Huron Expositor, 2006-11-01, Page 27News
The Huron Expositor • November 1, 2006 Pogo 27
School trustees surprised and angry over news
of provincial funding for pay increases
Stew Slater
Trustees of the Avon Maitland
District School Board had two dis-
tinct reactions to news the provin-
cial government will provide fund-
ing for a retroactive pay increase
dating back to Sept. 1, 2005.
The first was surprise that any
money was made available; the sec-
ond was anger that it wasn't as
much as some hoped.
"We were promised (an increase
from the $5,000 annual honorari-
um) two -and -a -half years ago,"
claimed Perth East representative
Tina Traschel, ata regular meeting
Tuesday, Oct. 24. "If (the govern-
ment) had done it then, it would not
even have had to be retroactive."
In September, thenine-member
board approved an approximate
two -fold increase -in trustee remu-
neration going forward from the
Nov. 13 municipal election -- the
maximum allowed under an
Education Ministry memorandum
(the limit was much higher in some
areas, including about $25,000
annually in Toronto).
This was done after
word the funding for
that increase would be
made available by the
government.
At the time, the gov-
ernment also gave the
go-ahead for boards to
award themselves
retroactive pay raises
dating back to
September, 2005. But
no funding for that was
made available immedi-
ately.
More recently, funding was
announced, but only for a portion of
the retroactive pay.
For the Avon Maitland board, that
translates into $2,725 per trustee,
as opposed to the government's
limit of $5,450.
"Over 85 per cent of the other
boards have taken the full retroac-
tive amount, even without knowing
about the funding from
the government,"
Traschel said, when
the issue came before
the board Oct. 24.
She labelled it an
issue of respect, argu-
ing the board should
take the full retroac-
tive amount -- and
cover the difference
out of its existing bud-
get -- in order to avoid
sending a message to
the government that
it's okay to back down on
commitments.
Veteran North Huron representa-
tive Colleen Schenk, a regional vice-
president with the Ontario Public
School Boards Association, agreed
with Traschel.
But they cast the only two votes
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in favour of Traschel's proposed
amendment to increase the retroac-
tive pay to the full limit. Instead,
trustees eventually chose to accept
$2,725.
South Huron trustee Randy
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board chair Meg Westley of
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"I didn't think we were going to
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Perth South/West Perth represen-
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