Dayton superintendent details disputes with teachers as strike nears

Dayton Public Schools made the rare step of taking its case to the public Tuesday, laying out the negotiating proposals of the district and teachers union in a meeting with community leaders and media, on the eve of today’s final scheduled mediation session.

Superintendent Rhonda Corr said pay is the top remaining issue, with the union asking for base pay raises of 3 percent each of the next three years, plus the retroactive pay of “step raises” that were frozen the past three years.

TIMELINE: How did Dayton schools and the teachers reach this point?

Corr said the district is offering a 3 percent raise the first year, 2 percent raises each of the next two years, and the resumption of normal step raises going forward. But she said the district cannot afford to reinstate those previous step raises from 2014-17 without going into the red financially, thus requiring a new tax levy.

“We don’t have much time left, but we are sincere about resolving this,” Corr said. “We need both parties to sit down and have an honest conversation about where we can give and where we can’t give. … We don’t have any plans right now to ask for a levy.”

Step raises complex

Step raises are pay increases given to teachers for reaching a certain number of years of experience. In their first 15 years, DPS teachers would normally get a step raise almost every year, ranging from $1,000 to $1,850 per year. So retroactively paying those frozen steps could increase a teacher’s salary by as much as $5,500.

DPS teachers’ pay was not totally frozen in the previous contract, as each teacher got a flat $1,000 to $1,100 increase each year. For many, that was less than they would have received via step raise. But others who normally wouldn’t have been eligible for a step at all got those increases.

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Teachers union President David Romick said he watched the livestream of the meeting and had no comment except that that union is “investigating our options going forward.”

The parties are scheduled to meet again today with federal mediator John Gray. Monday’s session lasted until 10 p.m., but Corr said it was less productive than Thursday’s session.

Details of the talks

Until Tuesday, the parties had not released extensive details of their proposals, limiting public comments to general statements about the issues being discussed.

But Corr showed slides on a big screen, detailing how DPS wanted teachers to be available for bus, recess and cafeteria duty all year, where the union proposed doing so for only three quarters.

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The district wanted teachers to spend 30 more minutes teaching core content, where the union asked for that to be the teachers’ time to start and wrap up their day.

The union asked for teachers to get a one-time $2,000 bonus, where the board countered with three extra personal days. And the union asked for vision insurance to be included, where the district said it could only make it a voluntary option at the union member’s expense.

New pay dispute

Just minutes before Tuesday’s meeting, the union sent a message to members that it appeared DPS would withhold teachers’ regular paychecks Friday, calling that “an egregious position.”

DPS Treasurer Hiwot Abraha and attorney Jyllian Bradshaw confirmed that was true. Bradshaw cited language in the Ohio Revised Code that, “No public employee is entitled to pay or compensation from the public employer for the period engaged in any strike.”

The union has said if an agreement is not reached Thursday, its members will go on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

RELATED: A deeper look at the contract dispute

The union’s message to members called the move “a last-ditch attempt to break the strike,” and said the union is pursuing all legal and contractual remedies available.

The question appears to be how any pay delivered on Friday would be defined. Most non-school workers are paid on a Friday for two previous weeks of work. But most teachers are paid every two weeks year-round, for work in a nine-month span.

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