By Kellie Mullin
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach Unified School Distric and the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association are planning to begin negotiations concering the teacher contract proposals for the 2013-14, reopening of teacher contracts.
According to the proposals, MBUSD is looking to change teacher evaluation procedures and the school calendar, while MBUTA is hoping to alter working hours and distribution of assignments for its Union members and discuss release time provisions and how to respond to students leaving school for religious purposes. Both MBUSD and MBUTA proposed that higher salary and benefit adjustments should be addressed.
“All the items that are reopeners are items that we’d like to see some resolution on,” MBUTA President Shawn Chen said. “Salary is at the top of our list.”
According to the proposals, the overall goal of these contract reopeners is to maintain a sound budget focused on maximizing student achievement. This includes creating a learning environment with sufficient teachers and resources.
“My main hope for negotiations is that we can sit down and quickly find a common ground,” MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “I also hope that we can have this conversation between adults in a way so that students are not impacted at all by our negotiations.”
The fiscal impact has yet to be determined. The passing of Proposition 30 on Sept. 3 is expected to generate over $6 billion in revenue for California’s school systems. According to Chen, this may create more leeway in the discussion for raising teacher salaries.
“It’s the first time in about seven years that there has been an increase in funding,” Chen said. “This should affect the negotiations, if common sense prevails.”
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