Bismarck Tribune

By KAYLA COGDILLBy KAYLA COGDILL

The Mandan School Board and the Mandan Education Association were forced to publish a fact-finding commission's report Friday because they couldn't settle on teacher salaries.

After the school board declared an impasse, the negotiators met with the fact-finding commission in July and were later given a 20-day deadline to come to an agreement before the commission's recommendations would be printed in the Mandan News. The deadline has passed, and the public can see what the commission has to say about the negotiations.

The report outlines the commission's recommendations on seven items that were brought before it. The bottom fourth of the page consists of the comments and observations of the commission's chairman, Kermit Lidstrom.

He told both sides to give a little bit to come to an agreement. The commission's proposal requires veteran teachers to sacrifice a portion of their future income and the board would have to inject $70,000 to $95,000 of new money into the salary schedule created by the commission.

From the start, board negotiators said the district doesn't have enough money to give teachers the salary increases they want. The board wants to increase the base pay to attract new teachers to the district, but increases for veteran teachers wouldn't keep balanced with the base pay increase.

In the report, Lidstrom said, "I disagree! The Board has over 1,800,000 dollars of reserve funds. They could have easily financed the Commission's plan. The members of the Mandan Board of Education (school board) were wrong when they refused to accept the sensible recommendations proposed by the Fact Finding Commission."

The $1.8 million that Lidstrom said the district should use toward teacher salaries comes from the general fund budget. This budget is used to pay for the district's electrical and gas bill and all summer staff salaries. The $1.8 million is approximately 9 percent of the district's budge, and the state suggests school districts set aside 12 percent to 13 percent of their budget.

Without the money in the operating budget, the district would have to borrow money from the bank to pay bills and salaries during the summer, while waiting for new monies from the state and property tax revenues. Usually the district is able to start replenishing the budget by the end of August or early September when new monies come in.

Lidstrom couldn't be reached for comment Friday on why he thought salary increases should come from the general fund budget.

Although the board and the MEA wanted to give teachers contracts, there wasn't enough time for the negotiators to meet again before school starts on Tuesday.

"Obviously, starting the school year without a contract is a horrible morale issue," said David Mellen, MEA negotiator.

Teachers with the MEA said they're expecting the board to impose contracts.

Lynn Wolf, president of the school board and board negotiator, said he couldn't comment on the commission's report Friday afternoon because he hadn't been able to read it while at work. He did say the board will call a special meeting sometime next week to discuss the report.

"My hope is to have all of this wrapped up in a week and a half or so," Wolf said.

The board won't have a week and a half to wait before the teachers react. Mellen said the MEA is going to have a silent protest Monday morning at a welcome-back breakfast at the high school at 7:30 a.m.