On Janesville School Board seeks union answers

Posted on July 29 at 1:55 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

fear: Please read the context of my response. I was asked to evaluate the accuracy of a statement that SOMEONE ELSE made! In doing so, I included all things that the person might have been referring to.

The early retirement benefit that I referred to is that a teacher can trade in up to 130 sick days for 4 more years of health insurance in addition to the 4 years that are already provided for most retirees. That is why many people might retire at age 57 because they get 8 years of health insurance until they are covered under Medicare etc. at age 65. The approximate current premium value for one year of health care is $17,200.00 which is $137,600.00 in present value dollars for 8 years.

FYI - I will be glad to address the fund balance - again - and talk about the health insurance as soon as I have the time.

Bill

On Janesville School Board seeks union answers

Posted on July 29 at 9:29 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

factsplease: I will put myself in "Politifact's" shoes for a moment regarding the comments made by whzbng that you asked me about. A teacher with a masters degree and 15 years experience will earn $58441.00 for 2011-2012. WRS will add another $6779.00 and 97% of the health premium will equal $16684.00. This equals $81904.00 which is well short of the "close to 100K figure" that whzbng used. If he/she was also including FICA benefits that would add another $4558.00. In addition there is a substantial early retirement benefit that has a present yearly worth about $17200.00 for up to 8 years or a total of $137600.00. If we divide that by a 30 year career the yearly benefit would be $4587.00. So even adding in these two benefits the total is still almost 10K short of 100K ($91049.00).

A teacher would need to have 30 credits above their masters degree in order to make whzbng's statement true. Perhaps whzbng was prorating the 190 day salary but he/she did not state that in their blog so I will rate their statement of "close to 100K in salary and benefits" as being PROBABLY FALSE.

I hope that you feel that I have given you a straightforward truthful answer.

Sincerely,

Bill Sodemann

On Janesville School Board seeks union answers

Posted on July 28 at 7:26 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

moco/realist/etc: I will re-post an answer that I gave to Caddyshack on July 7th regarding payment for classes as it appears you must not have read it.

"Q3 - District Paying for PHD's for Administrators. A3 - This is true, however we do not give pay raises for getting that additional education like we do for the teachers. Exceptions would be for things like Q1 where a directors pay may be different if they have their PHD, but most would already have it. I grant you that although most administrators do not receive pay increases for getting their PHD, it does make them more marketable for future promotions etc. By the way, some changes are being considered. Teachers have to pay for their own additional education but they receive raises every time they add 6 credits. If a teacher eventually becomes an administrator (principal etc.), by that time they often already have their PHD."

It should be noted that for every 6 credits that a teacher earns, their pay increases about $1200.00 per year for the rest of their career.

factsplease: Could you please reference the comment that someone else made - that you are accusing me of not answering - so that I can provide you with the proper information. I won't be able to get to it until tomorrow, but I will do my best to respond.

Sincerely,
Bill Sodemann

On Janesville School Board seeks union answers

Posted on July 28 at 1:15 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

allfor1and1forall: You stated, "So a teacher that makes $45,000 after 12 years in the district and spending $15,000 on a masters, instead of getting $60K they get a decent self funded healthcare program for $15k".

In case it matters, the actual salary for 2011-2012 for a teacher with a Masters Degree and 12 years experience is $54,673 or almost $10,000 more than the $45,000 that you stated.

Sincerely,
Bill Sodemann

On Union leader: No concessions yet from Janesville teachers

Posted on July 7 at 5:24 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

caddyshack243: I think I may be wrong about all directors receiving the same pay. That practice gradually changed with the new admin. I do believe that at least one of our newer directors does receive less and a couple received a small bonus based upon performance. I will try to get more info on this for you. You of course are free to stop in the ESC anytime you wish and ask for information.

Final word on the QEO. Your statements certainly gave the impression that teachers salaries/benefit increases were limited to 3.8%. That would only be true if the QEO would have been invoked - which it NEVER was in Janesville.

Thanks - Bill

On Union leader: No concessions yet from Janesville teachers

Posted on July 7 at 5:07 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

caddyshack243: Brief answers are difficult, but I will do my best.

Q1 - Salaries of "rookie" administrators equal to the experienced ones they replaced. A1 - Principles are paid based upon a salary schedule that involves what level they are at (Elementary, Middle or High School and years of experience (4 categories). I believe that the directors are all paid the same as long as they have their PHD.

Q2 - Insurance Premium Adjustments. A2 - Not sure what you mean as administrators are on the same plan as the teachers. I do not know of any "rebates" given to any administrator. The custodians did "catch a break" during the previous contract because their wording involved how much the district would pay and since the cost did not go up in that year, they were able to avoid the $43.00 (approx) premium share. That has been corrected in this contract.

Q3 - District Paying for PHD's for Administrators. A3 - This is true, however we do not give pay raises for getting that additional education like we do for the teachers. Exceptions would be for things like Q1 where a directors pay may be different if they have their PHD, but most would already have it. I grant you that although most administrators do not receive pay increases for getting their PHD, it does make them more marketable for future promotions etc. By the way, some changes are being considered. Teachers have to pay for their own additional education but they receive raises every time they add 6 credits. If a teacher eventually becomes an administrator (principal etc.), by that time they often already have their PHD.

Q4- How many administrators still getting retirement bonuses? A4 - I believe you are referring to the stipends that are/were being paid. I agree with you on this. This board ended that practice a few years ago but anyone who was hired before then had that in their contract. I think about 8 people are currently receiving a stipend. My understanding was that this practice started decades ago when finding administrators was difficult. Again, we stopped this for all new hires.

FWIW - I tried to push for a pay freeze for our administrators and when that did not pass, I tried to lower the increase to 1% (much less than the teachers received). I did not do this because I dislike them in anyway - but because of economics. It should be noted that all nonrepresented staff - including all administrators are now contributing to their WRS (5.8%).

I hope I have answered your questions.

Sincerely,

Bill Sodemann

On Union leader: No concessions yet from Janesville teachers

Posted on July 5 at 7:09 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

caddyshack243: Still Wrong! If QEO capped total compensation at 3.8% then how is it possible that in most years, the total package exceeded 3.8%? QEO calculations (by law) included step movement (years of service) but not lane movement (additional education etc.). Whether or not a QEO was invoked has no bearing on what records are available. All records, including insurance, are always available and open to anyone.

You have been told wrong about the "supposed pay freeze" just like you have been told wrong about access to documents or what the QEO really was. My teachers always encouraged me to find out for myself various things and not just rely on what I am told by others. As a teacher, you should do the same.

I will be glad to address other questions when you are able to acknowledge the truth about previous ones.

Sincerely,
Bill Sodemann

On Union leader: No concessions yet from Janesville teachers

Posted on July 2 at 9:53 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

caddyshack243: No, you are wrong on this one. QEO law stated that districts could invoke a QEO (Janesville never did) as long as the offer was at least 3.8% (salary and benefits - not counting lane movement). I will be glad to show you that most of the settlements were greater than 3.8%.

The current contract was signed after QEO was abolished by Gov. Doyle but it did exceed 3.8%. Again, I will be glad to prove it to you. I even had Angel cost out the settlement using QEO methods and presented those numbers back when we were debating/voting on this.

Your claim that JEA would have accepted a pay freeze is empty as that was never offered by them. I am curious, with all of the contract language changes that were given, what else did you possibly want?

What I have stated on WCLO and other places is because of the binding arbitration laws that were in place, proposals such as a "pay freeze" would not have gone through because under the old law, even things like "local economic conditions" were not to be considered to be a primary factor to the arbitrator. That is why even though Janesville has high unemployment etc., it would not have had much of an effect on an arbitrators decision.

If you provide me your email address, I will gladly send you the info when I get back in my office next Tuesday.

I will not reveal your identity.

Sincerely,
Bill Sodemann

On Union leader: No concessions yet from Janesville teachers

Posted on July 1 at 1:19 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

While I respect and understand differences of opinion there are many things stated in these blogs that are completely false:

milton17 continues to state that there were no layoffs and that there was no shortage. The 13.4 million dollar gap was reached by using fund balance of 3.4 million and 650K of TIF money. 7 million was done by cutting about 112 full time equivalent positions (about 83 of them being teachers). The rest was done through some fee increases, cuts in textbooks, other programs and maintenance etc. It is true that some layoffs were avoided due to retirements but about 60 teachers were laid off. Milton17's statement is blatantly false.

caddyshack243 stated that under the QEO, salary and benefit increases have been frozen at 3.8%. Not true. The MINIMUM was 3.8%. In most of the years the total package was more.

As to "fearandrhetoric...", it would be a full time job just to correct all of his erroneous claims. Lately he stated that starting teachers make less than 30K per year. Not true. In 2011, the lowest amount for a full time teacher, not including any benefits or extra-curriculars etc. is more than 34K per year. He also often stated that insurance surpluses are the reason for the fund balance. While it is true that we had a couple of fortunate years a few years ago, most of the time it is near budget and when you add up the surpluses and deficits over a number of years they pretty much equal out. It should also be noted that the amount that was set for premiums has been less than what was recommended by the insurance consultants.

I will be happy to provide the documentation to verify my statements to anyone who wishes but I will not be able to be active in the blogs.

Sincerely,
Bill Sodemann

On Janesville School Board reinstates resource officers

Posted on June 14 at 10:28 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Actually the total arrests among both high schools and the 3 middle schools was almost 700!