 |
Many of the current Board of Education members have received money and political endorsements from the United Teachers of Pasadena in the past. As examples, the three most recently elected Board of Ed members, Roy Boulghourjian, Patrick Cahalan and Sierra Madre's own Larry Torres, received significant amounts of cash in the form of campaign donations from various union sources, including the hardly disinterested UTP. Courtesy of the Pasadena Star News, you can read more about that here.
Yesterday the Star News described the benefit and salary increases won by the UTP in this way (link):
After months of negotiation, the Pasadena Unified School District and the United Teachers of Pasadena have reached a tentative multi-year contract agreement that gives teachers a pay boost.
The contract was hammered out on Wednesday during a fact-finding hearing, and includes a 6 percent salary increase effective during the current 2015-16 school year and 2016-17. Salary negotiations will open again for the 2017-2018 school year.
Depending on how much money will be coming in from state government coffers for the upcoming school year, teachers may also get an additional 3 percent salary increase.
Union president Alvin Nash called the agreement an important step forward. “I’m confident that all of the Union members felt that this is the best agreement we could reach,” Nash said.
District will also pay any increases in health and welfare benefits for teachers for the next two years will also be paid by the school district, and be renegotiated for the 2018-19 school year.
Nobody should be at all surprised. And ask yourself this one. Have you received a 6-9% raise retroactively to 2015? PUSD teachers are going to do so.
Now occasionally timing is everything, and that could be the case here. As these generous final salary and benefit increase details were being worked out, Moody's Investors Service, which numbers among our nation's leading bond rating firms, was roundly trashing the PUSD's shaky financials this way (link):
It appears that the PUSD, along with its rented Board of Education, is digging itself quite a financial hole. However, there is an upside here. The chances of them being able to peddle any further bond issues in at least the near future have now grown increasingly unlikely.
But who knows? Obviously they pretty much do as they please. No matter how ridiculous the results, or disadvantageous to those paying the bills or suffering the consequences.
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com