FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2015

Contact: Ray Baker, (410) 764-3030

Baltimore, MD - AFT-Maryland President, Marietta English, has released the following statement on the occasion of the inauguration of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan:

           One of the unique features of the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement with the district is the ability to have liaison meetings on timely topics between the union and the board of education. In the past several months, three of these meetings were held.

The 2015 Maryland Legislative Session is under way, and AFT-Maryland is launching its legislative agenda early in the session, bringing the issues that support Maryland workers and their families to the attention of the Maryland General Assembly.

Join AFT-Maryland as we visit Maryland's elected leaders and make the case for workplace safety, equitable education funding, protecting due process rights for teachers, and legislation for corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.

Larry Hogan will shed the “Governor-Elect” title later today and be sworn in as the 62nd Governor of Maryland. While his inauguration speech is expected to address a general direction and plans for the next four years in office—particularly in regard to private-sector growth and across-the-board tax cuts—many are looking with greater anticipation and anxiety as Hogan announces his budget plans this coming Friday. In specific, public sector and education workers are concerned with how Hogan will make up a $760 million budget deficit.

This year’s survey was conducted Nov. 9 to Dec. 5. Three hundred fifty one employees responded to the survey, which represents about 24% of district employees. According Meeting Professionals International, this gives our survey a 95% accuracy rate.

District wide information was presented to the BISD Board of Trustees in December. Campus results were reported in January.

            The newest chapter of the STA was formed when the district’s board of education voted to recognize the Sayville Security Guards Chapter of the STA. Nearly every member of the group’s approximately 19 members signed cards requesting representation by the new unit.

Despite years of paring down costs and looking for every way possible to reduce spending while maintaining quality programming, Governor Cuomo has called for districts to find greater “efficiencies” for the 2015-16 school year and beyond.

In response to that mandate, the district has established a committee of teachers, administrators, parents and other community stake holders to study the district spending and make recommendations.

BESE defers expensive teacher retirement study

In a rare move, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education overruled a recommendation by one of its own committees to fund an expensive study of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana’s Unfunded Accrued Liability.

Many of you have raised questions about how opting out of standardized tests affects your district, your teachers and your students. A great deal of misinformation has been spread, either unwittingly or deliberately, by school district officials and others. Attached is a NYSUT fact sheet that sets the record straight regarding the consequences and non-consequences of opting out.