In the Matter of Impasse Between The Deposit Central School District and The Deposit Teacher Association. PERB Case M2006-053.  Sally C. Gillespie, Fact Finder

Gillespie, Sally C.

English

In the Matter of Impasse Between The Deposit Central School District and The Deposit Teacher Association. PERB Case M2006-053.  Sally C. Gillespie, Fact Finder.Deposit2006_053.pdf: 674 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

eCommons@Cornell

Deposit Central School District and Deposit Teachers Association

DigitalCommons@ILR

Cornell University ILR School 
DigitalCommons@ILR 
Fact Finding Reports - NYS PERB New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) 
November 2007 
Deposit Central School District and Deposit Teachers Association 
Sally C. Gillespie 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/perbfact 
Thank you for downloading an article from DigitalCommons@ILR. 
Support this valuable resource today! 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the New York State Public Employment Relations Board 
(PERB) at DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fact Finding Reports - NYS PERB by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact catherwood-
dig@cornell.edu. 
If you have a disability and are having trouble accessing information on this website or need materials in an 
alternate format, contact web-accessibility@cornell.edu for assistance. 
Deposit Central School District and Deposit Teachers Association 
Abstract 
In the Matter of Impasse Between The Deposit Central School District and The Deposit Teacher 
Association. PERB Case M2006-053. Sally C. Gillespie, Fact Finder. 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/perbfact/13 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
 
 
_____________________________ 
 
In the Matter of the Impasse                                    Report and Recommendations     
Between 
The Deposit Central School District                         of the  
And 
The Deposit Teachers Association                            Fact Finder 
Case #M2006-053 
______________________________    
 
 
 
 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
 The Deposit Central School District and The Deposit Teachers Association, 
hereinafter referred to as the District and the Association, began negotiations in March of 
2006 for a successor to the agreement that expired on June 30, 2006.  In May, 2006, 
impasse was declared by the Association and a mediator was appointed by the New York 
State Public Employment Relations Board.  After three mediation sessions, the District 
requested the appointment of a fact finder and the undersigned was appointed in July, 
2007. 
 At a meeting with the Fact Finder, the parties agreed to submit written arguments 
and evidence in support of their respective positions on the issues mutually identified by 
the parties as the major impediments to any settlement.  The District and the Association 
agreed that any remaining issues can be more easily resolved if there is agreement on the 
issues of Salary and Health Insurance. Therefore, this fact-finding report will report and 
recommend on: 
1. Salary/ Wages 
2. Health Insurance 
 
 
 
-1- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES 
 
THE ASSOCIATION 
 The Association proposed these changes to salary: 
• A five and one half percent (5.5%) increase in each year of the successor         
agreement for all salaries on and off the salary schedule. 
• An additional increase of one hundred (100) dollars in the first year of the 
successor agreement for the Masters column in the schedule.  
•  An increase in compensation for extra duties. 
• An increase in the coaching salary schedule. 
 
           In support of these salary proposals, the Association pointed to the excellent 
results achieved by the students of the District on the myriad of state tests that they have 
taken.  Superintendent Hauber has given the credit to teachers who have worked together 
well and used test data to see where improvements were needed. 
 The Association argued that the impasse on salary is caused by unwillingness on 
the part of the District, not by inability of the District, to pay the salary increases 
proposed by the Association, citing these facts: 
• On March 31, 2007, the District was projected to receive a 13.21%                                      
increase in state aid from the previous year.   
• The school budget was passed in May 2007, indicating community 
support. 
• The District was able to fund the increased cost of adding a position of 
Dean of Students. 
• Ten teachers recently retired and were replaced by teachers at a lower 
salary range. 
  
  
-2- 
 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
Evidence was presented by the Association showing an approximately 4.1% 
salary increase in recent settlements for other Broome County school districts.    
Typically, the raises negotiated by the District and Association in the past have been 
comparable and competitive with these districts, according to the Association. 
 The starting salaries in the District lag behind those of other area districts and are 
of concern to the Association.  The Association stated it is willing to discuss this as a 
distribution issue, as requested by the District, but not by sacrificing other teachers’ 
salaries. 
         The Association proposed to increase stipends for extra duties by the same rate as 
the general salary increase.  The District has created and staffed new extra duty positions, 
the compensation for which should be included in the contract, according to the 
Association. These positions include poetry recitation, elementary/middle school musical 
director, middle school honor society advisor, college credit course instructor, supervisor 
at athletic events, and AIS after school instructor. 
 The Association proposed increasing the coaches’ salary indexes by five percent 
(5%) , adding an additional assistant high school track coach, and increasing the Athletic 
Director’s stipend. A precise comparison of coaching salaries among districts is 
problematic.  The Association explained that some school coaching schedules offer steps, 
some do not, the numbers of coaches and assistants vary widely in each district,  and the 
Deposit teams compete in the MAC conference, which does not include the vast majority 
of the Broome County schools used in the previous salary comparisons. 
 Comparison data on the starting salary of the registered nurse is also problematic, 
according to the Association.  However, the Association concluded that the nurses in 
Deposit are underpaid and should have an adjustment to their salary schedule. 
 
 The Association proposed the following changes to health insurance: 
• Increase the individual health insurance employee contribution twenty-
five dollars ($25) in each year of the successor agreement. 
• Increase the dependent employee contribution seventy-five dollars ($75) 
  in each year of the successor agreement.  
     -3- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
  
 
The Association’s arguments in support of its health insurance proposal included: 
• The $25 and $75 increase in employee contribution represents an increase of                                        
8.5% for individual coverage and an increase of 6.7% for dependent coverage in 
the first year. These increases reflect current trends in the cost of health 
insurance premiums. 
• A table comparing area employee health insurance contribution rates  
demonstrates that the District’s proposed 12.5% employee contribution would be 
higher than those of employees in the majority of the area districts. 
• The Association has already agreed to significant increases in premiums in the 
now expired contract. 
• At a May, 2007 meeting, a Health Insurance Consortium representative explained 
that the District’s experience factor of less than 1.0 for the past three years 
indicated that next year’s premium increase would be lower. 
 
 
 
THE DISTRICT 
 
        The District proposed a salary increase of three percent (3%) in each year of a 
multiple year agreement. 
 In support of its proposal, the District argued that the Deposit Central School 
District is a financially poor district, when compared to other Broome County schools. 
Evidence was presented that the gross income per taxpayer and gross income per tax 
return are below the average found in other county schools. Due to the limited income of 
the District residents, the District stated that it must rely heavily on financial aid from the 
State.  The District projected that the State aid, as a percentage of total expenditures is 
expected to drop in 2006-2007. 
  
    -4- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
 Two surveys comparing the salaries of teachers in Deposit with the salaries of 
teachers in area districts were presented by the District. According to the District, Deposit 
pays exceptionally superior wages to its more senior staff.  The wages of less senior staff 
in Deposit are generally lower than those in the other districts in the surveys.   The 
District argued that this is the result of past negotiated percentage increases that have 
provided large raises for those earning more, and lesser wage increases for those earning 
less. To correct this, the District proposed that any negotiated wage increase should be 
converted to an even dollar raise for each bargaining unit member. 
 A comparison of the Consumer Price Index changes with past average percentage 
increases in salary for Association members was submitted by the District, outlining past 
salary increases for the Association members above the average increases in the CPI. 
 The District proposed that wage adjustments for extra duty and coaching activities 
be remanded to a management/teacher committee for analysis and recommendations and 
that the issue of compensation for registered nurses be returned to the parties. Both need 
further discussion and analysis, according to the District. 
 
 The District proposed the following changes in health insurance: 
• Current employees and future retirees should contribute 12.5% of the cost 
of health insurance premiums.  
• Unit members would be required to work fifteen consecutive years for the 
District in order to be eligible for the health insurance benefit in 
retirement. 
• The prescription drug rider should be changed from the current 
generic/non-generic cost to the employee of $0/$6 to a generic/ preferred 
brand name/non-preferred brand name cost of $5/$15/$30. 
 
 
 
-5- 
 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
The District argued that it is time for the Association members and future retirees 
to pay their fair share toward their health care insurance premiums. If the Association is 
seeking an area average salary settlement, it should be willing to agree to an area average 
teacher health care insurance contribution, according to the District. Evidence presented 
in support of this argument included: 
• A 2005-06 area health care insurance survey that was completed on April 
20, 2006, shows that of the twelve Broome-Delaware-Tioga BOCES 
component schools the vast majority of teachers and retirees pay far more 
toward their health care insurance premiums than Deposit teachers.   
• While retired Deposit teachers contributed nothing toward the insurance 
premiums, in the 2005-06 school year, Vestal retirees contributed $2,685 
for individual coverage or $8,720 for family coverage. 
• Although the health care insurance premium increase from the 2006-07 
school year to the 2007-08 year was modest, increases since 2002 have 
been significant.    
• The fixed dollar amount of the unit members’ contribution to health 
insurance premiums causes the percentage contribution to diminish each 
year as the premiums escalate.   
• A recent state-wide survey, conducted by the New York State School 
Boards’ Association, shows that new teachers hired in 2006 contribute on 
average 12.3% toward the individual health insurance premiums and on 
average 13.9% toward the family health insurance premiums. In this same 
survey, most senior teachers contribute on average 10.9% toward 
individual premiums and 12.4% toward the family premiums. 
• As part of a recent settlement, the teachers at Union-Endicott Central 
School District will contribute 12.5% towards their health care insurance 
premiums.   
 
 
 
-6- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
 
 The District stated that the prescription drug rider for the teachers in Deposit is the 
most expensive prescription drug rider of all the Broome County school districts.  By 
changing the prescription drug rider to the rider proposed by the District, the savings is 
expected to be about $54,000 annually, based upon active and retired teachers.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      -7- 
 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE FACT FINDER 
 
 The Association and the District have presented all proposals in terms of a multiple 
year contract.  The last agreement between the parties was for three years’ duration. 
Also, since the first year of any successor agreement (2006-2007) has passed, a three year 
agreement should be the basis of any settlement. The Fact Finder, therefore, will make 
recommendations on the issues of salary and health insurance to be incorporated in a 
contract between the parties to cover the 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 years. 
 In the previous agreement, salary increases were expressed as percentage increases, 
while the amount of the employee’s contribution to health insurance premiums was a flat 
dollar amount.  The Association seeks to continue this method for salary increases and 
health insurance contributions. .  Pointing to problems this has caused, the District 
proposed the conversion of any settlement on salary to a flat dollar amount for each 
teacher and the use of a percentage increase in employee contribution to health insurance 
premiums. 
 Both parties agree that the salaries at the entry and lower levels of the teacher salary 
schedule are generally below the average of those in other area districts. The teachers 
with fifteen to twenty-five years experience receive salaries well above the average 
received by teachers of similar experience in other area school districts. The parties 
termed this as a “distribution” problem.  The District suggested that a flat dollar salary 
increase would help to alleviate this disparity.  The Association agrees that the lower 
level salaries need adjustment, but not at the expense of the salaries of other teachers.  
 The continuation of a salary increase as a percentage for all teachers will certainly 
exaggerate this disparity.  The salary increase recommended below involves the parties 
determining an average teacher salary. The recommended percentage increase would be 
applied to this average.  The resulting dollar amount would be applied as the salary 
increase for all teachers. The distribution problem identified by both parties will not 
intensify as it would with a straight percentage increase to all salaries over three years.. 
 
      -8- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
 Surveys on recent salary settlements in area districts were presented by both parties. 
All comparisons presented into evidence show that the average salary increase for 2006-
2007 was 4.36%, while the average increase of 2007-2008 was 4.39%. 
 The ability of the District to pay for reasonable salary increases is addressed with 
widely differing arguments by the parties. While the gross income per taxpayer is lower 
in Deposit than that in other area districts, the teacher salary increases in the past have 
been comparable with those in areas districts. 
 An opinion shared by both parties was highlighted by this Association assertion: 
 “The fact that any acceptable health insurance settlement is closely tied to the  
   salary settlement is no surprise to anyone at the table.” 
The parties, and the Fact Finder, recognize the need to consider the connection of these  
issues in any settlement. 
 At present, the members of this unit pay flat dollar amounts toward the health 
insurance premiums for individual or family coverage. These payments translate to a 
5.4% employee contribution to individual coverage and a 8.3% contribution to family 
coverage.  The evidence presented on employee contributions to health insurance 
premiums in other districts makes comparisons difficult, due to widely varying benefits 
and differing use of percentages and flat dollar amounts. However, the calculated 
percentage amounts of employee contribution in the District are somewhat lower than 
those in other area districts.   
 The Association reported that the experience factor may lead to lower health 
insurance costs for the next year.  The District reported that the increase from 2006-2007 
to 2007-2008 was modest, compared to previous increases in health insurance costs.  An 
employee contribution expressed as a percentage is recommended. 
 Retired teachers in this District make no contribution to their health insurance 
premiums.  Few other area districts offer this to their retirees.  The District did not 
propose to change this benefit for teachers who have already retired.  It seeks to have 
future retirees pay the same amount toward the health insurance premiums as the active 
teachers. Additionally, the District proposed that retirees have at least fifteen years of 
service in the district to be eligible for health insurance benefits.  
      -9- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
  There was insufficient evidence presented by the parties to enable the Fact Finder 
to consider and recommend on: the Masters degree payment, the nurse salary schedule 
and the coaching stipends.   
 Compensation for extra duties has been increased in past contracts with the same 
percentage as the salary increase.  I recommend continuing this method of increase.    
 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS   
The contract between the Association and the District will cover the three year 
period from July 1. 2006 to June 30, 2009. 
 
Salary 
• For the 2006-2007: Each teacher shall receive a salary increase in the dollar 
amount computed by applying a 4.4% increase to the average teacher salary. 
• For the 2007-2008: Each teacher shall receive a salary increase in the dollar 
amount computed by applying a 4.4% increase to the average teacher salary. 
• For the 2008-2009: Each teacher shall receive a salary increase in the dollar 
amount computed by applying a 4.4% increase to the average teacher salary. 
• The stipends for extra duty positions will increase by 4.4%. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      -10- 
 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD 
 
HEALTH INSURANCE 
• For 2006-2007: The employee  will contribute 5.4% of the cost of the 
individual  health insurance premium or 8.3% of the cost of the health 
insurance premium for dependent coverage. 
• For 2007-2008: The employee will contribute 5.4% of the cost of the 
individual health insurance premium or 8.3% of the cost of the health 
insurance premium for dependent coverage. 
• For 2008-2009: The employee will contribute 5.4% of the cost of the 
individual health insurance premium or 8.3% of the cost of the health 
insurance premium for dependent coverage. 
 
• A teacher, who retires after the effective date of this contract, shall receive 
the same health insurance coverage, at the same contributory rate, as an 
active full-time employee.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 November 13, 2007 
      _______________________________                                
         Sally C. Gillespie 
         Fact Finder  
 
 
 
 
 
      -11- 


https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&amp;context=perbfact

Deposit Central School District and Deposit Teachers Association

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

eCommons@Cornell

DigitalCommons@ILR