Good morning Chairman Sage, school board members, Dr. Perry. Thank you for this time to speak before you. Since last we spoke a lot has happened. We are happy to report our students and teachers have had lots off success with SOL testing, various sports teams, field trips and field days, awards and graduation ceremonies and the list of events goes on and on. It was great to see you all at our various events. I'm sure the principals slide show will highlight many of these for you. The WCEA would like to Thank school board members, school board office administrators, building principals, and staff for your support to make these successes possible for our students.
We also received contracts and health insurance information at the end of the school year. We know this has been a difficult budget year given the lack of support from the state. We would like to thank you for maintaining last year's 2% raise given the take-backsies that the state played with that money. As you recall When we presented the Employee survey results the focus of the employees was maintaining or hopefully increasing take home pay when all is said and done for next year. My goal is not to push a personal agenda or an agenda of the WCEA. My goal is to present some data from the employee perspective as it relates to the goal of maintaining or improving take home pay.
In looking at the information provided on health insurance we are pleased that the budget holds the single employee health plan harmless. The $888 yearly increase in employer contribution goes a long way toward helping those employees maintain or increase their take home pay. Thank you for that. With the $888 employer increase the other plans holders will see a yearly increase of $756 for the dual plan and $1512 for the family plan.
The proposed paraprofessional scale calls for a $2000 increase at all steps which would go along way toward improving their take home pay and just as importantly making that salary scale more competitive for our paraprofessionals when compared to other school systems in our region in our region.
The proposed teacher salary scale provides for a $300 increase at step 0 and $400 increase at all other steps. With that increase it appears that those on the employee only health plan will achieve the goal of improving take home pay. Those employees on the dual plan and family plans will pay out more in health care premiums than the $400 salary increase will cover making it difficult to maintain their take home pay.
As mentioned the proposed teacher salary scale provides a $300 increase for step 0 and $400 at all other steps. While we understand that the scale is a year contract and not a guarantee from year to year, there are some interesting facts to consider when comparing the 2106-17 scale to the proposed 2107-2018 scale. In last years scale steps 0-9 increased $300 from step to step so the proposed $400 increase would actually improve the scale in those areas. In last years scale steps 10-17 saw a $400 increase so those would remain the same in the proposed scale. Steps 18-19 had a $500 increase in last years scale so those steps will decrease by $100. Steps 20-21 will decrease by $300 from $700 in last years scale. Steps 22-24 will decrease by $900 from the $1300 increase in last years scale. Step 25 will decrease $1100 from last years $1500 increase.
If you remember from the salary survey presentation our scale was very competitive at the beginning and at the end, but was not as competitive in the middle. This proposed scale would increase the strength in the first ten years, decrease the strength at the end, while the middle would still not be as competitive.
As WCEA president I have had several discussions in recent days members especially those with 15+ years of experience. To summarize those discussions I would say this. While our employees know that the scale will change from year to year, it is important to consider that when an employee sees health costs rising as those on the dual and family plans will and their salary scale doesn't increase at a similar rate, their bottom line is taking home less money. It's not a sense of entitlement that employees have that makes them think their take home pay should increase, but a sense of value to the students they work with everyday. The work our employees do is valuable to the community and they want to see that value reflected when they look at their pay check.
Lastly I would like to thank Dr Perry for including employees in the exploration of the self insurance concept. I was able to attend yesterday's meeting in Abingdon on self insurance and was intrigued by the ideas discussed. I was especially interested in the concept of helping employees take ownership of their health care. I think that will be an important factor that the WCEA would look forward to collaborating on whether we decide to remain fully insured, go with a state plan or move toward self insurance.
Thank you again for this time to speak with you. If the WCEA can help in anyway as you consider the proposed salary scale and health insurance plans please let me know.
Presented to the WCPS School Board on June 8, 2017 by Ryan Walker, WCEA Co-President
