BALLOTS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY TUESDAY.

Dear NESPA Colleague,

This Tuesday, August 18 is the last day to vote in the Primary. There are at least 2 key races whose outcome will impact Northshore educators and our community.

For NORTHSHORE SCHOOL BOARD, all 3 educator groups—NSEA (teachers), NESPA, and NEOPA (office staff)---recommend JULIA LACEY. She will bring a much-needed fresh perspective to our School Board. Info here http://northshoreea.blogspot.com/2009/06/nsd-school-board-primary-lacey.html and here http://www.julialacey4nsd.com/ . Please tell your family and friends, as they’d probably want to know who Northshore educators support.

For COUNTY EXECUTIVE, WEA members from throughout King County interviewed the candidates, and WEA is recommending both Dow Constantine http://dowconstantine.org/index.php and Larry Phillips http://larryphillips.com/welcome/. You can get important info on this race---including the other candidates at http://www.ourvoicewashingtonea.org/recommendations/kingcoexec.php . This site explains what educators have to gain and lose in this race.

Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday.

It’s a democracy. Be sure your voice and vote count. Elections matter.

Kraig Peck

Benefits

Open enrollment started yesterday, August 10, and continues through September 10. Benefit changes will be effective on October 1. If you are interested in enrolling in the Section 125 plan, a representative from American Fidelity will be available in the Administration Center from 9-3 during open enrollment dates.

We are encouraged to attend the Benefit Q&A on September 1 from 2:30-5:30 at the Administration Center, Ricketts Board Room. There will be someone there to answer all your questions and assist with filling out forms.

2009-2010 NESPA board

Your 2009-2010 NESPA board is already hard at work planning for a great new school year. They are:

Co-Presidents: Deb Murphy (nurse, Woodin)
Marge Mitchell (CSS, Bothell)
Vice President: Bharati Khandekar (special ed para, Bothell)
Treasurer: Suzanne Ducotey (special ed para, Woodmoor)
Secretary: Karen Kohler (STS, Hollywood Hill)
Nurse Rep: Rosemarie Dunlop (Frank Love)
Special Ed Rep: Judy Ellis (SAS)
Special Ed Rep: Donna Smith, (NJH)
Special Ed Rep: Lucy Antonio (Kokanee)
Special Ed Rep: Liz Gordon (Woodmoor)
School Tech Rep: Karen Kohler (STS, Hollywood Hill)
Title/LAP Rep: Joanne Allen (LAP, CPJH)
Ell Rep Elem: Janice Seino (ELL tutor, Lockwood)
ELL Rep Secon: Suzanne Fujinari (ELL tutor, NJH)
Jeani Schwenk (Interpreter, WM)

Elect your School Board!

THE SCHOOL BOARD PRIMARY ELECTION IS HAPPENING NOW THROUGH AUGUST 18! ELECT YOUR SCHOOL BOARD!

We've all received a ballot in the mail for Northshore's School Board elections. The School Board governs the District, makes budget decisions, and is the group that decides what the District will agree to when we negotiate to improve the quality of Northshore's education and to improve our work lives.

We have until Tuesday, August 18 to return our ballot.

NESPA, along with NSEA and NEOPA, is recommending support for JULIA LACEY, who is running against 3 others. NESPA leaders, along with NSEA and NEOPA leaders, interviewed candidates, reviewed questionnaires, and reviewed the incumbent's record. They worked hard to determine who would best serve Northshore and decided that JULIA LACEY is the best candidate for Position #1. She is the only candidate we are recommending in the Primary.

Below is a statement from Julia and a link to her website: http://www.julialacey4nsd.com/. Please ask your family and friends to vote for Julia Lacey!

NSEA, NESPA, NEOPA School Board Candidate Questionnaires
Click on the name of the candidate below to see how they responded to our questionnaire:

District 1
Sue Buske
Arthur Hu
Julia Lacey - recommended by NSEA, NESPA, NEOPA)
Jeff Warrick

District 2
Todd Banks
Cathy Swanson

Click here to see all candidate responses to the NSEA/NESPA/NEOPA questionnaire. Note: Sandy Hayes is running unopposed for District No. 4. NSEA/NESPA/NEOPA leaders did not ask Ms. Hayes to complete a questionnaire, nor was she interviewed. NSEA/NESPA/NEOPA will meet with Ms. Hayes this fall.

Message from School Board Candidate, Julia Lacey -

Northshore Teachers, Staff, and Nurses:

My name is Julia Lacey. I am emailing to tell you that I am running for a director position on the Northshore School Board and to ask for your support. I came to my decision to run because of my experience as a teacher and deep commitment to this community. I know I have a lot to contribute and would be a strong school board member.

I am very appreciative of the endorsements that I have already received from the employee professional associations: NSEA, NEOPA and NESPA and hope to continue fostering a strong, open relationship with them once elected.

How to support my campaign:

Vote for me, twice! Once you receive your primary ballot, those of you that live in the district, please vote for me. Historically, few people vote in primaries so every vote is very important. Assuming I win the primary, I'll need you to do it again for the November General Election.

Spread the word. Tell everyone you know about the Northshore School Board election, the August primary, and ask them to vote for me. Forward this email to anyone you know that lives in Northshore and who values education.

Get Involved. There will be opportunities to help with phone-calling, door-belling, and putting up signs. Any support is always appreciated.

Please go to my website to read more about why I am running, my experience, and what I would bring to the board at www.julialacey4nsd.com.

Thank you for your support,
Julia Lacey
Candidate for Northshore School Board, District #1

RA was last month in Spokane - here are Liz Gordon's thoughts -

"My first RA. Big, lots of people and things to see. The people were very friendly and helpful. I arrived Thursday evening, exhausted from a cold and wanted to sleep. I had been told to register right away. I dragged myself across the hotel entryway, to the convention center. What a difference! People greeting me, offers of help, smiles and nods. I managed to get my delegate badge and stumbled off to bed. My fellow ESP delegates, Deb Murphy (also my roomie), Donna Smith and Bharati Khandekar were so incredible and friendly. The Assembly was a real eye opener. Very correct about parliamentary procedure but all items were discussed openly and then voted on. I was excited about some of the issues and really listened to the speakers. I had polled most of Woodmoor's paras on the issues. I wanted to really represent their opinions. It was valuable and I certainly learned a lot. It would be great to go back next year."

Good News!

As you may recall, in our negotiations with the administration last year and during the summer, we sought to enable NESPA members to elect a representative to their schools' Leadership Teams. At the time, the administration would not agree to this addition to our Collective Bargaining Agreement. They argued that the Leadership Teams are a creation of the NSEA-District Collective Bargaining Agreement, and they agreed to meet with NESPA, NSEA, and NEOPA together to discuss what to do.

As a result of these discussions, NSEA, NESPA, and NEOPA and the District administration have agreed to a process by which the certificated staff (NSEA members) at each school can choose to vote to modify their contract to permit the NESPA and NEOPA members to elect one joint representative to the school's Leadership Team.

Essentially, certificated staff (NSEA members) would need to vote by a 90% margin (or 80% if accommodations are made to those who don't agree) to waive Article 17.4 of their contract. Article 17.4 defines who is on each Leadership Team. Currently, classified staff are not included on the Leadership Team unless the certificated staff have submitted a waiver. (Woodinville High School and Woodmoor Elementary are schools that have long had a representative of the NESPA staff on their Leadership Teams.)

If NSEA members wish to vote on this waiver, a vote is conducted by the NSEA Building Reps and the Principal. (There is no requirement that this be considered and voted on, however, NSEA members would need to initiate this. Generally, waiver requests are initiated by the NSEA Building Reps or the school's Leadership Team, though any NSEA member can initiate a waiver.) Only NSEA members vote on the issue of waiving a portion of the NSEA contract. The NSEA staff is also free to modify this waiver request, that is, to customize it. However, if it is changed, it would need approval by NSEA and the administration.

If the NSEA staff vote for this waiver by the margins specified above, "...the NESPA Building Communicator and the NEOPA Building Representative shall jointly conduct a fair election process, including open nominations and secret balloting by NESPA and NEOPA bargaining unit members." Those are the only conditions. Together with the NEOPA Building Rep., you'd decide how to conduct this fair election for the school's Leadership Team, to begin next year. (You are free to consult with us on ideas for how to do this, if you wish. There is not "one right way". By "open nominations", we mean any process that enables any NESPA or NEOPA member to be nominated or self-appointed---not a process of self-selection or appointment by the Principal to the Leadership Team.)

The role of the Leadership Team (technically called the Site Decision Making Leadership Team) is important. They make many important decisions for the school. They are a decision-making team, not an input or advisory team. If your certificated staff agree to this waiver of Article 17.4 of their contract, and you are going to conduct an election for a NESPA/NEOPA representative, be sure that the NESPA members get a copy of the full Article 17, so they understand what the Leadership Team does.

If you think it's a good idea for NESPA and NEOPA members to have representation on your school's Leadership Team, talk with the NSEA Building Reps at your school, or your school's Leadership Team---or other NSEA members---to encourage them to proceed with this. (If you don't know who the NSEA Building Reps are, just ask a teacher.)

Keep in mind that there is nothing you have to do unless the NSEA staff vote for this waiver. However, you are free to communicate your wishes to others, and to encourage your colleagues who are NSEA members to proceed with this.

At this time, we are unsure if there is a June 8 deadline for all of this. We should be able to clarify this later this week, and Kraig will email us.

Are school budget cuts and layoffs coming?

By Kraig Peck, WEA Uniserve staff person for NESPA and NSEA

Here's what we know. And here's what you can do to make the best of a bad situation.

STATE INCOME IS WAAAAAY DOWN.
Because of the decline in spending and real estate sales, State tax income is way down. That's what's behind the $8 billion (which may become as large as $9 billion) State budget shortfall. That's out of a total general fund (operations) budget of about $36 billion. It's a huge loss of revenue.

Washington, like most states, is being hit hard. But because of Washington's major reliance on the sales tax (and another tax similar to the sales tax - the Business and Occupations tax - which is a tax on the gross sales of businesses), Washington is hit harder.

We are one of six states without an income tax (Florida, Texas, Nevada, Tennessee, and South Dakota). Washington's sales tax revenue is very unstable, and declines precipitously in hard times - when the funds are most needed. (Also, our single reliance on a high sales tax means that average and low income people pay taxes of a much higher proportion of our income, compared to high income families).

Our State Constitution makes education the "paramount duty of the State". Yet we are 45th in the nation in per pupil expenditures! Though the State cannot cut what the Legislature inadequately defines as "basic education", they can cut plenty of education funding that is not defined as such - for example, Initiative 728 class size funding, our COLA's, our health care benefits, etc.

We need our Legislators to put a "revenue package" - a tax package - on the ballot for voter approval. Without additional revenues, we will be facing huge cuts.

* Please contact your legislators (again - if you already have) and the Governor. Tell them, "NOW IS THE TIME TO INVEST IN EDUCATION - NOT CUT IT." It's easy. Go to www.ourvoicewashingtonea.org or call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Either one will tell you who your Legislators are.

* When you are asked in March to sign a form, contributing $2.25 per month to WEA-Political Action Committee, it's a good investment. It's how we collectively provide support to candidates - Democratic and Republican - who support decent school funding. All of us must become advocates - for each other and for our students.

OBAMA'S STIMULUS LEGISLATION WILL HELP.
The increase of major federal education programs for Washington will be $1.72 billion - over two years. Here's how it breaks down:

The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund will be $1 billion for two years. (Some of this can go to programs other than K-12 funding.) In addition, Title I will generate $133 million and IDEA (special education) will generate $219 million over two years. School improvement grants will grow by $44.5 million.

The question now is how these funds will be distributed. In order to receive these funds, states will have to meet certain standards as will school districts. The Supt. of Public Instruction is working on this now.

These funds will save the jobs of thousands of educators and services to students, but considering that K-12 education is 40% of the State budget, it is not enough to make up for the revenue losses described above.

NSD'S BUDGET PRIORITIES WILL BE DECIDED SOON.
The School Board is seeking public input into budget priorities in case cuts are necessary. We have been told that they will ask you to prioritize about 40 specific programs/budget line items. Your input might make a difference in the outcome.

* Tuesday, March 3, Woodinville High School 7-9 PM Cafeteria
Tuesday, March 10, Bothell High School 7-9 PM Cafeteria
Tuesday, March 17, Inglemoor High School 7-9 PM Cafeteria

The Board is projecting a loss of another 183 students next year, in addition to a loss of almost 700 students since 2005-2006. No school district can indefinitely maintain its level of services without reducing costs in the face of substantial enrollment declines. Whether we like it or not, NSD needs to look at school closures, or cuts in educators and loss of services to students will result. The District has been making cuts in administration and facilities support for years.

We are carefully reviewing the budget and monitoring the situation to ensure that no unnecessary cuts are made. Last year, cuts were made to nurses, library assistants, and school office staff, even th0ugh there was no immediate budget need. (Our budget forecast was more accurate than the administration's!) Stay informed and get involved!

IF THERE ARE LAYOFFS, WHEN WILL WE KNOW?
After the Legislative Session ends (end of April is likely), the Board will review the situation. The Board will make its preliminary decisions on staffing levels for classified (including NESPA and NEOPA) and Certificated (NSEA) staff at the Board Meeting on Tuesday, May 26 at 7 PM in the Administration Center. Put it on your calendar.

Under our Collective Bargaining Agreement, before the end of the school year each of us will get a letter informing us of our status for next year. Displacement from one's school (due to enrollment declines, etc.) into another position are described in Article 20.60 of our Agreement. The layoff process is described in Article 29. Take a look at them. And contact your Legislators today (from home)!