By Mike Myslinski
With the state's fourth-largest school district claiming to be nearly broke and threatening to reduce health benefits and lay off hundreds of teachers, the 4,500-member Fresno Teachers Association is fighting back on several fronts.
An FTA fraud hotline number to expose waste in the Fresno Unified School District and a high-powered FTA audit of the district are just the start.
One of the recent dire predictions for the district is that it will have to make $35 million in cuts to balance its $880 million budget for 2005-06 and could face a takeover by the state. Cuts could include laying off 400 teachers and gutting several programs, including all sports.
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The Fresno Teachers Association is trying to identify ways in which the district is losing money by operating a 24-hour-a-day hotline and website through which whistleblowers can report instances of fraud, theft and waste without revealing their identity |
Soaring health benefit costs are mainly to blame, according to the interim superintendent.
But teachers are concerned that the real truth — the district's record of sloppy financial practices — is not reaching the parents of the district's 81,000 students and the rest of the community, says FTA President Larry Moore.
"In past years, this district has made dire predictions that have proven to be untrue," says Moore. "We know this district is having some problems, but we feel many stem from mismanagement. The district began this fiscal year with a balance of over $18 million, and we won't let it balance its books on the backs of teachers and students."
Taking actions in recent months to support their fight for fair salary and benefits at the bargaining table, Fresno teachers:
- Held a news conference in October to reveal that one of the district's own auditing consultants found waste in the district's prescription drug benefit program for employees. A lack of oversight caused the district to pay too much for the drug program, costing the district millions of dollars.
- Brought in a Maryland certified public accounting firm to conduct an FTA-financed audit of the district.
- Unveiled their own school waste hotline number, (800) 493-8603, and whistle-blower website [www.schoolwastehotline.com] at a November news conference. "This audit is a huge step, but we want to get the facts from an independent source," says Moore. "Teachers deserve the truth. There's a real credibility problem with this district."
- Proposed a joint labor-management health trust to monitor and improve the health benefits program. "Allowing professionals to make their own choices and decide how health benefits will be managed makes perfect sense," says Moore. "We want teachers and other district employees to have an equal vote with management on benefits."
- Filed unfair labor practice charges with the state's Public Employment Relations Board. Among other things, the chapter accuses the district of not providing adequate information to FTA about the current health benefits program and of delivering to the school board for approval last spring a draft of a new FTA contract, instead of a slightly different final version approved by FTA members.
- Elected on Nov. 2 two of the three teacher-friendly school board candidates endorsed by FTA.
The chapter is also planning a massive community organizing campaign on education issues in the coming months.
"We are doing all we can to make sure the district makes its decisions based on real facts," says Moore. "This district has made enough cuts to education programs in recent years. We must make sure the district gets its priorities straight so it can continue to recruit and retain quality teachers in the years ahead."
