Dear Collingswood Community,
As the Collingswood Board of Education’s Negotiations Committee, we write to provide an update on the ongoing negotiations between the Collingswood Education Association (CEA) and the Collingswood Board of Education (Board). Currently, no new agreement has been reached between the Board and the CEA. In this letter, we will lay out the process of fact-finding, the next step in the collective bargaining process. We will also provide some brief background to the ongoing negotiations, with more detailed information available in our previous letters published on the Collingswood Public Schools website.
Throughout negotiations, the Board has been focused on ensuring that the district can continue to meet the needs of our community’s children and on working with the CEA to meet the CEA’s expressed goal to attract and retain teachers and school staff – all while working to maintain the long-term fiscal health of the district even within the difficult economic realities of school funding in NJ. As explained in our previous letters, Collingswood faces a structural budget deficit where our district cannot raise enough revenue to meet continually increasing expenses because of NJ’s “2% cap” on local school tax increases combined with no additional state funding. This structural budget deficit has already required difficult layoffs of teaching and administrative staff at the end of the ‘23-24 school year.
The CEA and the Board’s Negotiations Committee have met a total of nine times. Negotiations began on February 28, 2024, and continued on March 14, April 17, and May 6. During the May 6th meeting, the CEA unilaterally declared an impasse in negotiations and subsequently filed a request for mediation with the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). While awaiting mediation, the CEA and Board’s Negotiations Committee again met on June 13, July 16, and July 30. Mediation occurred on August 14 with a PERC mediator, followed by an unmediated meeting on September 11. A meeting was also scheduled for September 25, rescheduled for October 3, and then eventually canceled by the CEA.
At this time, an agreement has yet to be reached, despite the Board’s Negotiations Committee offering salary increases above the county average, an offer made possible by the diligent efforts to prioritize teacher raises by the district’s Superintendent and Business Administrator. Given this impasse, we have requested that negotiations enter the fact-finding stage of PERC’s collective bargaining process. Though fact-finding may be lengthy, the expertise of a neutral, third-party PERC fact-finder will be helpful in reaching a mutually acceptable agreement between the CEA and the Board.
The fact-finding process begins with the selection of a PERC fact-finder who will schedule an initial mediation session with the CEA and the Board’s Negotiations Committee. This initial meeting will likely not occur until January 2025 at the earliest. The fact finder can continue with mediation so long as they believe progress is being made.
If the PERC fact finder ascertains that mediation is no longer productive, the fact finder will schedule and conduct a hearing between the CEA and the Board. The fact finder has the authority under law to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony, and require the production of materials related to negotiations. After the hearing, the CEA and Board will be allowed to file additional briefs with the fact finder.
At the conclusion of this process, the PERC fact finder will issue a non-binding report with recommendations for settlement and the fact finder’s rationale for such recommendations. This report will become public 10 days later, and the CEA and Board will have up to 20 days to come voluntarily to an agreement before negotiations enter the “super conciliation” stage of PERC’s process. The entire fact-finding process is estimated to take four to six months, depending on the complexity of the issues at play. The fact-finding process will also come at a cost to the district and the CEA, with the per diem cost of the fact-finder split between the CEA and the Board.
Despite the length and cost, we believe that entering fact-finding is, at this point, the most prudent step towards coming to a fiscally responsible agreement with the CEA as expeditiously as possible. The Board’s Negotiations Committee welcomes the assistance of a third-party PERC fact finder, and we are hopeful that the fact finder will aid us in coming to a mutually acceptable agreement within the bounds of the district’s budget sooner rather than later.
We recognize that Collingswood families and community members may be wondering what these ongoing negotiations will mean as the school year continues. We understand these concerns and want to make clear that the district’s previous contract with the CEA remains in full effect until a new contract is agreed upon. Teachers and school staff will continue to receive all the benefits and protections provided to them under this previous contract, regardless of the status of negotiations.
In addition, no contractual or legal barriers exist to the regular operation of the school district, including sports and extracurricular clubs. We appreciate that the CEA President emphasized during the June 24th board meeting that “the teachers and staff will continue to show the same dedication to our students regardless of the status of negotiations.”
We know that the district’s teachers and support staff work tirelessly in service of our students and their families every single day. As Collingswood residents, community members, and parents, we have seen this firsthand and are deeply grateful for how the district’s staff cares about our children and works to inspire and challenge them. This is why the Board will continue to work on maintaining the long-term fiscal health of the district during negotiations so that the district can continue to maintain the teachers and staff necessary to meet the needs of our students even in the midst of NJ’s challenging school funding landscape.
Sincerely,
Collingswood Board of Education, Negotiations Committee
Regan Kaiden, Christine Sheridan Celia, Roger Chu, and Matt Craig