Valley Grove School Board president Melanie Anderson has fired back in the ongoing public war of words between the school district and the Valley Grove Education Association.
The two sides have increasingly used school board meetings and statements to the newspaper to air their positions in the impasse regarding teacher contract negotiations. Teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, 2016.
Anderson sent a press release to the newspaper Thursday to address claims made earlier this week by the teachers union related to the perceived monetary differences in the two sides’ salary proposals and their effects on district finances over the next 10 years.
“Simply stated, the association is incorrect and its position demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of basic long-term budgeting,” Anderson added.
She went on to say that the district doesn’t dispute that the difference between the wages proposed in its final offer and the wages proposed by the association is the $56,000 amount cited by the teachers.
“This is because the approximate additional cost to the district during the life of the contract increases the overall budget baseline for wages in every year following the expiration of the contract,” Anderson said.
In this case, the total cost of the contract over the next 10 years would add up to $560,000, Anderson said.
More information on the district’s proposal can be found at vgsd.org.
