NO CUTS—Oak Hills Elementary School teachers Melinda Deel, left, and Linda Mendivil participate in the Sept. 24 protest against teacher furlough days. Teacher union talks are at an impasse. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers More than 50 teachers came to last week’s Oak Park Unified School District Board of Education meeting dressed in black and protesting the stalled contract negotiations between administrators and the Oak Park Teachers Association, the union that represents the interests of local teachers.

Despite the influx of nearly $8 million of state money generated from out-of-district transfer students, OPUSD wants to impose six furlough days, or unpaid days off, to help ease budget concerns.

The furlough days would amount to a 3.24 percent, or $660,000 salary cut for the teachers.

Superintendent Tony Knight said even with the extra income from out-of-area students, the district coffers remain short by $2.6 million. But the teachers argued that with the help from district reserve funds, revenues from the Federal Education Jobs Act and other cost-saving measures, the educators should not have to take a pay cut.

Joyce Thomas, an Oak Park music teacher and president of the teachers union, asked the school board to reconsider its stance on furlough days and to tap into its “rainy day” reserves to bridge the budget gap.

“These are the teachers that make this district what it is— amazing,” Thomas said.

Union member John McManus called it ironic that teachers were at a board meeting fighting for their livelihood when both they and the administration should have been celebrating their recent top standing in the county for standardized testing.

“That’s what we use to sell (the district)—high test scores,” said David Kinberg, a longtime teacher and coach at Oak Park High School. “How are we rewarded— a congratulatory email?

Teachers previously agreed to forego pay increases despite the rising cost of healthcare, Kinberg said.

The teachers also were upset that $60,000 was paid to a law firm that holds seminars on how school districts can save money by reducing employee salaries and benefits.

According to Knight, “Just as the teacher and classified unions used CTA (California Teachers Association) as a consultant at negotiations, so did the district utilize its counsel as consultant for negotiations.”

Knight said the district administration has agreed to a similar cut in salaries, and disputed the numbers the teachers were using.

“The funds for the transfer students are already in the revenue side of the budget,” Knight said. “The deficit is $2.6 million. The federal jobs act money reduces it to $1.9 million.”

To make up the difference, Knight said the school district must consider increasing class sizes at all grade levels, eliminate portions of the music program, and cut instructional aides and hours. A $50,000-a-year college counselor also was cut.

The school district and union declared a “joint impasse” in negotiations in July. A Sept. 10 mediation date also resulted in an impasse, primarily over the insistence of the furlough days.

A second mediation is slated for Oct. 5.

“We are at (an) impasse over the fact that the district insisted on implementing six furlough days and would not wait to see if additional money was coming from the federal government, which did happen in August 2010, or from the state budget, which has not been passed as of yet,” Thomas said. “Therefore, we believe that the loss of six workdays, of which five would be instructional days, is not necessary.”

School board President Mary Rees said she “hates” cutting programs, having bigger classrooms and asking teachers to make financial sacrifices.

She believes the district will successfully negotiate a new contract with teachers.