Friday, March 11, 2011

Legislative Session Ends

During the last 45 days the legislature passed over 500 bills. More than 240 were passed just this week. Probably even the legislators don't understand completely what they have done.

The UEA and DEA staffs will go to work analyzing how the bills impact schools, teachers and students as we begin preparations for negotiations. What we do know is that it could have been worse. Because our legislature has been frugal over the last two years and has not overspent in anticipation of an economic recovery (silver lining?), we are beginning to see improvements in funding rather than continued declines as in many other states. We still face some economic challenges caused by two years of unfunded growth, increasing retirement and social security costs, continuing increases in health insurance costs, and other pressures caused by the recession and other factors.

The UEA lobbying team will be posting legislative summaries over the next few days. Please continue to watch UEA Under the Dome for those updates. DEA will work closely with the District Administration to determine how the changes impact Davis School District. The final budget numbers will not be available to us until after spring break.