BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

CHERRYVALE — The Cherryvale Teachers’ Association, the bargaining unit for faculty in the Cherryvale school district, has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the USD 447 Board of Education.

The lawsuit was filed Friday, Sept. 25, in Montgomery County Court, and the Cherryvale Teachers’ Association’s petition was signed by David Schauner, an attorney with the Kansas National Education Association.

In 2008, the USD 447 Board of Education and Cherryvale Teachers’ Association agreed to a two-year contract for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years.  The CTA asserts in its petition that the agreement called for a 3 percent increase in the salary pool, which is defined as total teachers salaries, including supplemental salaries, in the first year of the contract (2008-09).

The CTA also asserted that it agreed to a a 4 percent increase in the salary pool for the 2009-10 school year above the monies paid to teachers during the 2008-09 school year. A salary schedule for the 2009-10 school year could be calculated once the salary pool for the 2008-09 school year was known toward the end of the 2008-09 school year.

Faculty members are paid via a salary schedule, which has its foundation on a base salary. Further salary compensation is provided based on length of service of a faculty member as well as advancement in education training.

The CTA says in its petition that on May 6, 2009, CTA president Jo Neuburger communicated with Superintendent Randy Wagoner and USD 447 president Tina Cunningham with a proposed salary schedule for the 2009-10 school year reflecting, Neuburger claimed, a 4 percent increase in the salary pool based on the total teacher salary figures for the 2008-09 school year. According to information gleaned from previous USD 447 Board of Education meetings, the base salary for the 2008-09 school year was $34,125 and was scheduled to increase to $35,490 for the 2009-10 school year. Prior to the start of the 2008-10 negotiated agreement, the base salary in USD 447 was $32,250.

Wagoner rejected the CTA’s proposed salary schedule for the 2009-10 salary schedule the next day, the CTA petition claims, and offered a salary schedule that showed a 4 percent increase to the base salary, not the total salary pool.

The CTA subsequently rejected Wagoner’s salary schedule offer.

As a result of the dispute over interpretation of the salaries, the CTA is now operating under the terms and salaries of the 2008-09 school year. The first pay date for the 2009-10 school year was set for Sept. 15.

The CTA claims that “by not paying the district’s teachers a 2009-10 salary that reflects a 4 percent increase in the salary pool, the board has breached the parties’ 2008-2010 negotiated agreement. By breaching the parties’ 2008-10 negotiated agreement, the teachers in the district are being damaged by being paid less in salary for the 2009-10 school year than what they would have been paid had the school board not breached its agreement with the association.”

The CTA is asking the court to order USD 447 to use the 4 percent increase to the salary pool for the 2009-10 school year and to provide back pay (plus interest) to those faculty for the 2009-10 school year who have been paid according to the 2008-09 salary schedule.

As of Monday of this week, no court hearings had been scheduled to hear the arguments in the case. The case has been assigned to Judge William Cullins.

Superintendent Randy Wagoner and USD 447 president Tina Cunningham were contacted by the Montgomery County Chronicle to issue a statement about the CTA’s claims. Wagoner and Cunningham each said they did not want to comment on the lawsuit.