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By
Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director
Number
12
April 2, 2009
COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
MNEA supports collective bargaining rights for all education
employees. An effective bargaining process must have
a unified employee voice. MNEA supports legislation
that would treat all public employees fairly and that
is built on broad consensus among public employee groups
and public employers. An effective bargaining law must
ultimately provide for exclusive bargaining representation,
a duty for both employees and employers to bargain in
good faith, binding agreements with a clear ratification
process and a fair process to resolve impasse and grievances.
The
Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industry Committee
heard
Senate Bill 486 (Tim Green) on Mar. 31. The bill addresses
collective bargaining for all public employees, including
all school employees. The bill provides access to forming
labor organizations and election of exclusive bargaining
representation for all public sector employees, including
K-12 and higher education teachers. Teachers are among
the employees excluded from the current public sector
bargaining law. This bill also reflects MNEA’s
work in coalition with other public sector labor organizations
and has the support of some public employer organizations,
including the Missouri Municipal League and MSBA. The
Missouri NEA strongly supports this bill as an important
first step in fulfilling the constitutional collective
bargaining rights of all public employees.
Rep.
Tim Meadows filed House Bill 1159 on Apr. 1. It is a
companion bill to S.B. 473 (Joan Bray) and establishes
a comprehensive bargaining law for all public employees,
including all school employees. The bill provides a
simple, clear framework for a discussion of all the
key elements of a collective bargaining law. The MNEA
strongly supports the bill.
SUPPRESSION
OF UNION ORGANIZING EFFORTS
The House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety
Committee began hearing testimony on House Joint Resolution
37 (Mike Cunningham) on Mar. 30. The committee only
heard testimony from the resolution’s proponents
before running out of time and postponed opposition
testimony until the following week.
The
HJR is a proposal brought forward by the opponents of
House Resolution 800, the federal Employee Free Choice
Act. The EFCA is pending legislation before Congress
that would allow designation of an exclusive bargaining
representative of a private sector bargaining unit after
the filing of a petition or signature cards indicating
that a majority of the members of a bargaining unit
support the election of the designated union. The EFCA
is intended to reduce employers’ ability to intimidate
employees and undermine union support in representation
elections. HJR 37 is a state-level effort to negate
the effect of the EFCA in Missouri.
Missouri
NEA strongly opposes HJR 37. The arguments for the resolution
ring hollow in Missouri, especially for public employees
who would not even be affected by the federal EFCA,
if it passes, but who may be affected by HJR 37. For
teachers and other employees exempted under Chapter
105, RSMo, the state law does not currently provide
for a process to fulfill their constitutional right
to bargain collectively through a representative of
their own choosing. Rather than passing this harmful,
anti-union measure, the Association urges the legislature
to enact an effective bargaining law that treats all
public employees fairly.
MSTA
ANTI-BARGAINING BILL FOR TEACHERS HEARD IN HOUSE
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee
heard House Bill 805 (Kevin Wilson) on Apr. 1. It is
a rewrite of last year’s MSTA anti-bargaining
bill for teachers. The bill would still prevent K-12
teachers from having the same rights as other public
employees to elect an exclusive bargaining representative.
The bill also makes many other changes that would weaken
or undermine an effective bargaining process, such as
unnecessarily limiting the scope of what can be bargained
and giving exclusive control to school districts of
many issues which could be handled by mutual agreement,
such as setting bargaining timelines and establishing
impasse procedures.
The
Missouri NEA strongly opposes H.B. 805. An effective
bargaining process must have a unified employee voice.
MNEA supports legislation that would treat all public
employees fairly and that is built on broad consensus
among public employee groups and public employers. An
effective bargaining law must ultimately provide for
exclusive bargaining representation, a clear duty for
both employees and employers to bargain in good faith,
binding agreements with a clear ratification process
and a fair process to resolve impasse and grievances.
STATE
TEACHING STANDARDS
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee
heard House Bill 73 (Sara Lampe) on Apr. 1. The bill
requires the State Board of Education to establish state
teaching standards. The Missouri NEA supports the bill.
Every child deserves a well-prepared, caring teacher.
Teaching standards ensure state policy is clear on what
teachers are supposed to know and be able to do and
how those standards are assessed. Teaching standards
also provide a consistent structure to define how mentoring,
beginning teacher assistance programs and other professional
development will help teachers meet those teaching standards.
SUBSTANTIVE
DUE PROCESS
Missouri NEA supports substantive due process for all
school employees. Rep. Rick Stream filed House Bill
1030 on Mar. 12. The bill allows districts to establish
substantive due process for all tenured teachers in
the district. Due process ensures a fair hearing on
an employee’s employment status made by an impartial
hearing officer. Real due process protects education
employees from potentially arbitrary and capricious
hiring and firing decisions. Substantive due process
empowers school employees to speak honestly and openly
about how schools can be improved and will improve school
climate and promote student achievement. The Association
strongly supports the bill as both an enhancement of
employee rights and a powerful school improvement tool.
BUDGET
The Senate Appropriations Committee began debate on
House Bill 2 (Allen Icet), the fiscal year 2010 K-12
education budget, on Mar. 31. At this stage, the Senate
committee is deciding which items will be maintained
the same as the House position, and which ones will
be changed. Some items are being left open and will
be discussed later this week. The Senate restored funding
for a number of programs cut by the House using federal
stabilization funding. The key question of restoring
state funding for professional development was left
“open,” meaning the committee will consider
that issue in greater detail next week.
In
the House budget filed bills, House Budget Chair Allen
Icet inserted federal stimulus and stabilization funds
into the elementary and secondary education budget bill
(H.B. 2) and withheld a total of roughly $900 million
in general revenue from the budget process. It appears
that the Senate will undo a portion of this withholding
by restoring some of the governor’s recommendations
by using some additional stabilizations funds.
The
Missouri NEA believes that the House budget process
was fundamentally flawed and supports the increases
to H.B. 2 already approved by the Senate Appropriations
Committee. Missouri NEA urges full restoration of state
professional development funding. The Association supports
incorporating federal economic stimulus and stabilization
revenues into next year’s budget in a careful
way to maintain vital public services while also seeking
to address the structural budget deficit, improve the
fairness of the state tax code and ensure adequate funding
for public education and other vital public services.
USE
OF FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDS
The House Budget Committee voted House Committee Substitute
for House Bill 937 (Scott Dieckhaus) “do pass”
on Apr. 2. The bill would allow transfer of federal
stimulus funds (received under Title I and special education
categorical funding) to the capital projects fund. The
Missouri NEA believes that federal stimulus funds in
education should be used to provide services to students
normally served by Title I and special education funds,
as Congress intended. The amount transferred to capital
projects should be limited and should be used to meet
capital needs that directly relate to serving Title
I and special education students.
SENATE PASSES OMNIBUS EDUCATION
The Senate gave final approval (Third Reading vote)
to Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute
for Senate Bill 291 (Charlie Shields) on Apr. 2. The
original bill allows school districts to offer virtual
courses to resident students and count the courses for
formula aid purposes. The bill includes many other provisions
affecting school funding, school governance and transition,
early childhood, teaching standards, school records,
special education, charter schools, open enrollment,
school facilities, school activities, physical education,
alternative certification for finance teachers, volunteering,
mentoring and performance pay schemes. The Missouri
NEA supports the original bill, the school funding provisions
and many other provisions in the bill. However, concerns
remain regarding the alternative teacher certification
for finance teachers, the performance pay scheme, special
education and school activities provisions. The Association
will work on the House side to make sure these concerns
are addressed or to have the problematic provisions
removed from the bill.
SENATE
DEBATES MORE BUSINESS TAX CREDITS
The Senate continued floor debate on Senate Committee
Substitute for Senate Bill 45 et al. (David Pearce)
relating to business tax credits on Mar. 31, but did
not bring the bill to a vote. The bill lifts or raises
the cap on several business tax credits and reinstates
some that have expired. The exact impact of these tax
credit changes is unknown since some currently capped
programs, such as the Quality Jobs Program, would no
longer have any limit on the amount of tax credits.
Sen.
Brad Lager’s Senate Substitute version of the
bill would have limited all tax credits to the amount
of credits annually allocated to the program through
the appropriations process. The Missouri NEA supported
this measure to maintain limits on all tax credits and
to ensure that all tax credit programs are transparent,
properly documented and accountable for meaningful results
in return for the public investment of the tax expenditures
given. However, Senate Amendment 2 (John Griesheimer)
removed that provision from the S.S., and that amendment
was adopted by an 18-16 vote. The Senate recessed and
came back into session at 8:00 p.m. but did not bring
the bill to a vote because of the filibuster of Sen.
Jason Crowell. Sen. Lager withdrew his S.S. and Sen.
Griesheimer offered a new S.S. Debate and amendments
continued on that new version of the bill which does
not contain the language making tax credits subject
to appropriations.
PROPERTY
TAX FREEZE
The House Ways and Means Committee heard House Bill
888 (Brian Nieves) and H.B. 963 (Marilyn Ruestman) on
Apr. 2. Both bills are intended to limit increases in
assessed value for real property to two percent every
two years (after reassessment) until such time as the
property is sold. Missouri NEA opposes both bills. These
schemes are akin to California’s problematic “Prop
13” limitation that is currently wreaking havoc
on city and county funding due to declining home assessment
values that will not recover for a generation, even
if housing market values recover. Missouri already provides
an income tax credit for low-income seniors based on
homestead rental or property taxes paid and a separate
property tax homestead exemption. A third option is
to allow property tax increases to accumulate as a lien
against the value of a house and have the state reimburse
local governments for the lost revenues.
SPECIAL
EDUCATION VOUCHERS
The House Health Care Policy Committee heard House Bill
417 (Dwight Scharnhorst) on Apr. 1. The bill creates
an 80 percent tax credit for donations to private scholarship
funds providing payments for disabled students to attend
private or religious schools or out-of-district public
schools. Also, it allows an unlimited total amount in
tax credits for “contributions” to scholarship
funds.
The
use of special education students to further the school
privatization agenda is an emerging trend across the
nation. As with previous school privatization efforts
in prior years, this bill does nothing to fulfill the
state’s primary duty: to establish and maintain
quality public schools. In particular, the bill will
do nothing to build the capacity of public schools across
the state to offer high quality programs to disabled
students. The credits would reduce state revenues by
nearly a like amount and force the state to forego real
opportunities to help all public school students or
to fund specific programs to help disabled students
attending public schools.
Missouri
NEA strongly opposes any measure to transfer state funds
to private, religious or home schools that are not accountable
to the standards placed on public schools. The Association
supports proven school improvement strategies to help
ensure great public schools for every child. All schools
need the tools and resources and proven strategies to
help children succeed in school.
PHYSICAL
EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
The House debated and gave first round approval (perfection
vote) to House Committee Substitute for House Bill 509
(Rick Stream) on Mar. 30. It requires school districts
to have physical education programs meeting certain
requirements. However, the bill failed to pass back
out of the House Fiscal Review Committee on Apr. 2,
apparently due to fiscal concerns regarding an amendment
that limits school vending machine beverages to real
fruit juices and low-fat milk. Thus, it is unclear at
this time whether the bill will be able to continue
through the process this session.
The
HCS version limits the physical education portion of
bill to elementary schools and removes some of the more
detailed requirements of the bill. The MNEA supports
the intent of the bill: a strong commitment from all
schools to support a comprehensive program of student
wellness, including emphasis on good nutrition and physical
activity. However, the Association continues to have
a concern that the use of another state mandate for
physical education may create unintended consequences
for other instructional disciplines, such as fine arts
and social studies. The HCS was amended by Reps. Margo
McNeil and Joe Aull to allow school districts additional
flexibility in meeting the additional physical activity
requirements by using other staff and instructional
time (beyond designated physical education classes and
instructors) so long as the students are engaging in
additional physical activity during the school day.
Rep. Steve Brown amended the bill to require that school
vending machines offer only healthy beverage choices
such as real fruit juices and low-fat milk and that
school lunches be low in trans-fats.
HOUSE
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
In addition to House Bill 805 (Kevin Wilson) and H.B.
73 (Sara Lampe), the House Elementary and Secondary
Education Committee also heard H.B. 829 (Jerry Nolte).
The bill allows school districts and other entities
to enter into joint ventures to fund certain educational
facilities.
HEALTHCARE
ACCESS
The Senate gave first round approval (perfection vote)
to Senate Substitute for Senate Bill 306 (Tom Dempsey)
on Apr. 1. The bill establishes the Show-Me Health Coverage
plan within the Department of Social Services to provide
health care coverage through the private insurance market
to low-income working individuals in the state. The
maximum enrollment of plan participants is subject to
appropriations. Under the plan, a health care account
is established for each individual and payments for
his or her participation can be made by the individual,
an employer, the state, or any philanthropic or charitable
contributor. An individual’s health care account
shall be used to pay the individual’s deductible
for health care services under the plan.
Missouri
NEA supports the bill. The Association supports universal
health care for all students, staff and all other Missourians
as a basic right. The private insurance market and employer-provided
insurance is the main option for many Missourians who
currently have health care coverage and will be a significant
part of the ultimate solution to health care coverage
for all Missourians. Reforms to health care should be
guided by the goals of universal coverage, minimizing
employer impact and ensuring that all parts of the health
care provider system are accountable for making health
care better, safer and less costly.
ACCESS
MISSOURI SCHOLARSHIPS
The House Higher Education Committee heard testimony
on Mar. 31 in support of the proposal to cap Access
Missouri Scholarships at $2850 for all students, regardless
of whether they attend a public or private institution.
Currently, students attending private institutions comprise
less than 30 percent of Access Missouri recipients but
receive over 50 percent of the funding due to the higher
average tuition charged at private institutions. This
provision is contained in House Bill 792 (Gayle Kingery),
but the bill has not been referred to the committee,
so the committee heard testimony only on the concept
of that change. The Senate Education Committee heard
proponent testimony on Senate Bill 390 (Kurt Schaefer),
the companion Senate bill, on Apr. 1. The Missouri NEA
supports both H.B. 792 and S.B. 390 as efforts to improve
higher education access and make Missouri’s state
funded scholarships more equitable and more efficient
in the use of all too scarce state revenues.
OPEN
ENROLLMENT
The House Elections Committee heard House Bill 959 (Shane
Schoeller) on Apr. 1. It creates procedures for school
districts to establish open enrollment of students across
school district boundary lines to either public or private
schools. The bill allows the decision to be made by
the school board or by an initiative petition process
and district-wide vote.
Missouri
NEA believes that the petition process could undermine
local board leadership in the district. The Association
also strongly opposes any measure to transfer public
funds to private, religious or home schools that are
not accountable to all the standards placed on public
schools. Also, the bill does not fund the true costs
to both the sending and receiving districts, including
the cost of facilities in the receiving district, and
has not been demonstrated to serve the best interests
of all students and schools.
RIVERVIEW
GARDENS SCHOOL AID
The Senate gave first round approval (perfection vote)
to Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 117 (Tim
Green) on Mar. 31 and gave the bill final approval (Third
Reading vote) on Apr. 2. The bill recalculates the state
school aid for the Riverview Gardens School District
to correct an error in tax rate placement. The Missouri
NEA supports this measure to correct a financial error
by a former district official that continues to have
a profound negative effect on the district’s state
aid, amounting to more that $2 million per year for
the last three school years, and continuing throughout
the remainder of the new formula phase-in.
RETIREMENT
The Senate Veterans’, Pensions and Urban Affairs
Committee heard Senate Bill 327 (Jason Crowell) on Apr.
2. The bill makes several changes regarding the Public
School Retirement System of Missouri and the Public
Employee Retirement System of Missouri. It makes minor
changes regarding investment of funds and purchase of
service credit. The bill also specifies the order in
which benefits are paid to survivors after the death
of a member, prohibits additional nonprofit education
organizations from joining the systems and allows the
systems to indemnify their board members and employees.
In
addition to hearing S.B. 327, the committee voted out
Senate Committee Substitute for S.B. 383 (Tom Dempsey).
The SCS removes the change to the balancing of PSRS
employer and employee contribution rates and, instead,
enacts a joint interim committee to study issues regarding
PSRS benefits, contributions and funding status.
CAPITOL
ACTION DAYS
MNEA Capitol Action Days allow planned, face-to-face
contact with legislators throughout the legislative
session. Capitol Action Day continued on Apr. 1, when
five members from Governance District 6 visited the
Capitol. Capitol Action Days will generally be on Wednesdays
starting in February and continuing through the first
week of May. Your MNEA calendar includes the dates MNEA
Board members selected for your governance district.
If you are not able to attend on these designated days,
feel free to contact MNEA Legislative Director Otto
Fajen at otto.fajen@mnea.org
to let him know when you can attend on another Capitol
Action Day. Typical Capitol Action Day agenda:
10:00
a.m. Meet for briefing, 2nd floor Capitol rotunda, Senate
side alcove under the grand staircase
10:15 a.m. Visit with your legislator/watch floor debate
12:00 noon Invite legislator to lunch
1:00-4:30 p.m. Committee hearings, floor debate, visiting
legislators
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