Can we talk about the ILLEGAL Teachers Union strike of 2018 that starved the Battle Ground School District of its financial resources?
The WEA and BGEA (teacher and union organizations) are solely responsible for our funding shortages. They are the reason we’ve had multiple levy failures and have serious funding shortages.
No crossing guards? Blame it on them. No school sports? The union stole that money. No extracurricular activities. Those funds were robbed during an illegal strike that held our community hostage while the unions enriched themselves.
They are hoping we don’t remember this heinous act that opened the 2018-2019 school year. Even though it’s against state statute to strike, the WEA decided to commandeer a temporary increase in funding at that time.
School levies were supposed to end (or be a single-digit percentage of operating funds). The McCleary decision required the state to fully fund public education, and we saw massive property tax increases in 2018. We were promised the taxes would adjust back down as the local school levies expired.
This created a temporary pool of money for a few years. The union saw this temporary money as permanent and then decided to grab a large share for their members.
The strike started at the beginning of the school year. Kids were kept from class, parents scrambled to balance childcare, jobs and disrupted family schedules. It was coordinated throughout the state and every school district suffered the consequences.
The union demanded massive pay increases. Many districts caved right away and gave the union what it wanted. To its credit, the Battle Ground School District held out for over a week. Administrators publicly stated that the pay demands were unsustainable and that the funds targeted were temporary.
The union was counting on the public forgetting about the promise of reduced levy taxes. Plus, it wouldn't be their problem because they had secured large permanent pay increases.
Now what? I will not vote in support of any levy funding because I fear the teachers and union will swoop in, strike and demand a bigger share of education funds.
We need to acknowledge the mistakes made in 2018 that have affected school funding today. A clear reset is needed to sustain our school funding into the future.
I propose that the WEA and BGEA reverse their ridiculous 25%+ pay increases from 2018. If they give back a mere 10%, it would relieve the funding pressure. Almost 90% of the district’s expenses go to employee salaries and benefits. In addition, I would demand a no-strike clause with clear financial penalties
All the guilt trips published in support of the levies suggest that taxpayers don’t care about kids if they vote against them. Yet the clear and present issue is well defined and easily identified.
We knew long ago, and were warned, that the union's demands were unsustainable. Does the union care about the kids, or does it all fall on the taxpayers?
Ritch West
Brush Prairies
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