Negotiations to increase salaries have come to a halt between the Boulder Valley School District and the Boulder Valley Classified Employee Association, or BVCEA. Superintendent Rob Anderson says the next step is mediation.
Annually, BVSD administrative staff meet with various associations that represent teachers, classified staff and paraeducators. The dates and times must be agreed upon by both parties, according to an agreement between BVSD and BVCEA.
In the agreement, it states that if an agreement has not been met by May 10 then an impasse is to be declared unless an extension is mutually agreed upon. After an impasse is declared, both parties will be referred to mediation. This is where BVSD and BVCEA find themselves this fall.
Negotiations began in April with a change in BVCEA leadership asking for the district to bring classified staff salaries to the 75th percentile of area wages — which is the compensation philosophy the district strives to meet.
The problem, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources James Hill says, comes down to math.
BVSD has used the same model to calculate staff wages since 2009, Hill said.
On April 5, as the time for this year’s negotiations approached, district staff emailed all classified staff with a letter outline how wages are determined:
“BVSD works with a third-party consultant to prepare for these negotiations, Oehm Consulting Services (OCS). OCS compares BVSD positions with other similar organizations, and provides the district with data and recommendations for salary range adjustments based on the comparisons. Historically, during negotiations the district has used this information, in collaboration with BVCEA, to recommend changes to salary schedules, if financially possible.
“For nearly a decade, BVSD, in conjunction with BVCEA, has maintained a robust salary philosophy for classified employees, establishing pay ranges that target the 75th percentile of the average midpoint pay that is identified from data collected from each comparable district, as well as other private and public organizations. The district uses the 75th percentile of the market data while the majority of other comparable districts utilize average, which represents the 50 percentile.
“The 75th percentile philosophy is the same compensation philosophy that is used to keep our Administrative and Professional Technical jobs, and Office Professional jobs competitive in a constantly evolving job market.”
On March 15, Teresa Lange, president and owner of Oehm Consulting Services, Inc. — a third party consultant specializing in compensation analysis — ran through the process in detail at a Board of Education meeting.
Lange said it is her job to go through each job title and compare it to others in the area — a task that can be difficult because “many of those job descriptions and pieces of information we’re using, one can’t find on a district’s website.”
Lange’s job assessment reviews what is reflective of what employees are actually doing based on comparables in the market, she said.
BVCEA is made up of all classified employees — which includes operations, maintenance, food service and transportation employees — including Shawn Ciaramitaro.
Ciaramitaro is the current treasurer for BVCEA, a BVSD bus driver and a former accountant. He said the district is not meeting its promise to place all classified employees in the 75th percentile.
“When you look at the numbers, we’re really not anywhere close to that 75th percentile,” Ciaramitaro said.
When Ciaramitaro does the math, he refers to an MOU between BVCEA and BVSD that says the district will calculate wages based on comparable salaries in 10 neighboring school districts: Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Aurora Public Schools, Cherry Creek Schools, Denver Public Schools, Jefferson County Schools, Littleton Public Schools, Poudre Schools, St. Vrain Valley School District, Thompson Schools and Westminster School District 50.
The district, however, includes salary rates that include the private sector. According to Randy Barber, BVSD chief communications officer, the district looks at any company that may employ people under the same or similar job titles.
“We want to get as many data points as we can in our market and then based on that data set, determine the 75th percentile,” Lange said of why she includes private sector data in the school assessment.
Hill agreed and said the addition of the private sector data is used to make wage calculations fair and competitive.
According to Ciamitaro, this only further lowers the pay rate for classified employees. He said other school district classified staff in the area are being paid more and getting bigger raises which places BVSD employees further behind.
“What’s happening is that since our teachers are so well paid, when the state determines (cost of living adjustment) COLA, for us it‘s 3.5%. But, 3.5% on their (teachers) salary and administration salary is an ok rate because they are already so far ahead of other teachers in the state. We’re — as classified workers — getting that same COLA but we’re kinda in the middle with other classified workers (in other districts) who are getting 5-6% raises,” Ciaramitaro said.
“We’re always playing catch up with this district and we never seem to be able to catch up,” he added.
BVCEA is asking for $500,000 in total pay increases over 38 positions, a line they seem unwilling to move from, according to BVCEA representatives.
While that sum of money seems small compared to the $680 million budget approved over the summer or the $350 million bond issue the district is placing on the ballot this fall, BVSD says it is more complicated than that.
“I don’t think you can ever say it is only $500,000. That’s a big hypothetical because I don’t think it is ever just the dollar piece. People have a perception that the school district is sitting on all thse pots of money so just write a check and this will go away. But, there’s money that’s out there that is used for certain things,” Hill said.
Ciaramitaro countered by saying “When you look at where we’ve been and where we still are with our numbers, it’s not the 75th percentile and the district can certainly afford it.”
When negotiations began, Hill said he felt some tension in the room but was optimistic that an agreement would be made, a position he still holds after negotiations have stopped.
BVSD officials said that they have been willing to come to the table to make an agreement based on the terms within the BVCEA Negotiationed Agreement but have only received one official counter offer from BVCEA.
“Let’s work on what we find agreement on today (and) with the parameters of the negotiation agreement … come up with that solution,” Barber said.
One thing both parties have in common is that they want to make sure wages are fair.
Barber and Hill said the district is open reevaluating how the numbers are calculated as part of next year’s negotiations, however, this year they feel the process should be done in accordance to the current agreement.
For now, both parties are expected to meet in mediation on Sept. 19. The mediator has been selected and agreed upon by both the district and BVCEA.
Both parties also agree that the first priority is to see that the BVSD classified staff receive the COLA and raises coming to them this year — both are on hold until negotiations end.
