School district appeals court decision

The contentious issue of who should be teaching pre-kindergarten children in the Lawrence School District may not be resolved until later this year.

The district is appealing a State Supreme Court ruling issued on Feb. 2 that overturned a 2015 Public Employment Relations Board decision dismissing a 2012 Lawrence Teachers Association complaint against the district. The LTA had claimed that the school district violated the law when it didn’t negotiate with the union before outsourcing the Universal Pre-K program. According to the LTA, union members had taught the program exclusively since its inception in 2006.

“The statute states that the districts ‘shall be authorized’ to enter these contracts; there is no unequivocal directive to take certain action that it leaves no room for bargaining,” Justice Patrick J. McGrath wrote in his decision.

The court determined that the district was required to bargain with the LTA if the program had been taught solely by union members. The case was remanded to the Public Employment Relations Board to find out if that was the case. The district has filed an appeal of the Supreme Court decision with the state appellate division.

“If PERB rules in the LTA’s favor, pre-K instructional services will have to be performed by LTA members, and the district may be liable for back pay and benefits for those employees affected by the contracting-out,” said LTA President Lori Skonberg.

A pre-K program, known then as Experimental pre-K, was implemented in 1960, based on income eligibility. It was funded by a State Education Department grant. The program then became known as Targeted pre-K. Both programs were taught by LTA teachers, according to information provided by the school district and the LTA. From 1991 to 2006, the district operated a fee-based and district-subsidized Creative Child program that was not taught by LTA teachers.

In 2006, the original grant was revised and the income criteria removed, and the program became known as Universal Pre-K, Dr. Ann Pedersen, the district’s deputy superintendent, explained. “The UPK grant required collaboration with an outside agency for at least 10 percent or up to 100 percent of the grant,” Pedersen said. “The first year, we were given a waiver from that. Each year after that, we collaborated with the Five Towns Early Learning Center for a portion of the grant.”

The school district has outsourced the Universal Pre-K program and partnered with St. Joseph’s College for certified instructors since the 2012-13 school year. Universal Pre-K is not state mandated, so the district is permitted to outsource the program. Four years ago, Lawrence needed to plug a $3.2 million budget gap and lay off teachers for a second consecutive year, and 13 senior pre-K faculty members were offered a $30,000 incentive to retire. Nine teacher-aides were also laid off.

PERB based its June 2015 decision on a similar case involving the upstate Springs School District, which determined that universal pre-K was not subject to mandatory collective bargaining in 2012.

“We find that the broad and explicit language of Education Law §3602-e.5(d) demonstrates a clear intent to grant districts the right to contract with eligible agencies for any necessary services for implementation in its pre-kindergarten plan, ‘notwithstanding any other provision of law’ including the Public Employees Fair Employment Act,” the PERB board wrote in its decision.

“The issue is now exclusively really simple on appeal,” said Christopher Kirby, a lawyer for Minerva & D’Agostino, which represents the Lawrence School District. “Did the New York State Legislature intend for universal pre-K to be an exception to collective bargaining?” He said he expects the State Court of Appeals to reach a decision later this year.

Do you have an opinion on legal battle between the school district and LTA? Send letters to jbessen@liherald.com.