The Current
Rhee, Ghandi testify on teacher's contract
By Jessica Gould
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Speaking before the D.C. Council on Friday, city chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi declined to certify the use of private funds to support the salaries and benefits included in the tentative D.C. Public Schools teacher contract.
But Gandhi and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said their offices are working together, and moving closer to a resolution.
"We recognize the great importance of this agreement and applaud the work of all involved. Over the last two weeks, we have made great progress in resolving the funding issues," Gandhi said. "We will continue to work cooperatively with the chancellor to resolve the remaining funding issues and explore alternative resources to support the tentative agreement."
According to Gandhi, D.C. Public Schools submitted a set of proposed changes to its budget for fiscal year 2010 and 2011 in order to free up funding for the contract. Ideas include putting federal appropriations toward the contract, freezing central office vacancies, renegotiating a food services contract and reducing spending on the Saturday Scholars program.
But even with those changes, Gandhi said, the city would need to put another $10.7 million toward the tentative agreement. He said he could not certify the use of private foundation money to fund the contract because foundations would have the right to withdraw their funds if there were a change in leadership at D.C. Public Schools or if the school system failed to meet educational benchmarks.
Plus, Gandhi said, the foundations' draft agreements do not provide specific sums, only "up to" amounts. He also noted that the agreement allows either party to terminate the deal with only 30 days of notice, and that if any one funder backed out of the deal, the entire agreement could be jeopardized. He also reiterated his concern about outstanding "spending pressures" already facing the school system, and noted that charter schools' concerns about the contract have yet to be addressed.
According to Friends of Choice in Urban Schools spokesperson Barnaby Towns, some charters have said that salary increases embedded in the contract could increase the inequity between funding for city-run and charter schools.
"They're not bothered by [D.C. Public Schools] getting foundation money, which [many] of them do as well," he said of charter officials. "What they're bothered by is an inequity in public funds."
Towns said failing to certify the private funds and using city money to support the salaries would only exacerbate existing funding inequalities between charters and city-run schools, the latter of which, he said, receive twice as much money per student in their facilities funding.
"That creates an imbalance," Towns said. "They'd like to see the balance put back so that charter schools get as much public money as public schools do."
Gandhi said his office wants to better understand the charters' position. "We believe a full discussion of these issues is in order to fully understand the impact of the tentative agreement on the District's charter schools," he said.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Rhee reiterated her enthusiasm for the contract, and said her office had made strides in closing the funding gap.
"We're very excited about the teachers union contract. We think it's an incredibly unique opportunity to make sure teachers get the resources they need to be successful and that they're recognized and rewarded for the incredibly hard work that they do," she said.
Rhee said that of the $21.1 million in private funds to be used for the salaries, philanthropists have assured her that $16.6 million will be available upon ratification and certification of the agreement. "That will take care of the $10.7 million hole in fiscal year 2010," she said, adding that confusion over the school system's budget in recent weeks has been "unfortunate."
In fact, the marathon hearing capped nearly a month of heated back-and-forth between the chancellor's office, council members and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
On April 7, D.C. Public Schools, the Washington Teachers' Union and the American Federation of Teachers announced that they had reached a tentative agreement on the highly anticipated teachers contract.
The agreement grabbed national headlines with its promise of teacher salary increases of more than 20 per- cent over five years, a voluntary pay-for-performance program and increased professional development.
But almost immediately following the announcement, controversy enveloped the tentative agreement.
Asked Tuesday whether Gandhi would be certifying the contract in the coming days, spokesperson Karyn Siobhan Robinson said: "We are still working on this and we hope to have something very soon."