Union says teachers' concessions rejected

The president of the Huntington school district teachers union said Tuesday that her members had offered to forgo step and raise increases for two years to save jobs and programs.

But school board president Bill Dwyer rejected the offer because, he said, it would have required a 7.5 percent property tax increase.

The budget process has been difficult because of the loss of state aid and continued mandates, Dwyer said at a meeting Monday night. He said district officials made an offer to the teachers union that would save a "substantial" number of jobs, but the union has not accepted the offer.

Yesterday, teachers union president Dee Weinstock said the union had offered its concessions in exchange for saving 43 teacher jobs, but was told no by Dwyer. She said the offer was a counterproposal to a school board request for teachers to take a 2.5 percent salary decrease, and no step increase for a year, a move that she says district Superintendent John Finello said would save 12 jobs next year.

"These teachers should take a decrease in salary, a zero, no step, and restore 12 positions, according to Mr. Finello, and then the year after they can all be let go anyway," Weinstock said. "Why would anybody do that?"

Finello could not be reached for comment.

Dwyer said he told Weinstock that the board's offer would have saved between 15 and 20 positions.

"One of the reasons we as a board did not make a multiyear offer to them was because no one knows with any degree of certainty what's going to happen financially next year," Dwyer said, "so to get locked into a deal now would not be wise financially."

At the meeting, the board adopted a revised budget of $109,037,301 for 2011-12 that comes with a 3.15 percent property tax increase and the loss of 96.4 jobs, including about 43 teachers.