At a hearing last night, the City Council Education Subcommittee presented its recommendations for negotiating a new Providence teachers' contract, the single biggest expense in the city budget and the most costly teacher contract in the state. The current contract is set to expire in August.
The hearing was the last of four on the contract negotiations that started Feb. 17. Sam Zurier, subcommittee chair, city councilman and former Providence School Board member, presented two options for negotiating the new contract — both of which would cut costs for the district through measures including permitting more flexibility in school opening times, staggering bus schedules to increase efficiency, reforming the system of awarding bonuses for taking five or fewer sick days and changing the way the district pays its substitute teachers.
The first option would increase teacher salaries by 5 percent this year and 2 percent in subsequent years, while reducing the overall cost of the contract by 5 percent. The second option would hold salaries constant and save the city 10 percent on the contract.
The report also proposed increasing the school year by two days, lengthening the school day and mandating that parent-teacher conferences occur after school rather than during school hours.
The subcommittee laid out a "‘tool kit' for the negotiating parties to consider that can support significant reforms and improvements while also yielding savings for the city," according to the report.
Zurier said the purpose of the report was not to criticize teachers, but rather to hold them to higher standards. He said many teachers go above and beyond what is stipulated in their contracts because they care about their students. "Thank God a lot of our teachers don't care what's in the contract," he said.
Nevertheless, "whatever is in that document is going to be very important," he told The Herald.
Karina Wood, interim executive director of People for a Better Providence, a non-profit that seeks to raise awareness about local issues, said the contract creates policies that directly impact students' education, parental interaction with teachers and the number of school days in the year.
As a Providence resident for 13 years and a parent of Providence public school children for six, Wood said this is the "first time that I've seen a discussion — a public discussion — of ways that we can improve and reform education as a whole in Providence, like looking at the teachers' contract."
Wood called the recommendations a "win-win-win" situation for taxpayers, teachers and students.
At yesterday's hearing, Zurier summarized the subcommittee's work so far. The subcommittee's first hearing on the Providence teachers' contracts was Feb. 17 — nearly a week before Providence Mayor Angel Taveras drew the ire of the union by firing all 1,934 of the city's teachers. The hearing was billed as a first step in building a collaborative relationship between the Providence Teachers Union and city administrators.
The relationship between Providence School Board President Kathleen Crain '93, Superintendent Tom Brady and Providence Teachers Union President Steve Smith has deteriorated since then. "I don't think I could make that same presentation today," Zurier said.
The negotiating parties may not accept the ideas the subcommittee has proposed, but significant changes to the current contract are necessary, Zurier told The Herald. Even though past negotiations have yielded small changes, the severity of the city's fiscal woes and looming changes for Providence schools could make this year different, he said.
