Request denied; JCTA to appeal

The latest decision in a contract dispute that has lasted more than a year came down in favor of Jay School Corporation, but the process is not over.
Jay Classroom Teacher’s Association president Paul Szymczak said this morning the group plans to appeal Marion County Superior Court’s decision Wednesday to deny its request to overturn the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board’s ruling in favor of Jay School Corporation.
“It’s just part of that process of interpreting the new laws that the state assembly has come up with,” Szymczak said. “Obviously we’re disappointed about things.
“The process now is more about the statewide implications of the court decisions, more so than it’s us against Jay School Corporation.”
The ruling followed previous decisions by a fact-finder and IEERB in favor of the school corporation.
“It’s a process,” said Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long. “At this stage we’re satisfied with the outcome.”
At issue is the 2013-14 contract between Jay School Corporation and JCTA.
It went first to a fact-finder after the sides could not come to an agreement by the Sept. 30, 2013 deadline. Fact-finder James Hoehne selected the school’s last best offer, and JCTA then appealed that decision to the IIERB. It affirmed Hoehne’s decision, which led to JCTA filing suit in Marion County Superior Court in February.
The court on Wednesday found in favor of the school corporation and IIERB.
“Petitioner has not argued or submitted evidence to this Court to overturn the Board’s finding that the school’s LBO (last best offer) was more consistent with past agreements between the parties,” the ruling said. “The Association did not, in front of the Board or this Court, argue that its LBO was the best — or even consistent with — that statutory factors.”
JCTA’s suit argued that the IEERB’s ruling in favor of the school corporation be overturned because it violated open door law; it erred not requiring Jay Schools last best offer to be based on the school budget; the last best offer did not include “salary schedule”; a provision was included that granted the superintendent the “sole authority” to set the salary of any teacher hired after the start of the 2013-14 school year; and it erred in including provisions for job sharing that should have been bargainable items.
The court rejected each of those claims.
It said the IEERB did not violate open door law and said that the IEERB was correct in concluding that financial factors “weighed heavily in favor of the school. The ruling also said a “salary chart” is not required.
“While the School and the Board acknowledge that schools must submit salary schedules to the IDOE (Indiana Department of Education), there is no requirement for schools to draft salary schedules in the form of a chart,” it said.
The ruling also noted that state statue does not prevent an LBO from including a range of salary options, whether set or to be determined by the superintendent. It added that once parties enter fact-finding, they lose the ability to collectively bargain.
Though the 2013-14 contract dispute is likely to continue, Jay School Corporation and JCTA came to an agreement in September for a contract for the current school year.
“I think our relationships with the teachers are excellent at this stage,” said Long. “I think we’ve all just kind of agreed that this is something that’s out there, but it hasn’t infiltrated how we cooperate or how we get along. Our schools are performing well.
“I think the teachers have been very professional in their approach to this process.”
Szymczak agreed with that assessment, saying the contract dispute goes beyond the local entities.
“I think we’re in a good place. From our perspective, that contract wasn’t so much about us vs. Jay Schools … The big part of it is dealing with what the general assembly has done with the new laws in terms of what can be in a contract and what doesn’t go in a contract,” he said. “I think this year our contract negotiations went much smoother. … I think we came up with a very fair contract this year.”