29, 2010.  We are scheduled to resume meetings on October 28, 2010.

As I shared previously, in accordance with the New Jersey Employee Relations Act, we requested comprehensive financial documents from the college.  Upon receipt of the requested items, members of your negotiations team met with a member of the research department, of AFT NJ State Federation (formerly NJSFT) and reviewed her findings.    While I cannot share our findings, I can tell you that additional questions were raised and we then requested additional information. 

We are now ready to “go back to the table”, scheduled for October 28, 2010.   Again, I want to thank each of you for your patience and support.  

The Van Wert Federation of Teachers intalled new officers the first day of school

Hands on approach to critial thinking

Bev Lucas, President

Kim Mautz, Vice President

Erin McElhiney, Secretary

Becky Snider, Treasurer

Kathy Young & Toni Harper, High School

Rebecca Scott, Middle School

Jenny Shiplett & Brooke Hartley, New Lexington Elementary School

Melissa Proctor, Junction City Elementary School

Erin McElhiney & Kathy Young, Grievance Co-Chairs

Kim Mautz, Sick Leave Bank Chair

NLEA Email Address:  nlea4186@globalco.net

The California State Legislature passed a budget last night that will cut $4.3 billion more from education and allows for sweatheart deals for corporations.  Again, the 2/3rds treshold for passing a budget allowed a couple of legislators to hold the budget captive in exchange for a few special deals. 

This is why it is essential for Proposition 25 must pass in November.

I want to send out a resounding thanks to the many teachers who showed up after school on Wednesday at the District Office to demonstrate the status of certificated negotiations.  The Distirct has been treating us unfairly.  The District has asked for more furlough days from teachers than from management.  It has asked for long-term changes to class sizes. It has refused to send us the unaudited actuals and have not been forthcoming about the $440,000 in federal funds it has received. 

I am happy to report that after our demonstration, negotiations took a turn for the better.  Both sides have agreed to a framework that will allow us to hopefully wrap things up in the next couple of weeks. 

Thanks again for all who showed up yesterday.

Read what other people are saying about our current hot issues in public Education.

The AGCEP contract (2005-2008) is available on the GCSD website, however, we've listed some information on frequently asked questions.