Teachers and district reach contract agreement
Children will now spend more time in kindergarten at Niskayuna schools and teachers have also reached an agreement with district officials over contract negotiations with either side able to reopen negotiations based on the economy.
The Niskayuna Board of Education on Tuesday, Dec. 7, unanimously support moving kindergarten from a half-day to full-day session, which is reliant upon state aide to help with transitional efforts. The completion of the district’s $99.2 million facilities improvement project has allowed for additional elementary classroom space.
We have been having this discussion ongoing for a number of years, said Jeanne Sosnow, president of the district’s Board of Education. `With the completion of the building project and the availability of the transition aid from the state, it seemed like a pivotal time to look at this situation again.`
The state currently offers a Kindergarten Full-day Incentive Aid, which is a one-time payment from the state to assist a school district in making the transition from a half-day to full-day program. The BOCES State Aid Planning Service estimated Niskayuna would receive approximately $2,753 per full-day kindergarten student, which is estimated to be a one-time payment of $619,423 based on an estimated 225 kindergarten students.
`The board members believe that it is the right way to go and it is the wishes of the majority of the public,` said Sosnow. `Niskayuna was one of only three other districts in the area without full-day kindergarten.`
The biggest savings result from eliminating the mid-day bus transportation for kindergarten students, which the district estimated to save $216,257. With state aid for the first year and the expected bus route savings, there is estimated to be no cost to the district for the first two years, said Tracy King, spokesman for the district. District officials estimate the cost of the third year to be an additional $219,918 for the district.
`I think some people are worried that the transition aid won’t be there and that is something that we will look at,` said Sosnow. `If it is not available to us, then obviously we would have to relook at the issue.`
If the aid doesn’t come through, she said, other programs might be cut to allow for a full-day kindergarten.
`We believe that full day kindergarten is a value to our kids, so we would have to weight that value against other things that would be cut against other programs,` said Sosnow.
Even with full-day instruction, Sosnow said parents will have the option of placing there children in the district’s program or finding an alternate solution that suits the family desires best. She noted the compulsory age for children to enter the education system is six years old.
`This does not take way from the parents to their right to decide what is best for the child,` said Sosnow.
King said the biggest challenge with the transition would be teachers developing a whole new curriculum to best utilize the full-day instruction.
`Our kindergarten teachers will develop programming that grows over the year, so that it would start in a manner that is appropriate for those newly incoming kids and adapt with the children as they grow into the school year,` said Sosnow. `We wouldn’t want parents to think child comes in on day one and they are inundated with academic content.`
Sosnow also said the move to full-day has nothing to do with the district providing a form of day care service for families whom cannot or have difficulty providing it.
`We are not doing to this to relieve parents for the costs of day care,` said Sosnow. `We are doing this for the benefits to the program we can offer our kindergarten children. Obviously this is going to benefit some parents, but we would not be doing it if we didn’t believe it would be beneficial to our children.`
Teachers reach contract agreement
Shortly after the full-day kindergarten vote, district officials announced that the Niskayuna Teachers Association and the district reached a contract agreement after negotiations.
The new three-year contract provides cost reductions to the district through reduced retirement costs and lowering health insurance related expenses. Teachers were previously offered 50 percent of their final year’s salary if they worked at the district for 10 years and were between the ages of 50 to 56. Now teachers are only offered 25 percent of their final year’s salary and the retirement age was pushed up to 57 with 30 years of service.
`The sides came up with an agreement they felt was fair,` said King. `I think the teachers were realistic about the budget challenges the district faces when they negotiated the contract.`
Kevin Baughman, superintendent of schools, said the contract is still competitive and attractive for teachers with the 25 percent pension payment.
`It is still a very competitive incentive for people to eventually retire,` said Baughman. `People tend to stay here for the end of their career for that benefit.`
Also, health insurance co-pays will rise from $15 to $20 in the first year and rise again to $25 in the second year. Teachers will receive an average annual increase of 2.93 percent in the salary too.
Another important element to the contract is the `reopener` provision, which allows either the district or teachers to reopen contract negations if economic conditions worsen or there are significant changes in revenues or expenses.
`Based on the state of the economy and the rate of growth either side can reopen based on certain conditions,` said King. `Because of the uncertainly of the economy it is not clear what he economy is going to do in the next couple of years.“
