CMNEA Recommends Dubbert and Rainsberger

CMNEA endorses two challengers for Columbia Board of Education

By THE TRIBUNE'S STAFF

Paul Rainsberger

Sarah Dubbert

Friday, March 4, 2016 
Teachers represented by the Columbia Missouri National Education Association have voted to recommend two challengers to the Columbia Board of Education in the April 5 election.

CMNEA members are supporting Sarah Dubbert and Paul Rainsberger for election to the board. Five candidates are vying for two board positions in the election. The other candidates are Joe Toepke and incumbents Jim Whitt and Jan Mees.

The recommendations come after a screening process that included candidate questionnaires, an interview with teachers and a public forum.

“We are optimistic that Mr. Rainsberger and Mrs. Dubbert will guide our district into its next phase of providing an outstanding education for all the students of Columbia Public Schools,” CMNEA President Kathy Steinhoff said in a news release.

Teachers also voted to recommend “yes” votes on the operating levy increase and a bond issue proposed by the school board.

The district is seeking an operating levy increase of 65 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. It would generate about $14.6 million annually. Nearly half of it would be used to improve employee salaries, and another $6.6 million would fund existing operations and eliminate deficit spending. The remaining $720,000 would go toward student programs including career and technical education.

The $30 million bond issue won’t require a tax increase. It would be used to buy land and design a future middle school in south Columbia, add to an elementary school, expand a school kitchen and pay for other work.

The bond issue must be approved by 57.14 percent of voters; the operating levy increase requires a simple majority vote for approval.

The Latest in Negotiations with CMNEA and CPS

School board team wants CPS teacher salary discussions to wait

By ROGER MCKINNEY

Tuesday, March 1, 2016 

Any discussion about raising salaries for Columbia Public Schools teachers must wait until after the April 5 election, CPS Deputy Superintendent Dana Clippard told the negotiating team for the teachers union on Monday.

The Columbia Missouri National Education Association team earlier in the meeting had presented its proposal to restore salaries frozen in 2009-10. Kathy Steinhoff, CMNEA president, said the step could be restored using district reserve funds.“I just hope this is something we can agree to very soon,” Steinhoff said.

“This is the utmost importance to everybody in our unit,” said CMNEA team member Mary Grupe. Restoring the frozen step was the proposal the fewest number of members wanted to drop when surveyed last week after the district limited its proposals to five in addition to salary.

The CMNEA team last week introduced its request to increase the minimum salary for teachers to $35,402 and raise teachers’ base pay by 6 percent, to $32,344. New university graduates receive the minimum salary their first four years on the job. In the fifth year, salaries are calculated with a formula using the base pay.

The April 5 ballot will include a CPS proposal to increase its property tax levy to fund operations by 65 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to raise an extra $14.625 million annually. Nearly half of that would be dedicated to improving employee salaries. There’s also a $30 million bond issue on the ballot, with no tax increase required.

After the meeting, Clippard did not answer directly when asked if the district’s position on compensation depends on the election result.

“We’re saying it’s premature to do compensation until after the election,” Clippard said. “We’re asking for a deferred discussion.”

She said it was important to discuss the salary request and restoring frozen salaries at the same time, rather than separately, because both are related to compensation.

“I think we need to be sensitive to the issues the election presents to the voters and the timing of these discussions,” Clippard said.

Grupe said after the session that it seems the board’s team is saying that the district’s answer on salaries will depend on the election result. She said it would have been simple for the board’s team to address the frozen salaries.

“What a way to demonstrate value to teachers,” she said. “We believe it can be done regardless of the bond and levy election.”

The CMNEA team was allowed to present five proposals in addition to the salary proposal. One of them was restoring frozen salaries.

Others were:

• Protection of planning time.
• Twelve days of short-term leave per year, with unused time accumulating and the ability to use five consecutive days.
• The right for a teacher to have a representative present during disciplinary meetings with supervisors.
• A limit of two hours per month of required meetings and events outside the school day, with 24 hours notice provided and none before 6:30 a.m.

Based on the survey, the CMNEA team dropped a proposal to protect teacher time during preparation for the school year. The board team agreed to present the proposal to the Columbia Board of Education.

The team representing CPS officials also presented at the end of the meeting its language in response to the CMNEA team’s nonsalary proposals.

“We gave a sincere attempt to capture the essence of their concerns,” Clippard said.

If there is no agreement at the end of the bargaining sessions, the current agreement remains in place through the end of June 2017.

CMNEA Volunteers Needed to Support School Board Candidate

Calling All Volunteers!

As CMNEA prepares for our Columbia school board candidate(s) recommended vote next week, we are also preparing to hit the ground running to support our recommended candidate(s) in race. We will need CMNEA members to help with the following:

• Canvass YOUR neighborhood one Saturday in March to share who to vote for in the April 5th School Board election.
• Write letters to the Columbia Daily Tribune and/or Columbia Missourian in support for our recommended candidate(s).
• Take a yard sign to show support.
• Facebook and Tweet 

We must all step up to do our part to help support our association. If each of the 600+ CMNEA members talked to their neighbors, wrote a letter, put up a sign and spread the news, CMNEA help help our students earn what they deserve the most, the best school district in our state.

Please contact Monica: scootersaunt@gmail.com  with your HOME email and let her know how you will volunteer.

Many hands make for light work! 

Boone County Democratic Chili Dinner and Fundraiser

Join the Fun and Meet Area Candidates!

It is a wonderful way to meet candidates who are running for area offices and learn how their campaigns are going. If you are attending, please do not wear any of your CMNEA and MNEA materials. We have not endorsed anyone at the state or local level. Thank you for understanding!

Join CMNEA For Our School Board Public Forum

CMNEA- Attend the Screenings!

CMNEA's Columbia Public School Candidate Screenings!

CMNEA educators and staff in the Columbia Public School district are invited to attend the school board screenings. Here is what you will need to know:

• When-  February 10th- our last screening

• Where- Mary Paxton Keeley Elementary School Media Center (201 Park DeVille Dr.)

• Time- 6:00 -8:00 p.m.

• What can I do as an audience participant- You may come to watch/listen to the questions asked of the candidates. A basket with cards/pencils will be placed out and available for you to write a question of the candidates. If time allows, the CMNEA screening team will ask your question. Our questions are based on our survey that was sent to the candidates earlier, and we will follow up on questions for clarity and better understanding. Our forum will focus on details of the goals that the candidates have as continuing or future board members.

• Is this the public forum? NO! This is a screening of the candidates, for CMNEA members to get to know the candidates a bit better. The PUBLIC FORUM will take place on February 18th and ALL are invited to attend.

Hope you can join us!

New Candidate for 46th MO District Seat

Boone County official enters 46th District House race

By MATTHEW SANDERS

Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 12:00 am

A Boone County elected official said Friday she will challenge a fellow Democrat to represent her party in the November election for the 46th District seat in the Missouri House.

Public Administrator Cathy Richards, who was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, said she is running as a Democrat who can work with the Republicans who hold solid majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. She will face social worker Martha Stevens in the August primary. Stevens is backed by the current 46th District representative, Stephen Webber, who is seeking a state Senate seat.

Richards said Paul Quinn, a former Democratic state representative from Boone County, is chairman of her campaign committee, which also includes Republicans.

“I’m going as a moderate Democrat, not a liberal Democrat,” Richards said. “I believe that, through communication and cooperation and consensus, we can get something done.”

Richards said political parties, including her own, have put party advancement over the best interests of their constituents, as illustrated by the tenor of today’s political battles.

“Number one, I want to go for the people, not the party,” Richards said. “Number two, I really want to be a representative. ... I want to represent the district,” instead of fighting purely ideological battles.

Richards said voters need a choice in candidates other than those picked by a select few who hold political power. She said those comments were not aimed at Stevens, but more a general observation of how political parties operate.

Richards said she was inspired to run in part by archaic state laws governing how public administrators care for their wards. The public administrator serves as the court-appointed guardian or conservator for incapacitated or disabled persons and minors. The administrator also is the personal representative in the estates of deceased clients. She said she has experience working in the state Capitol as president of the Missouri Association of Public Administrators. She is also on the board of the Missouri Association of Counties.

She said she supports Medicaid expansion, one of Stevens’ main campaign planks, but also thinks the system should be scrutinized to root out waste. The state, Richards said, is falling short in its obligations to the poor.

Her campaign’s late start compared to Stevens, whose campaign started in March, is not a concern, Richards said, citing her experience running in two primaries and two general elections. “I’ve always had somebody running against me,” she said. “I’m not saying that it didn’t bother me, because it was a lot of work for me. … But that’s democracy working.”

Stevens’ campaign said Thursday it raised $35,870.98 in 2015. Reports for the fourth quarter of 2015 are due Friday.

Stevens said she had heard Richards was interested in running but did not know Friday evening that Richards had entered the race. She said having an opponent will not alter her approach to the campaign.

“I welcome Cathy to the table and hope that we have a positive and spirited campaign,” Stevens said.

Don Waterman, a U.S. Navy veteran currently employed by Bass Pro Shops, is the only Republican so far to enter the 46th District race. Filing for the August primary begins Feb. 23.