TUSD Teachers Need Your Support Again in Accessing ALL of their 301 Dollars. Please help.

Last week, TUSD's CFO Karla Soto submitted an updated financial report in which TUSD finally acknowledges that the 301 surplus amount is $14, 988, 595 million. If TUSD were to debit $3 million from this amount to pay for the 2016/16 301 Pay for Performance Contract, the sum goes down to $11, 988, 000 million. That is about $2.4 million still left over from the 2012-2015/16 surplus years, which translates to about $1,000 that TUSD would still owe teachers (if the money was divided equally between all teachers). The problem for teachers is that the 301 Joint Committee wrote a 2nd Amendment regarding left over 301 money that specifically exempts any left over surplus money from the 2012-2015/16 years from being distributed to teachers. It says: “This Second Amendment addresses the Fund 12 Performance Pay funds that were received by the District during the 2016-2017 budget year (“New Funds”). It does not apply to the approximately $9.5 million dollars of “surplus balance” discussed in the “First Amendment” approved by the Governing Board on December 13, 2016.” (Second Amendment to Tucson Unified School District
 2016-2017 301 Pay for Performance Plan Submitted by the 301 District and TEA Joint Task Force) Given the fact that TUSD is finally acknowledging a $14.9 million surplus and teachers were once again asked to vote on a measure without having all of the pertinent information, the Governing Board must protect themselves and teachers and reject this measure when it comes up for their approval on March 7, 2017. To worsen this matter, in drafting the Second Amendment, the 301 Joint Committee met without notifying teachers and publishing minutes to their meetings, so stakeholders were excluded from participating and advising their process. In fact Board Member Rachel Sedgwick confirmed with a TUSD lawyer that because this committee was negotiating a contract dealing with public funds, indeed, all meeting minutes should have been made available for public perusal and commentary. Next in the 2017 December Governing Board Meeting Dr. Sanchez also recommended the input of an independent auditor to ensure accuracy; that did not happen. In sum the 301 Joint Committee's process completely contradicted what the Governing Board directed them to do. To further complicate the situation, this committee used Survey Monkey to conduct the vote, but it has been shown that depending on how the survey originator sets up the survey, results can be internally changed. Please email the Governing Board and or attend the next meeting scheduled for March 7, 2017 at Duffy Elementary. Speak at the "Call to the Audience." Ask the TUSD Governing Board to reject the 301 Joint Committee's 2nd Amendment and compel this group to return to the "drawing board" and write an amendment that both includes all stakeholders and finally liquidates the 301 Pay for Performance Fund. This chapter in TUSD history must come to an end. Arizona voters must be confident that when they vote for a measure to fund teachers, all of these dollars are allocated correctly. If these kinds of business practices continue, we risk losing voter support on future propositions. Sincerely, Tucson Supports Teachers