| LEA President's Report April 2008 |
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| From
MEA: Critical List EAST LANSING, Mich., March 24, 2008 Critical: • Airport teachers; 187 members; contract expired August 31, 2007; Michael Baumann at 866-874-5859. • Beecher teachers; 108 members; contract expired June 30, 2003; Dianne Bregenzer at 810-733-7800. • Beecher custodians, guards, maintenance & transportation; 43 members; contract expired June 30, 2003; Dianne Bregenzer at 810-733-7800. • Belding teachers; 143 members; contract expired August 15, 2007; Nancy Valenta at 616-794-0340. • Brighton teachers; 389 members; contract expired August 31, 2007; Rondy Murray at 888-546-7330. TA AS OF 4/08 • Brighton custodial, food service, maintenance, office personnel, paraprofessionals & transportation; 268 members; contract expired June 30, 2006; Rondy Murray at 888-546-7330. • Caseville teachers; 24 members; contract expired August 31, 2006; John Folsom at 800-282-2166. • Gladstone teachers; 97 members; contract expired June 30, 2007; Sandra Walker at 800-800-0632. • Grand Rapids teachers; 1,725 members; contract expired August 20, 2007. Buz Graeber or Rick Schultz at 616-957-4732. • Harrison paraprofessionals, secretaries, clerks, custodians; 35 members; contract expired June 30, 2007; Wendy Heinig at 989-422-2420. • Leslie teachers; 98 members; contract expired June 30, 2007; Charles Richardson at 888-632-4232. • Madison teachers; 93 members; contract expired August 31, 2006; Jan Tombeau at 517-263-6741. • Montrose teachers; 107 members; contract expired August 31, 2007; Tanya Pratt at 810-733-7800. • Redford Union teachers; 263 members; contract expired August 31, 2005; Cheryl Robinson at 313-381-5100. • Waterford teachers; 673 members; contract expired August 31, 2007; Marcy Felegy at 248-666-9100. • Whiteford teachers; 55 members; contract expired July 31, 2007; Michael Baumann at 734-242-0551 or 866-874-5859. • Willow Run office personnel; 18 members; no new contract since July 30, 2004; Guy Sands at 734-973-9600. • Willow Run paraprofessionals; 53 members; no new contract since July 30, 2004; Guy Sands at 734-973-9600. • Woodhaven teachers; 307 members; contract expired August 31, 2007; Nancy Czarniecki at 313-381-5100. |
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| 2.
From Lu Battaglieri’s MEA Bd of Dir report of April 24, 2008: Privatizing A. The single most significant threat is Southfield where more than 500 members are being threatened with privatizing. The board voted at its April 8, meeting to accept bids and analyze them for action at its April 22 meeting. Board sources claim that more than $3 million in concessions are not enough to stave off privatizing. Meanwhile, the local continues to have dialogue with the district to offer concessions from the contract that does not expire until this summer. The board has been offered savings from privatizing from $14 million to $21 million in preliminary projects. Employers are touting 15 percent to 16 percent instant savings from not having to pay the MSPERS retirement costs. Observation: We are seeing reluctance on the part of our membership to become involved in some of the bargaining crises or in the privatizing battles that we are facing. We need to help our membership understand basic unionism and that it starts with a “u.” There seems to be a growing belief that the union just needs to fix it and not bother the members. A union's only strength is being able to galvanize its members into collective action(s). Members lost to Privatization
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| Information
Technology B. Online Voting Application The IT staff completed the design and development of a new application last spring to provide online voting capabilities for the MEA, its regions and locals. The program provides the functionality to conduct elections online. Election chairs can set up and administer elections from this Web-based application. Members eligible to vote will then be able to securely register, cast a secret ballot and ultimately the system will count the ballots and issue a report of the results. The system verifies voter eligibility by checking the MEA’s membership records. The online elections were piloted in select regions during the first two weeks in March. c. Dropout Crisis Hearings Government Affairs and Communications staff are preparing plans for MEA and key partners to hold statewide hearings seeking public input on Michigan’s dropout crisis. At an October summit, the findings from these hearings will be presented to the governor and Legislature to assist in their development of education policy. Input will be sought not only from MEA members, but other education experts, law enforcement officials, business representatives and other community members. Aside from positively influencing upcoming policy decisions, these hearings will generate positive PR for MEA’s proactive efforts around the dropout issue and will show our willingness to work collaboratively with other organizations to improve public education. D. Retirement Health Reform – The House has created a committee called the Retirement Health Care Reforms Committee, which began meeting throughout the fall and early winter. Beginning with FY 2008, the state and local units of government will have to start showing the unfunded liabilities for retirement health costs due to changes in the Governmental Accounting Standards Board rules. Since the decision to adopt a pay-as-you-go approach to funding retirement insurance was adopted in the early 1990s, medical inflation has consistently run in double digits and the cost for insurance premiums has increased by geometric proportions. At present, the unfunded liability for the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System is pegged at $15.6 billion, and the total for all of the state retirement system is almost $23 billion. That number would rise to around $40 billion if the state cannot show an alternative to the pay-as-you-go plan, because the current system allows an income from interest assumption. The pay-as-you-go cost for retired school employees is approaching $500 per student taken out of district foundation allowances. This has caused pressure for the legislators to do several things including: 1. Find ways to reduce the current unfunded liability. 2. Find a way to fund the current promised benefits. 3. Stop accruing new unfunded liabilities for future employees. Bills have been passed out of the committee to change administration of the state employees and judges from the Civil Service Commission to the Office of Retirement Services (H.B. 5545 and 4546). There will also be pressure on all of the retirement systems to transfer cost to the retirees through increases in co-pays and deductibles, carve outs and other tools to increase the out-of-pocket costs. In all fairness, the committee members have cited several times that the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System has been the most responsive to cost cutting and is not being targeted for benefit reduction as much as other programs. This does not mean we are not on the block for more changes. At present, there is H.B. 5913, which would create a Trust Fund pursuant to IRS rules under Section 115. The fund would utilize health reimbursement accounts to pay for medical costs for future members of the plan and a benefit trust to pay for current members. There are many unanswered questions on how this would work and how it would be funded. The only known tangible benefit of passing this bill without a funding source would be that the state can continue to calculate the total unfunded liability at the amount of $23 billion. |
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| E.
State Board of Education Professional Standards for Teachers The State Board received a report that revised professional teaching standards. Previously, these standards were to be a model for entry-level teachers intended to be used as a guide in developing standards for the nontenure portion of a teacher’s career. These standards are now submitted to the State Board as “Professional Standards for All Teachers.” These new standards are to be applied as criteria for the entire career of a teacher. They are focused at new requirements that will be proposed to add “subjective criteria” to continuing certification requirements. Currently, continuing certification only includes objective criteria, i.e., years of service and credit hours. We are closely monitoring the board’s action and developing strategies and proposals to ensure the rights of our members based on objective and measurable standards. |
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| F. Retirement Office of Retirement Services The Office of Retirement Services – ORS – serves the working and retired public employees of four Michigan retirement systems: Public School Employees Retirement System State Employees Retirement System State Police Retirement System Judges Retirement System Total members – 580,979 – one out of every 18 Michigan citizens. Within these systems, ORS administers four defined benefit pension plans and two defined contribution pension plans with combined assets of nearly $63 billion, making ORS the 14th largest public pension system in the U.S., the 20th largest pension in the U.S., and the 39th largest pension in the world. In 2006, ORS paid out $4.6 billion in pension and health benefits. ORS is a division of the state of Michigan's Department of Management and Budget, under the leadership of DMB Director Lisa Webb Sharpe and Phil Stoddard who is the executive director of ORS. ORS Launches New Service ORS has announced the launch of miAccount, a secure section of the ORS Web site that will allow a member to view, print and change personal account information. The new site will permit members to update their mailing address, phone and e-mail address. It will also allow retirees to manage direct deposits and to change federal tax withholdings. It will also permit retirees to print their 1099R form as well as print an income verification letter for mortgage or health care purposes. The site will also calculate a retiree’s earnings limitations if a retiree is thinking about returning to active school employment. To get started, go to www.michigan.gov/ORSschools and click on the miAccount on the right side of the page and then follow the three-step registration process. MPSERS Southeast Michigan Office Reopens ORS reopened its office in Detroit on Jan. 7, 2008. Walk-in customers are welcome Monday through Thursday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. - at the Cadillac Place, 3068 W. Grand Boulevard, Suite 4-700. Please phone 313-456-4010 before visiting. In addition to walk-in customer hours, staff in the Detroit office now offer the Ready, Set, Retire! sessions for public school employees retiring within the next 12 months. This optional counseling session will provide members with a retirement estimate and help them complete the retirement application forms. Ready, Set Retire! group sessions are available Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Fridays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. for a maximum of 10 participants per session (spouses welcome). |
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| 3.
LPS BOARD POLICY:PERSONNEL JUNE 7, 1993 GIFTS TO STAFF MEMBERS Employees shall not accept gifts of any kind from students, parents, or those doing or interested in doing business with the school district, except as set forth in this policy. It is recognized that students, parents, and those doing or interested in doing business with the school district may, as an expression of appreciation and goodwill, offer occasional or seasonal gifts or invitations to be entertained. Such gifts or invitations may be accepted only on an occasional basis. When such gifts or invitations are accepted, and exceed $25 in value, they must be immediately disclosed, in writing, to the superintendent or designee. The written disclosure must from whom it was received, and (d) the date it was received and must be signed by the employee(s) receiving the gift, favor, or invitation. Employees are prohibited under any circumstances from accepting a gift, favor, or invitation which tends to influence the manner in which the employee performs his/her official duties. Under no circumstances may an employee solicit, directly or indirectly, any gift, favor, or invitation from any student, parent, volunteer, or those doing or interested in doing business with the school district. Employees may, in the course of their duties, accept an invitation to lunch, dinner, or other functions to discuss school district business or operations. When such invitations to lunch, dinner, or other functions are accepted, and exceed $40 in value, they must be immediately disclosed, in writing, to the superintendent or designee. The Board always welcomes appropriate letters of appreciation to staff members. |
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| ADMINISTRATIVE
PROCEDURES GAJB PERSONNEL GIFTS/ITEMS OF VALUE JUNE 1993 1. Employees may not accept expensive or inappropriate gifts, however well intended, from students, parents, or those interested in doing business with the school district. Any items of value (cash, materials, equipment, etc.) that are accepted become the property of the school district. 2. There shall be no buying of gifts for individual students by teachers. An inexpensive token to all students in the teacher's class is permissible but not encouraged. 3. Teachers may encourage, if they wish, class and student projects for the truly needy. Such activities should be planned well to assure that it will have instructional value to the givers. It should be acceptable to the needy person or persons and/or any institution involved. 4. The value of gifts exchanged by students in school, if it is decided to exchange them, shall be nominal. |
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4.
RETIREES WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE 4/28/08
LPS BOARD MEETING. REMINDER: LPS/LEA RETIREMENT RECEPTION…. WED., MAY 28, 2008 5-8 PM at the Vista Tech Center at Schoolcraft RSVP BY May 14, 2008 to Pat Gearns at 734-737-0995 |