Temecula Valley

January 12, 2017

Thank you to all of you who attended site meetings Tuesday as part of our Site Visit Blitz.  We met face to face with well over 500 members yesterday at the 27 school sites.

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Your elected executive board will be reviewing the feedback sheets at our monthly meeting tomorrow evening and preparing the bargaining team for their Friday session with TVUSD.  We will provide a full summary of our Site Visit Blitz feedback in our TVEA Advocate Newsletter to be released next Thursday January 19th.

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TVUSD sent out their own Budget Newsletter on Monday afternoon January 9.    One piece of our message yesterday at the sites was that TVEA does not have custody of developing the TVUSD budget, nor authorizing it.

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If you have TVUSD Budget questions and concerns, please contact district officials.  Lori Ordway Peck is the Assistant Superintendent of Business Support Services.  Tim Ritter, as Superintendent oversees the major district departments.  Sandy Hinkson is the 2016-17 School Board President.  Other TVUSD Governing Board personnel include Kristi Rutz-Robbins, Clerk and Members Lee Darling, Julie Farnbach, and Kevin Hill.   The above can be reached through the TVUSD G-mail system. The next school board meeting is Tuesday January 17th at 6pm.  TVEA will continue to meet with the district to collaboratively address the local budget deficit. 

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This week Governor Jerry Brown issued his 2017-18 California State Budget Proposal.  For the first time since 2012-13 the California Department of Finance is showing a projected deficit ($1.6 billion).  Governor Brown has proposed to curtail replenishing the “GAP” funding for 2017-18, which if supported by the state legislature will result in significantly less money for California public schools.

We will continue to do our diligence to keep our members informed during this challenging period. 

Jeff Kingsberg, TVEA President

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January 5, 2017

TVEA is preparing for our 2nd Annual Site Visit Blitz next week. TVEA representatives will visit all twenty-seven sites next Tuesday January 10th.  Sixteen of the seventeen elementary sites will have a twenty- minute meeting either before (810-830) or after (335-355) the contract day with Barnett Elementary meeting at lunch. All secondary sites will meet for twenty minutes during their designated lunch period. 

The purpose of this visit is to seek feedback from membership related to the impact of the TVUSD Budget. 

 

In the First Interim Budget Report at the December 13th School Board Meeting, TVUSD shared a projected deficit of $8.3 million in 2016-17 and increasing $3 million each year reaching a projected $14.3 million by 2018-19.

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The district has stated their commitment to trim $7 million a year for the next two years. This will have ramifications for the 2017-18 bargaining cycle, schedule to begin next Friday January 13th.

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Our members indicated in a December 2016 Bargaining Survey that of twelve identified priorities through site and member feedback, Salary and Health and Welfare Benefits ranked one and two for TVEA to address in negotiations.  TVEA needs to gather timely initial member feedback in terms of some potential scenarios which could allow for these priorities to be realized.

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Please come to your Site Meeting next Tuesday.  Although the bargaining process still needs to play out and more discussions with members will be needed, it is an important first step in seeking feedback from our members and to act on any consensus that they provide.

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For a link to the Site Visit Blitz Schedule including your time(s) and facilitator(s) click here.

We hope to see you at your sites next week and pledge to keep you updated.

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Jeff Kingsberg

TVEA President