AMUTA and MJUSD signed a Tentative Agreement for a reduction of 3 work days and a resulting 1.64% salary decrease only for the 2010-2011 school year. The pay scale will revert to the current rate as of July 1, 2011. Step and Column increases have been preserved. The Tentative Agreement needs to be ratified by the MUTA members in order to be final. If ratified, this will conclude the economic portion of the 2010-2011 contract.

We also discussed Ella School and will continue discussions at the May 17th Bargaining Session. The district says that the staffing at Ella School will be established by Wednesday May 19th. After the 19th there should be a list of openings in the district for involuntarily transferred teachers.

As you can see in your district e-mail, your Bargaining Team and the District agreed today to have an announcement sent out that explains the current situation at Ella School and asks that teachers who would like to transfer to Ella next year submit a Voluntary Transfer Form to the personnel office by May 10th. While there are assumptions being made about what the working conditions at Ella will be, there are still issues that must be bargained and the District has not yet completed the plan, which must be submitted by June 1st, for the School Improvement Grant (SIG). Two MUTA members will be working with Lennie Tate to develop the plan and your Bargaining Team will keep you informed as we continue this process.

In order to preserve "Step and Column" your MUTA bargaining team proposed a one year reduction of the work year to 180 days (179 instructional days and 1 "Buy Back Day") with the resulting loss in salary of 1.6%. We expect that this will limit any further negative economic impact on our members. The team expects that any savings, above what’s necessary to close the deficit, will be used to prevent member layoffs, and to rehire laid off members. We also proposed an incentive to encourage teacher attendance, and the possibility of increasing "no tell" days.