1. Master Contract Tentative Agreement 2019/20 and 2020/21
FWEA and FWCS Tentative Contract Agreement
Presented for ratification to the fwea on Sept. 19th and 20th 2019 

2. Background
In Indiana, contracts may be bargained for one-year or two-year terms—we bargain two-year contracts aligned with the state’s biennial budget cycle.
Over the past decade, the state has legislated various and ever-changing regulations regarding teacher pay, at one point even making the traditional salary schedule illegal.
The state provided a brief window of opportunity for school districts to bring back a limited type of salary schedule a few years ago—this is why our “levels” are letters (A, B, C etc.) that don’t exactly represent of years of service.
Many districts around the state still do not have a salary schedule.

3. 2019 Survey Results
In a survey, teachers identified their top issues for bargaining:
Compensation for class coverage (taking on sub duties)
Additional and/or more flexible benefit days
Increase to base salaries
Increase “buy-back” value of benefit days

4. Contract Updates for 2019
Reformat overall document for consistency with all FWCS labor contracts
Edit specific definitions for compliance with Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB) requirements and to remove redundancy
Language changes/additions regarding conversion of personal illness days to family illness days, selling back benefit days, Sick Bank, retirement year bonus, and compensation for class coverage when no sub is available
Merge Workplace Specialists into the teacher salary schedule and eliminate Workplace Specialist scale
Increase base salaries AND increase increment between steps on salary schedule

5. Proposed Change: Content-area master’s degree definition
Old language: A Master’s Degree in an IDOE-defined content area directly related to the subject matter of any FWCS course taught by the teacher who possesses the degree, in compliance with IC (b) and approved by the Superintendent.
New language: A content-area masters degree is a master’s degree in a content area directly related to the subject matter of any FWCS course taught by the teacher who possesses the degree, including a master’s degree in elementary education, if approved by the Superintendent or designee. Teachers are required to receive prior approval from Human Resources if they would like to receive compensation for the master’s degree. The master’s degree must be from an accredited college or university.

6. Proposed Change: Converting additional personal illness to family illness days
Paid Leave Family Illness Hours a. no change to language – still three family illness days each school year that carry over to the following year up to a maximum of 72 hours (9 days) b. A teacher who has used all family illness hours shall be allowed to use 24 forty (40) personal illness hours (five days) per school year to accommodate family illness. c. moved to “General Provisions” in Article 3: “Any teacher who is absent from school under a paid absence category of this contract shall not lose pay for hours from the paid category involved if the school(s) is/are closed by the Board and as long as a substitute was not paid for the day.”

7. Proposed Change: Selling back benefit days and impact on Sick Bank
Reimbursement for Unused Leave: any unused personal illness, family illness, or personal business hours may be sold back at $40 per day (previously $25 per day) up to a maximum of 120 hours per school year.
There is no longer any impact on the number of Sick Bank days a person may utilize in a year following the selling back of benefit days (previously, selling back personal business hours limited Sick Bank to 15 days the following year).
If at least 190 teachers do not utilize reimbursed leave during the school year, the reimbursement for unused leave will revert back to $25 per day for the school year.

8. Proposed Change: Retirement year bonus
Teachers who:
i. Provide official retirement notification by February 1;
ii. complete the school year; and
iii. Use five percent (5%) or less of their accumulated benefit days in the retirement year
will be paid two five (5) percent of that teacher’s individual base salary following completion of the school year . . .

9. Proposed Addition: Compensation for class coverage when no sub is available
PILOT PROGRAM (beginning Oct. 1, 2019 and ending June 20, 2021)
Teachers will receive compensation when they give up District-designated preparation periods (planning time) for class coverage due to the absence of another teacher.
Elementary teachers will receive additional compensation when principals place additional students in their classes due to the absence of another teacher.
Time accumulated during a school year will be paid in four-hour increments (half day) valued at $ Time accumulated will round down to the nearest four-hour increment—less than four hours of accumulated time will not qualify for reimbursement.

10. How compensation for class coverage will be paid
Compensation for class coverage will be paid in June at the end of the school year. Only teachers who remain employed on the last day of the school year are eligible to receive compensation for accumulated classroom coverage.
* * *
The details regarding how teachers are to track their hours when covering for another teacher will be shared prior to Oct. 1 – since schools should have already been tracking who was covering where at what time, it shouldn’t be an overly burdensome process for teachers to submit accumulating coverage hours for an end-of-the-year reimbursement.

11. No change to complex schools
PEER grant funded focus on improving achievement in the district's lowest performing schools; the grant funds commitment bonuses, retention bonuses, and five additional work days paid at $45.00 per hour
Full-time teacher one-time commitment bonus: $1,500 ($750 part-time)
Full-time teacher retention bonus: $2,000 ($1,000 part-time)
Bonuses to be paid no later than Sept. 30 each year (through Sept. 2022)
Must have an observation rating of effective or highly effective, work for at least 120 days during a school year, and remain employed as of the date bonuses are paid to qualify

12. List of Complex Schools
Elementary schools
    Middle and high schools
Abbett                         Northcrest
Adams                         Scott Academy
Bloomingdale             South Wayne
Fairfield                       Study
Forest Park                 Washington
      Kekionga                    North Side
    Lakeside                     South Side
    Lane                            Wayne (traditional)
    Miami
    Northwood
    Portage
    Shawnee

13. Reminders from Reopener: Pay for dual credit certification and mentor teacher pilot
Dual credit teachers (and teachers scheduled to teach dual credit between now and September of 2022) who need to complete additional graduate credits or a Master’s Degree in order to meet the Higher Learning Commissions new requirements to teach dual credit classes will receive a $3,500 bonus upon completion of the required coursework (by September of 2022). 
Mentor Teacher positions have been added at several non-complex schools for the school year as part of a Career Ladder pilot program ($3, annual stipend)

14. State Funding

15. FWCS Funding Breakdown
Estimated
Increase
ADM
Education Fund
New Money
Row
Increase to
Average
per pupil
Tuition Support
Movement
Base Row
(all rows)
$6,557
n/a
28,479
$186,736,803
$1,100
$6,700
2.20%
est.
28,600
$191,620,000
$4,883,197
$1,175
2.50%
5.30%
additional*
0.80%
$1,585,000
combined
3.00%
$193,205,000
$6,468,197
$6,771
1.10%
$193,650,600
$445,600
1.50%
2.80%
New $ total:
$6,913,797
Estimated Total Increase Over Two Years (including fringe)
$5,620,449
(5.3% ave)
$3,155,513
(2.8% ave)
TOTAL
$8,775,962
*additional support provided by reduced employer contribution to teacher retirement fund
Two-year estimate is based on schedule—estimate with attrition savings is $8,196,836

16. Overview of Salary Schedule Updates
Move Workplace Specialists to the Bachelor’s Schedule and eliminate the Workplace Specialist schedule
2.5% increase to base pay for the school year
1.5% increase to base bay for the school year
Increase step amount to $1,175
Teachers at the maximum row will see an increase to their base salary in each of the two contract years
Considering the percentage increase to base AND the increase in the step amount, most teachers will see an individual salary increase of over 5% this school year.

17. Workplace Specialists transition to the Bachelor’s Schedule
Transition: Move to the salary row immediately higher than current salary to make the initial transition.
This transition puts you on a new A – T level. Pay attention to your new placement level—this is the initial transition to the Bachelor’s scale; you will still advance one row for this year’s salary if you were effective or highly effective last year.

18. Workplace Specialists salary progression
Salary Progression: “All teachers who satisfy the evaluation factor will advance one row on the Schedule.”
So remember what level you transitioned to when you moved to the Bachelor’s schedule, then move down one row in the 2019/20 column if you were effective or highly effective last year.
2019/20
2020/21 A
40,078
40,679 B
41,253
41,854 C
42,428
43,029 D
43,603
44,204 E
44,778
45,379 F
45,953
46,554 G
47,128
47,729 H
48,303
48,904 I
49,478
50,079 J
50,653
51,254 K
51,828
52,429 L
53,003
53,604 M
54,178
54,779 N
55,353
55,954 O
56,528
57,129 P
57,703
58,304 Q
58,878
59,479 R
60,053
60,654 S
61,228
61,829 T
62,403
63,004

19. Year-to-Year Bachelor’s Schedule
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21 A
39,100
40,078
40,679 B
40,200
41,253
41,854 C
41,300
42,428
43,029 D
42,400
43,603
44,204 E
43,500
44,778
45,379 F
44,600
45,953
46,554 G
45,700
47,128
47,729 H
46,800
48,303
48,904 I
47,900
49,478
50,079 J
49,000
50,653
51,254 K
50,100
51,828
52,429 L
51,200
53,003
53,604 M
52,300
54,178
54,779 N
53,400
55,353
55,954 O
54,500
56,528
57,129 P
55,600
57,703
58,304 Q
56,700
58,878
59,479 R
57,800
60,053
60,654 S
58,900
61,228
61,829 T
60,000
62,403
63,004
Year-to-Year Bachelor’s
Schedule
To transition from 2018/19 to 2019/20:
Staying on same row, move over to 2019/20 column
Move down one row
For 2020/21, the over-and-down process is the same.
Remember: Only teachers with a final rating of Effective or Highly Effective are eligible for salary increases per state law.

20. Year-to-Year Master’s Schedule
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21 A
40,341
40,946 B
41,516
42,121 C
41,650
42,691
43,296 D
42,750
43,866
44,471 E
43,850
45,041
45,646 F
44,950
46,216
46,821 G
46,050
47,391
47,996 H
47,150
48,566
49,171 I
48,250
49,741
50,346 J
49,350
50,916
51,521 K
50,450
52,091
52,696 L
51,550
53,266
53,871 M
52,650
54,441
55,046 N
53,750
55,616
56,221 O
54,850
56,791
57,396 P
55,950
57,966
58,571 Q
57,050
59,141
59,746 R
58,150
60,316
60,921 S
59,250
61,491
62,096 T
60,350
62,666
63,271 U
61,450
63,841
64,446 V
62,550
65,016
65,621 W
63,650
66,191
66,796 X
64,750
67,366
67,971 Y
65,850
68,541
69,146 Z
66,950
69,716
70,321 AA
68,050
70,891
71,496
Year-to-Year Master’s
Schedule
To transition from 2018/19 to 2019/20:
Staying on same row, move over to 2019/20 column
Move down one row
For 2021, the over-and-down process is the same
Remember: Only teachers with a final rating of Effective or Highly Effective are eligible for salary increases per state law.

21. Salary Schedule Example
Bachelor’s Schedule – Starting from Row E in 2018/19
2018/ / /21 E
43,500
44,778
45,379 F
44,600
45,953
46,554 G
45,700
47,128
47,729
2019/20 salary will be $45,953 (an increase of $2,453 over the previous year) E
44,778
45,379 F
45,953
46,554 G
47,128
47,729
2020/21 salary will be $47,729 (an increase of $4,229 over the two year span of the contract).

22. Health Insurance 2019/20 This year, there is a 2% increase
No change in insurance plan
No change in incentive program
Reminder: last year there was no increase to health insurance premiums
This year, there is a 2% increase
Statewide, most increases this year are between five and six percent

23. SUMMARY Language Updates
The definition of a content area master’s degree now includes a master’s in elementary education
The number of personal illness days that may be converted to family illness days has increased from three days to five days
Reimbursement for unused personal illness, family illness or personal business days has increased from $25 to $40, and selling these days no longer has any impact on the number of Sick Bank days a person is qualified to use
The retirement “bonus” for notifying the District by Feb. 15 and not using more than 5% of accumulated benefit days has increased from 2% to 5% of the retiring teacher’s annual salary.
SUMMARY
Language Updates

24. SUMMARY New language about compensation for covering classes
There is a two-year pilot program to compensate teachers for covering classes for an absent teacher. This includes:
covering a class during designated preparation periods (planning time); and
when classes are split between teachers in elementary schools
Coverage time will accumulate at $50 per every four hours covered, and payment will be in June at the end of the school year.
SUMMARY New language about compensation for covering classes

25. SUMMARY Salary Increases
Workplace Specialists move to the Bachelor’s Salary Schedule
2.5% increase to base pay for the school year
1.5% increase to base bay for the school year
Increase step amount to $1,175
Teachers at the maximum row will see an increase to their base salary in each of the two contract years
When factoring in both the % increase and the increased step amount, most teachers will be taking home 5% - 6% more this year than last, with an additional 2% to 4% increase the following year
SUMMARY Salary Increases

26. Tentative Ratification Schedule
FWEA presentation and voting 9/19/ and 9/20/19
If ratified by teachers, the School Board will present the contract for public comment (as required by new legislation) at the Board Meeting on 9/23/19
The Board may then vote to accept the new contract at the next Board meeting on Oct. 14
Tentative Ratification Schedule