California Educator

October 2013

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Advocacy Los Angeles: Mutual assistance, support and skill building BY FRANK WELLS W E V I S I T E D W I T H Scott Miller, member of the Hawthorne Elementary Teachers Association, and John Petersen, president of the Association of Rowland Educators, to learn how the Coordinated Bargaining Council (CBC) that they co-chair is making a difference for local chapters in Los Angeles County. How does coordinated bargaining work? Scott: We try to meet with all the presidents and bargaining chairs in our local area and make sure we're all on the same page. We come up with standards we can agree on, and try to make sure one settlement doesn't adversely affect others. If someone has to take a significant cut or furloughs, we ask them to try and delay settlement, and conversely, if a chapter is going to do well, it benefits everyone if they settle early. John: Right, we want to make sure nobody sets a bad precedent either financially or professionally. I'm chair of the CTA State Council Financing Public Education Committee, so I put a priority on budget analysis and helping our chapters with data crunching. If we can show a disJohn Petersen trict is consistently way off in projecting its ending balances, it helps our chapters make the case for putting the money they know is going to be there into the classroom or personnel. I've been working with a bandwidth analysis that rates districts on how accurate or inaccurate they are. We try and have some fun with the data, and hopefully get the districts to change their behavior if they're hoarding money. Scott: We also provide training and staff support, especially to locals in crisis. How widespread is regular participation? Scott: It's good. We had about 35 locals at our first meeting last year, and we get participation from our classified and charter units in addition to K-12. John: We have over three-fourths of the service center that are regular participants. What are the bargaining priorities for this year? Scott: We'll be meeting for the first time this year shortly, but a top priority is going to be making sure people understand the new Local Control Funding Formula. The new flexibility is an opportunity to make up for some of the losses of the past several years. John: We'll be comparing notes about our respective districts and how management is approaching the LCFF, while we set our own standards and priorities. We'll also be looking at the bargaining implications connected to the new Common Core State Standards. How do the locals keep up with each other throughout the year? Scott: We're constantly communicating. In addition to the CBC meetings, the same locals meet at Service Center Council meetings. We schedule CBC meetings after the January state budget and the May Revise. Our CTA Board member is helpful with communication and making sure locals get assistance if they need it. John: We're good about staying in touch between meetings — keeping email threads going with the latest info on settlements or answer questions about what's Scott Miller happening in our districts. There's overlap on other issues because we also have coordinated organizing teams that support bargaining and we keep each other appraised of endorsed school board candidates so members who live in locals where they don't teach know what that local chapter is doing and who they are recommending for board seats. Do you find the CBCs effective tools? Scott: Absolutely. Without them, we'd be operating in a vacuum to a certain extent. John: It's a great opportunity for mutual assistance, training, and building skills. OCTOBER 201 3 Educator 10 Oct 2013 v2.1 int.indd 37 www.cta.org 37 10/7/13 9:39 PM

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