Kent School Teachers, Administrators Get Along Without SB5

Is Ohio Senate Bill 5 about managing costs or busting unions?

Kent Education Assocation President Mike Walton will tell you it's about the latter.

"It has very little to do with saving money," Walton said. "Because if you wanted to save money, this bill could have been about two pages long. It’s about busting unions in the state of Ohio. And Gov. (John) Kasich won’t admit it."

The bill largely deals with limiting collective bargaining power among education, police and fire unions. While the bill proposes allowing collective bargaining for wages, hours and other working conditions, power over many of the other contract issues is granted to the governing body — either a school board, city council or other local legislative body.

The more than 300 teachers in the Kent City Schools who belong to the district's independent union are in the second year of a three-year contract. The contract expires Dec. 31, 2012.

This year, every employee in the district agreed to a wage freeze to help the district brace for the pending state budget cuts in educational funding.

Kent City Schools Treasurer Debbie Krutz said it's too early to tell if concessions will be necessary in the next round of teacher contract negotiations.

"We are waiting on what the next two-year (state) budget holds," Krutz said. "However, all indications are, and we are bracing for, potentially deep cuts in state funding. There’s indications that that’s what’s going to be happening."

If that's the case, then the union is willing to cooperate with the district, Walton said.

“We would be willing to look at whatever we needed to in the contract to be able to absorb those cuts," Walton said. "I think we’ve always been flexible with the district. On the other hand, I think the district has always been considerate of our association.”

And that's Walton's real problem with SB5.

“I think collective bargaining does work," Walton said. "My problem with SB5 is they haven’t given it a chance to work. They have this sweeping set of reforms, that if (Kasich) wants to cut all of these funds, then allow the collective bargaining system to work.

"There's this big misconception the unions always win," he said. "It doesn’t always win. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. I think most public workers realize the situation that’s going on out there and would be able to compromise on most issues and deal with those budget cuts.”

For the current contract, members of the bargaining unit on both sides of the table sat down in the fall of 2009 without mediators or attorneys and agreed on the contract terms. 

"The KEA and school district administration and board of education always have had an excellent professional relationship, based on trust and commitment to each other and to the students," Kent City Schools Superintendent Joseph Giancola said in an e-mail.

Likewise, the district negotiated last fall with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 176, which represents the district's support staff. Though both sides had attorneys present, Giancola called those negotiations "very professional and productive."

Krutz pointed to this year's wage freeze as one example of the district working together to manage its finances.

"So we are being proactive," she said. "I think it is too early to predict what’s going to come out of Columbus, so we will have to watch what happens.”