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ESD teachers dislike latest offer Unresolved issues include pay, health, retirement benefits By Tony Boom Jackson Education Service District teachers find little to like in the final contract offer from the district�s board of directors. "Based on their final offer, there won�t be a settlement because there are a number of issues that we find unacceptable," said Mike McEachern of the Southern Oregon Bargaining Council, which represents the teachers. "Their offer has not changed in any real form since last May." The contract talks affect about 100 ESD employees who teach in 31 school districts in Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath and Lake counties. They work predominantly with students who have mental and physical disabilities or impairments. Unresolved issues include compensation, health insurance, discharge policies, retirement benefits, unpaid leave and layoff and recall rights. Teachers have worked without a contract since July 1. Salary increases and health insurance are causing the most concern, said ESD Superintendent Joe Crowder. The district�s offer includes a 2 percent salary increase for all teachers and a 3.35 percent increase for those not at the top of a 20-step pay scale. The offer also provides for paying teachers� increased health-insurance costs during the first year of the contract. Crowder said the board decided to make its final offer at the end of a Nov. 14 mediation session. Negotiators for the teachers received a mailed copy of the offer Monday, but had a faxed copy last week. Jackson ESD teachers earned an average of $45,000 in the last year, the highest figure in the state, according to a wage survey conducted by the Oregon School Board Association and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. Average teacher pay in Ashland, Central Point and Eagle Point districts was a little over $40,000. "The top of the (ESD) salary schedule is $60,000," said Crowder. "I can�t find another school or ESD in the state that matches that." A second mediation session is scheduled for Dec. 11, but either side could now declare an impasse. If that happens, each side would have seven days to submit a final offer to the mediator. If an agreement is not reached during a 30-day cooling-off period, the ESD board may implement its final offer. Teachers could choose to strike. McEachern said he would seriously consider binding arbitration as one way to bring a settlement. Crowder said his board is waiting to hear back from the teachers� bargaining representative. "I�m not surprised we received a final offer, but I�m surprised they phrased it that way with mediation scheduled," said McEachern. "I would never put out an offer like that to them." "We are optimistic (for the coming mediation session) or we wouldn�t be meeting," said teacher Terry Pierce, a member of the bargaining council. Unpaid leave and layoff and recall issues are close to settlement, according to McEachern. Agreement was not near on discharge and retirement issues, he added. Teachers have posted informational pickets by teachers at recent ESD board meetings at the ESD office in Medford at 101 N. Grape St. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.