The Warsaw Community School Board of Trustees met yesterday for a special board meeting to discuss the adoption of the 2014-2015 collective bargaining agreement between Warsaw Community Education Association and Warsaw Community Schools as well as as the 2015 Warsaw Transportation Fund Maximum Levy Appeal Resolution.

According to WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert, the master contract went before the Warsaw Community Education Association and was passed with a vote of 238 to one. The contract covers all salary, wages and wage related benefits paid by WCS and will be considered “in effect” from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

Hoffert noted that pay increases will be determined by taking evaluation (worth five units), leadership (worth one unit), and experience and education (each worth 2 units). Hoffert noted that the criteria for pay increases is decided by the state with schools able to pick from a list. Each point assigned for pay increase criteria is equal to $37.50 on an employee’s base salary.

According to the contract, eligible teachers may earn up to eight units. Teachers receiving an “ineffective” or “needs improment” rating on the WCS RISE Evaluation Model are not eligible to earn units. Teachers rated as “effective” or “highly effective” are eligible for a total of five units under the evaluation critera. Teachers who have been employed for 120 or more days are eligible for two units via the experience criteria with teachers who actively participated in a professional learning community (PLC) eligible for one unit.

Hoffert noted that in addition to pay increases, performance grants, which come from the state, are outlined in the contract to determine where teachers rank on their evaluation process.

The board approved the collective bargaining agreement as presented with a vote of 7-0. The agreement will now go before the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board for review. To view the 2014-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, click here.

WCS Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott took a moment to outline the 2015 Warsaw Transportation Fund Maximum Levy Appeal Resolution, which has been adopted in response to cover the affordable care act.

“To comply we are required to offer medical benefits to a number of people in transportation,” explained Scott. “As we work through the documentations required for the appeal we discovered they required a resolution. So this resolution included is their format. Its just one of the data components required of us.”

According to the resolution, the school corporation is requesting an increase to its transportation fund maximum levy in the amount of $240,740.

“This would actually allow for an adjustment larger than the inflation adjustment that they provide,” explained Scott. “It would have about a 1 cent impact on tax rate, assuming that they approve it. As you work through their formula, they give us the mathematical formula to calculate it, they only let us appeal for about 68 percent of the cost of the affordable care act is going to be. This is just Warsaw Schools trying to mitigate some of that additional cost.

“The transportation fund is limited by the inflation factor on the revenue side. This year, 2.7 percent is what they would allow the revenue to go up. We have a unique situation so we are asking for consideration to go beyond that by the $240,740 that we advertised and again, that will only cover two-thirds of the cost,” noted Scott.

“I’d like it to be known that the reason we have to do this is to cover the affordable care act,” stated Dan Metzger, WCS board member.

The board voted to adopt the resolution, which can be viewed here, by a vote of 6 with one abstained.