Teachers’ Union Sues to Get School District to Pay Teacher for Five Days at Family Reunion. The Folsom-Cordova Teachers Union wants taxpayers to pay for the five days that teacher Edith Hiatt took off work to attend a family reunion. Claiming the union's bargained contract with the school district requires Ms. Hiatt to be paid, the union filed suit in Sacramento Superior Court in January.
Mark Schultz, president of the teachers' union, said, "We have a contract and we feel it should be honored."
Steven Nichols, a district spokesman, said: "We don't want teachers to go on vacation in the school year, during instructional time. It's an additional cost we cannot afford to spend, especially right now."
(Cal-Tax: However, the issue is not that clear-cut. Most school boards have caved in to teachers’ unions, and now give time off with pay for "personal necessity," usually amounting to five to 10 days a year. Considering that teachers get ample vacations over summer, two weeks off at Christmas, a week at spring break and Easter, as well as sick leave, allowing additional time off for "personal necessity" is a big boondoggle. The issue in this case is whether attendance at a family reunion is a "personal necessity.") (Source: The Sacramento Bee, March 5.)
(Cal-Tax recommendation: School boards should not expand the opportunities for teachers to get full pay for not teaching. This is the hidden underbelly of school finance – when schools are promoting additional taxes and students are demonstrating around the state, this benefit and many others like it should be mentioned as areas where savings are possible.)
Cal-TaxReports, March 8, 2010
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