Iowa City school district, teachers disagree on pay

Negotiations between the Iowa City school district and the teachers union began Monday with the two sides, not surprisingly, disagreeing on salary and benefits.

The Iowa City Education Association proposed a 5 percent total package increase in a one-year contract for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The district countered with 1 percent reduction.

This was just the initial exchange of proposals, and now the sides will spend the next several weeks in closed-door meetings trying to hammer out an agreement. The district and union currently are near the end of a three-year deal that gave teachers a 5 percent salary and benefits increase this year.

Since that contract was approved, the economy has tanked, and the district has responded in recent months with a series of budget cuts. On Tuesday night Superintendent Lane Plugge is to unveil for the school board a plan for additional reductions of at least $1.4 million.

Jim Pedersen, the district's human resources director, said the district cannot maintain current staffing and programing levels if the financial picture does not change. With personnel costs accounting for 79 percent of the district's budget, salaries and benefits will have to be part of that equation, he said

The district has about 915 teachers and approximately 1,650 total employees.

“The sacrifice and cooperation of every employee/employee group will be paramount to right the ship and weather this financial storm,” Pedersen said.

Mitch Gross, a West High teacher and one of the union's negotiators, said teachers are well aware of the economic recession and are approaching the negotiations “with pragmatism.”

Their jobs get tougher in a down economy, he said, with classes getting bigger and students and their parents dealing with hardships at home. While the private sector can cut back on production in a downturn, schools can't, he said.

“Children aren't widgets,” Gross said.