School district salary subsidies for teachers' union raise eyebrows

Miami-Dade County Public Schools is paying the United Teachers of Dade more than $1 million this year to subsidize the salaries of 18 union employees, according to an official M-DCPS document. Although the UTD has to reimburse the district for four of the salary subsidies -- a total of $171,827 -- it does not have to repay over $800,000.

The UTD represents the interests of more than 38,000 district employees, mostly teachers, and is currently battling the district for better salaries and benefits for its members. The revelation that the district is subsidizing the salaries of UTD employees, including President Karen Aronowitz and Vice-President Arthur Leichner, has raised eyebrows.

"The people who have to be upset are teachers," said school board member Marta Pérez. "There might be a conflict of interest where the union is representing teachers while being paid by the district."

M-DCPS spokesman John Schuster defended the subsidies, saying they are sanctioned by the district’s contract with the UTD.
For the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, the UTD has reimbursed $156,785 on behalf of President Aronowitz, Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram and two other UTD staffers, according to documentation provided by M-DCPS Assistant Superintendent Diana Urbizu.

But, according to Schuster, the UTD has not reimbursed -- and does not have to pay back -- any of the $841,594 the district provided for the 14 other union employees on its payroll, including Vice-President Leichner.

Many of UTD's employees are former teachers who left the classroom to work for the union. The district subsidizes their salaries commensurate with what they were making as M-DCPS employees, a provision that allows district employees to work for the union without losing their tenure or benefits.

The district has provided quarterly invoices that it sent to the UTD requesting reimbursement this fiscal year, as well as a list of check numbers evidently issued to the district by the union. The district did not include copies of the checks themselves.

"The information was very vague," board member Ana Rivas Logan said. "I got a memo with a dollar amount per year, but I don't even know what it means. Do I trust what the administration gives us? No, I don't trust what they give us."

Invoices from recent years show that the district has often had the UTD reimburse the salary subsidies of more than four employees. During a single quarter of the 2006-07 fiscal year, for example, the district billed the UTD $166,100 for salary subsidies to 10 union employees—$10,000 more than the district has billed the UTD for the first three quarters of the current fiscal year.

Aronowitz declined to answer questions but did issue a statement on the UTD's Web site:

"A school board member [is using] union-busting tactics to throw dirt on negotiated release time for union officers and its members. It is an attempt to silence our teachers ... and limit their access to fair representation before the district."

The statement also said that "this is a long-standing contractual provision" approved by the school board.

Ceresta Smith, a 19-year UTD member and teacher at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High, said she would like to see the salary subsidies discontinued.

“This is not good business,” Smith said. “How can you aggressively bargain with your benefactor? If you’re negotiating for better teacher salaries with someone who is paying you—it’s a little sticky. You don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you.”

Several board members have hinted that they might push to bring an end to the union subsidies, especially now that money is tight.

"If we are cutting back on 10 percent of all expenses, certainly this is one we need to look at," Pérez said.

"The Superintendent has said very clearly that everything is on the table,” board member Martin Karp said. “We need to take a look at everything when considering where we can make cuts, and this is one piece of the puzzle."

For now, the subsidies will continue. According to the M-DCPS online check register, the district wrote a check to the UTD for $19,548 as recently as May 16.

Published on May 22, 2008 in the Miami SunPost.