In exchange for a year of excellent service, the school board
rewarded the superintendent of schools with an unusual, $12,000
bonus.
In exchange for a year of excellent service, the school board rewarded the superintendent of schools with an unusual, $12,000 bonus.
Superintendent Deborah Flores declined to take a salary increase and didn’t take advantage of the health benefits offered through the district last year. The board of trustees agreed to give her the money they would have spent on her health insurance premium during her first two years of employment, about $12,000 total, for her to use on future health expenses.
The unique exchange wouldn’t usually be available to anyone else in the district, but the board felt that reimbursing Flores for the money they would have put toward her health benefits was an appropriate token of appreciation for her hard work, trustees said.
“We thought it was a fair way to do it,” Trustee Denise Apuzzo said. “She is the educational leader of this district and she absolutely has done an outstanding job.”
During Flores’ evaluation, trustees wrestled with the issue and came up with the resolution that rewards her without giving her a percentage raise.
“We did two things,” said Board President Rhoda Bress. “We extended her contract to 2012 and amended her health benefits to allow her flexibility in using the money we would have paid anyway.”
But as far back as Gilroy Teachers Association President Michelle Nelson could remember, no one else in the district had ever been reimbursed retroactively for unused health benefits.
“Either you sign up for it or you or you lose it,” Nelson said. “If we ever asked to go retroactive, the answer would be no.”
Trustees said that comparing negotiations with the superintendent to union negotiations is like comparing apples to oranges.
Although Nelson acknowledged that an additional $6,000 each year could have secured a full-time counselor at the middle school level, she was encouraged by the board’s decision and hoped that, given their actions with Flores, they would consider the idea of improving teacher benefits. She also said the resolution language is convoluted and masks the actual amendment to Flores’ contract.
The resolution states that, ” … Whereas, Dr. Flores has not yet taken any health care benefits from the District (valued annually at more than $6,000 per year) … From July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, the District shall pay $1,000 per month to the Superintendent to cover family health insurance premiums and expenses.”
Flores has not decided whether to take advantage of the benefits this year but will get the $6,000 of the district’s share for this year and another $6,000 for the amount she didn’t use last year, regardless of whether she participates in the district health plan this year. She will have to submit documentation to the district confirming that the money is used for health expenses as a stipulation of the contract, said Kim Filice, human resources.
Gilroy Unified School District’s monthly contribution to teachers’ health premiums is actually far better than management, according to district documents. While the district contributes $665.38 per month toward an administrator’s health premium, it contributes nearly double that for a teacher’s premium, depending on the health plan.
Because Gilroy teacher salaries are near the bottom of the barrel for Santa Clara County, decent health benefits are a must, Nelson said, and most teachers take advantage of the plan. Even though Flores’ reward was performance based and resulted from an entirely different process than that upon which teacher raises are based, Nelson pointed out that the superintendent earns an annual salary of $187,500, plus another $26,000 in benefits, that is comparable to other superintendents in the county. Meanwhile, Gilroy teachers do not earn wages comparable to county averages.
For the 2006-’07 school year, a first year teacher in Gilroy made $42,588, 30th of 33 school districts in the county in terms of salary. The average starting salary for the county was $46,560.
“We have always asked to just be at average (salary) for teachers,” Nelson said. “We all need to be rewarded.”
Because of a tumultuous year with budget cuts, layoffs and the resignation of an assistant superintendent, the union has yet to begin bargaining with the district for improved compensation. The district has $1.3 million above and beyond the 3 percent state mandated reserve and Nelson is curious to find out where that money might end up.
“If there’s money left over and it’s $1.3 million, we would negotiate for a portion of that,” she said.
