IMPASSE NEGOTIATIONS UNDER S-170I:

TALKING POINTS TO USE WITH YOUR NEUTRALS

All neutrals (including the mediator, factfinder and superconciliator) assigned to help resolve your negotiations impasse will need to be well-informed and well-aware of the impact of S-1701 on school districts budgeting process and practices. As unions will take the position that nothing has changed and that boards will continue to conduct business as usual, educating the neutral will be the exclusive responsibility of the boards bargaining team. The following outline is designed to help you meet the challenge of educating your neutral(s) so that they fully understand and appreciate the new circumstances that surround your ability to fund a negotiated settlement.

GENERAL APPROACH TO EDUCATING YOUR NEUTRAL:

Keep in mind that your goal is to convince the neutral that the rules of the game have changed.

Use a multi-faceted approach that combines written information, verbal explanations, examples, and specific information of situations that your district has, or will, experience.

Restate and rephrase your points frequently throughout the process.

Remember to use these points when rejecting union positions and possible solutions offered by your neutral.

Rely on the expertise of your Business Administrator to obtain accurate information on how S-1701 has affected your school district.

Be prepared to provide accurate answers to specific questions, or issues, raised by the neutral. If you do not have the information at your fingertips, tell the neutral that you will get the requested data and will provide it at a later date. Follow through!

SPECIFIC STEPS

Provide Your Neutral With A Written Summary Of The Laws Provisions. A good summary of the law and its impact are posted on the NJSBAs web page at www.njsba.org/1701 (Click Here for access to the information.) You can present that document to the neutral or, preferably, use the document to create your own with a particular focus on your local issues and concerns.

Highlight the fact that this is still a work-in-progress. Point out the areas of continued uncertainties surrounding the laws implementation (such as what will be seen as permissible transfers) that still are undefined and will be clarified in the future by adoption of code or written guidelines from the Department of Education. Explain how this environment of uncertainty, heightened state scrutiny, and potential penalties of non-compliance affect your ability to do business as usual.

Supplement The Written Document With Verbal Summaries And Explanations. Be sure that you are well informed and well prepared to stress the following points:

E The new conditions that have changed the rules of the game. The provisions of law do not permit you to conduct business as usual. Stress the fact that this is a legislated directive, involving state oversight and monitoring, that eliminates your prior discretion.

E The serious and significant limits on the amount maintained in surplus. Restate the states limitations. Tell your neutral (many times!) if your district had to revise its 2004-2005 budget because of excess surplus. Explain the difficulties of predicting your surplus amount for 2005-2006.

E The significant limitations in transferring surplus funds to budgeted line-items. Explain how transfers of funds helped your district manage allocations in the past and how your discretion has been severely reduced and is now subject to scrutiny by the County Superintendent and the Commissioner of Education.

E The significant limitations in transferring funds among line items of the budget. Stress the complications of the new conditions, the increased scrutiny, and the need for approval from the Commissioner. Explain how, under the new conditions, continued reliance on the assumption that the district has hidden moneys earmarked for increased salaries is now an outdated and obsolete notion.

E The reduction in budget caps. Explain the new cap limitations and its impact on your districts budget.

E The CPI and budget caps. Since budget caps can be set at the CPI, your budget cap could be higher than 2.5% (and even greater than the prior 3% permissible increase.) Be prepared to explain that:

- the unions demand for an increase that is based on the CPI should not be entertained, since the CPI includes increased costs of health insurance premiums which are not paid by your employees, but are largely (or fully) paid by the board; and

- other fixed costs (such as insurance premiums, special education, oil and gasoline) are rising at a higher rate than the CPI

E The inability to float second ballot questions Explain how you no longer can seek additional sources of funding through the use of second ballot questions.

E Comparative data under S-1701 Stress (repeatedly) why settlements reached before, or soon after, the enactment of the new law are not comparable as they were negotiated under a different set of rules. Continue to reject comparisons to those settlements and, if inclined to consider the going rate, define your own basis for valid basis for comparisons.

E State scrutiny and penalties Explain the increasing degree of scrutiny and negative impact of the penalties for noncompliance.

E Your inability to agree to any settlement that will endanger your educational program or your ability to maintain safe and healthy facilities.

ADDITIONAL POINTS FOR IMPASSES WITH ADMINISTRATORS UNITS

In addition to points listed above, S-1701 raises the following new conditions that affect boards ability to budget the costs of school administrators. The following points should be made in impasses involving administrators bargaining units.

E Limitations on Per Pupil Administrative Costs.

E County superintendents authorization to reject districts 2005-2006 budgets.

E Impact in 2006 2007 and beyond.

(Specific details concerning the states regulations over increases in administrative costs can be found at www.njsba.org . Click here for access to that information.

Be prepared to reenforce these points through out the process. Remember that your goal is to persuade your neutral that business as usual is no longer permitted under the new law. Essentially, this means that you will need to change the neutrals understandings and perceptions of how boards have funded settlements in the past. Therefore, it will be important for you to continuously cite the ways in which your discretion has been eroded by the new law and to refocus the neutral on your current realities. If you should reach the factfinding stage and the need to submit a brief in support of your position, be sure to include specific information on the provisions and impact of S-1701.