Ramona Teachers Association to Rally Before School Board Meeting

With no successful negotiations after a fact-finding report was released last week, the Ramona Teachers Association decided to rally Tuesday night before the Ramona Unified School District board meeting.

The union said the majority of its members support their bargaining team’s recommendation to accept a 4.4 percent pay cut through six furlough days, in addition to a 15 percent contribution to health and welfare benefits, the U-T San Diego reported. Currently, the union does not pay into their benefits.

According to the publication, RTA President Donna Braye-Romero said a strike vote is possible if the district imposes additional cuts.

Last week, Ramona Unified School District said they were preparing for an impending strike.

"We need to express our displeasure at the disrespectful decision the district is making," Braye-Romero wrote in an email. "We must stand united from this point on."

The teachers union said their offer was what the fact-finding report suggests with two exceptions:

• Contribution to benefits can't be done retroactively, so RTA agreed to do it from here on out.
• Though the district has been insisting on a three-year agreement, the RTA's proposal was for one year only.

At tonight's school board meeting, the RTA will be rallying in their blue shirts at 6:40 p.m. near the flagpole.

At 7 p.m. the district will be presenting the fact-finding report and the school board will then decide what settlement they will impose upon the teachers.

Below is an outline of some of the fact-finding report cuts:

• Over Three Years: 24.55 percent
• Fiscal year 12-13: 5.95 percent
• Furlough Days in FY '12-'13: 3.26 percent [6 days 5 student/1 staff (5/20-24, 6/13)]
• Health and Welfare: 2.39 percent—85/15 split retroactive for six months (The 2.39 percent cut would be across the board, even for those who had opted out of benefits.)
• SAFE = 0.3 percent 

• Fiscal year 13-14: 9.21 percent
• Furlough Days in FY '13-'14: 3.26 percent [6 Days (4 student/2 staff)]
• Health and Welfare 4.95 percent (85/15 split for one year)
• SAFE: 1.0 percent savings over one year

• Fiscal Year '14-'15: 9.39 percent
• Furlough Days in FY '14-'15= 3.26% [6 Days (4 student/2 staff)]
• Health and Welfare: 5.13 percent (85/15 split for one year)
• SAFE: 1.0 percent savings over one year

The district said they were willing to agree to the fact finding report regarding:

• the five-year teacher evaluation and maintaining class size at 30:1 ratio.
• drop public charges
• drop teacher workload

Patch will keep you updated.