Agreement ratified by Utica Teachers Association
By: Chelsea Rarrick
Updated: June 21, 2012
The Utica City School District is facing a $10 million budget gap.
Over 200 positions were slated to be cut, but now some of those positions will be restored.
The Utica Teachers Association voted in favor of an agreement Thursday afternoon and the UTA Union President and UCSD Superintendent are both ready to move forward.
"It feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders," said UCSD Superintendent, Bruce Karam.
A weight of 60 teaching positions, full-day kindergarten, and a full day sports program in the hands of the UTA.
After coming to a tentative agreement last week, the UTA made a final decision Thursday evening.
By the UTA's vote in favor of the three year agreement, there will be a wage freeze during that period.
"The teachers really stepped up to this, they stepped up to the plate. They supported this because I believe they knew how important it was. I think the union did a great job in getting the message out there," said Karam.
Karam says this is a positive step for everyone, but he says it's still a school year that includes some deep cuts.
He says around 150 positions in the district will be gone for good.
"We've lost a lot of top level resources that we're never going to be able to call back and they're going to have an effect on our class sizes," he said.
And the root to all of these cuts in the district? State Aid.
"We don't get our fair share of state aid. The state aid formula has got to be looked at because moving into next year, there is no guarantee we're not going to have this problem again," said Karam.
Now that the agreement has been ratified, Karam says the next step will be to present it to the Board of Education Tuesday night.
Over 200 positions were slated to be cut, but now some of those positions will be restored.
The Utica Teachers Association voted in favor of an agreement Thursday afternoon and the UTA Union President and UCSD Superintendent are both ready to move forward.
"It feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders," said UCSD Superintendent, Bruce Karam.
A weight of 60 teaching positions, full-day kindergarten, and a full day sports program in the hands of the UTA.
After coming to a tentative agreement last week, the UTA made a final decision Thursday evening.
By the UTA's vote in favor of the three year agreement, there will be a wage freeze during that period.
"The teachers really stepped up to this, they stepped up to the plate. They supported this because I believe they knew how important it was. I think the union did a great job in getting the message out there," said Karam.
Karam says this is a positive step for everyone, but he says it's still a school year that includes some deep cuts.
He says around 150 positions in the district will be gone for good.
"We've lost a lot of top level resources that we're never going to be able to call back and they're going to have an effect on our class sizes," he said.
And the root to all of these cuts in the district? State Aid.
"We don't get our fair share of state aid. The state aid formula has got to be looked at because moving into next year, there is no guarantee we're not going to have this problem again," said Karam.
Now that the agreement has been ratified, Karam says the next step will be to present it to the Board of Education Tuesday night.
