FEBRUARY 2003

VOL. 13 NO. 7

1. The revenue, expenditures, and balances within the CCASA Association and Trust Fund Accounts were reviewed.

2. A review of the status of:

A. EMRB Complaint – While the decision of the EMRB was in favor of the District, attorneys for both sides felt that the decision rendered little if any clarification;

B. Unused Sick Leave Payout – a payout of $890 was approved for an administrator who recently retired;

C. CCASA Invest Donation – A $250 donation was made to the Nevada School Boards Association to support the promotion of the Invest proposal;

D. Administrators' Pictures – The Superintendent agreed to limit access to administrators' pictures on the District's website to cabinet administrators and board members;

E. Secondary Deans and Assistant Principals Activity Stipend – For the activity stipend to become PERS sensitive, it can no longer be paid as a lump sum payment. It was approved that the $2,000 stipend be paid proportionately over each pay day beginning on the March 25, 2003 pay day;

F. CCASA / Governor Guinn Meeting – The meeting originally scheduled for January 27, 2003, was cancelled due to Governor Guinn being out-of-town. The meeting will be rescheduled;

3. New Business:

A. CCASA Scholarship – Scholarship materials will be mailed out to high schools on February 10 and are due back to Mark Coleman at Silverado High School by March 28, 2003;

B. Edison Schools – CCASA previously agreed that stock options and/or bonuses may be paid to Edison principals for outstanding performance. The Edison criteria used to determine whether stock options and/or bonuses will be paid to Edison principals was reviewed;

C. Lawsuit – It was approved that CCASA would not seek costs and expenses incurred from a lawsuit that was recently dismissed from District Court;

D. Administrator / Teacher Salary Comparison – An analysis comparing teacher and administrator salaries was distributed and discussed;

E. Administrative Evaluation Committee – The first meeting of this committee was held on January 24, 2003. Additional meetings have been scheduled for February 13 and March 6;

4. Committee Reports:

A. CCAESP – Del Bean, President, reported that CCAESP continues to meet with Dr. Orci and Dr. Rulffes to discuss the creation of a formula for the allocation of elementary assistant principals;

B. CCASSP – Doug Gougar, President, reported that the NASSP convention will be held in San Diego;

C. Legal – Jerry Boles, Legal Committee Chairperson, reported on the recent Legal Committee training;

D. Reclassification – Mark Coleman, CCASA President, reported that reclassification materials will be distributed and fully discussed as part of the retreat agenda;

E. Administrators' Leadership Network – Stephen Augspurger reported that John Ralston has agreed to speak to administrators at an evening dinner meeting. Tentative dates were discussed;

5. Executive Director’s Report – Stephen provided a review of the accountant's report, the membership report, and the various CCASA activities and the types of assistance provided to CCASA members.

6. The major items discussed during the retreat included the following:

A. CCASA Trust Fund Actuarial Review – The results of the recent actuarial review were outlined. As a result of the actuarial review, the Representative Council authorized the payouts for unused sick leave and retired medical to remain unchanged;

B. Administrative Reclassification – The classification system for central office positions, school based positions and the proposed reclassification regulation were reviewed in detail. State and District budget concerns will impede the progress of implementation;

C. CCASA Constitution and Policies – The Representative Council approved language changes to Policy #3 (Legal Assistance) and Policy #4 (Unused Sick Leave). Changes to the policies will be posted on the CCASA website at www.CCASA.net.;

D. Administrators' Advisory Meeting Agenda Agenda items were developed for the February 26, 2003, Administrators' Advisory Council Meeting with Mr. Garcia;

E. 2003-2004 CCASA Budget Development The procedure and time table for the development of the 2003-2004 budget was outlined;

F. CCASA Office Staff – The Representative Council approved CCASA office staff salaries for 2003-2004;

G. 72nd Nevada Legislative Session – Governor Guinn's education spending priorities were reviewed and an overview and history of the CCASA legislative effort was provided. The Representative Council approved CCASA's participation in a joint effort with the District to establish an email procedure to influence the opinions of state legislators regarding bills related to education funding;

H. Negotiations 2003-2005 – Negotiations input received from the December survey was reviewed. Negotiation team work sessions have been scheduled for February 11 and 24; and

I. Member Survey – It was recommended and approved that CCASA would not conduct a member survey at this time.

Beginning in the fall of 1996, the CCASA Representative Council authorized an actuarial review to project the receipts and expenditures from Unused Sick Leave and Retiree Medical accounts within the CCASA Welfare Trust. Follow-up reviews were authorized in 1998, 2000, and 2002. Lebenson Actuarial Services and the CCASA staff have utilized each review to refine the assumptions regarding administrative growth and investment return. The reviews are used to determine if the fund balances in each of the accounts throughout the 10 year period are increasing commensurately with the administrative growth. The review allows the Representative Council to determine:

a. If the payouts should remain the same.

b. If the payouts could be increased.

c. If the negotiated amounts going into the trust fund should be increased from the $6.65 per month per administrator for the unused sick leave benefit or the $5.80 per month per administrator for the retiree medical benefit.

The most recent review resulted in the Representative Council authorizing the payouts to remain unchanged. However, the projected fund balances over the next 10 years are not projected to increase commensurately with the administrative growth. In 2004 if payouts are to remain unchanged, it is anticipated that the negotiated amounts will need to be increased if we are to maintain a fund balance that matches the increased liability that will exist due to the administrative growth.

The CCASA staff and Representative Council will continue to monitor the fund balances to ensure that the payouts will be there when you decide to retire.

The CCASA Negotiation Team held a work session on Tuesday, February 11, 2003, to begin preparing for the 2003-2005 CCSD and CCASA Negotiated Agreement. Much of the meeting was spent reviewing the responses to the Negotiation Input document mailed out in the December Unifier. If you have not returned the document, you may do so at this time or you may call any member of the CCASA Negotiation Team to discuss your recommendations.

Articles and topics identified to be addressed in this contract include:

• Article 4 Grievance and Arbitration Procedure
• Article 9 Personnel Files
• Article 12 Extended Leaves of Absence
• Article 15 Work Day
• Article 20 Professional Compensation
• Article 21 Health Benefits – Welfare Trust
• Article 22 Public Employees Retirement System
• Article 27 Progressive Discipline

Additional topics may include reclassification, responsibility pay, transfer, and year round school stipend.
The CCASA Negotiation Team is composed of Jerry Boles, Mark Coleman, Dusty Dickens, Ken Fowler, David Harcourt, Linda Kemp, Mike Kinnaird, Ron Montoya, Jessie Phee, Allin Chandler, and Stephen Augspurger.

The next meeting of the Administrators’ Advisory Council will be held with Superintendent Garcia on Wednesday, February 26, 2003. Tentative topics for the meeting include administrators’ dress requirements, excessive region meetings, region leadership and management, CCSD budget, teacher evaluation document, school emergency plans, proficiency testing, curriculum services, Invest priorities, elementary assistant principals, and school staffing. The discussion of these topics will be reported to administrators in the March Unifier.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

The 72nd Session of the Nevada Legislature opened on Monday, February 3, 2003. Although most of the discussion regarding the session has centered on the issue of taxes, a total of 1123 bill draft requests have been submitted to the Legislative Council Bureau. Of these bill drafts, 127 address issues of concern to CCASA members which include education (83), insurance (23), PERS (11), taxes (3), and miscellaneous (7).

Of the 187 bills introduced in the Senate and the 175 bills introduced in the Assembly, CCASA has to date analyzed 40 of them and has identified 31 to track throughout the session.

The following bills that are being tracked are provided for your information:

The full text of these bills can be found at www.leg.state.nv.us within the 2003 session information.