FRANKLIN, Pa. — Valley Grove Education Association leaders hand-delivered a strike notice Wednesday.

It was given to the superintendent of the Valley Grove School District indicating that the members of the Association “will commence a strike” on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, if a tentative agreement on a new contract is not reached prior to that date.

“Today marks 705 days since our contract expired and, as our signs read at the last board meeting, our members will not accept one more year without a contract,” said VGEA President Amanda Fox Culver.

“It should be crystal clear to the school board that their ‘final offer’ is unacceptable to our members. We have 83 days to find a solution, and we hope that the board’s negotiations team will get serious and work with us to find an acceptable agreement.”

At the heart of the disagreement are wage increases and healthcare contributions, with the Association proposing a 2.6 percent average increase and the school board insisting on average increases of 2.34 percent – a difference of roughly $56,000 total over the life of the contract. On healthcare, the Association has already proposed to increase their contributions and to move those increases from the last year of the proposed five-year contract to the 2018-2019 school year. What should not be in dispute, according to the Association, is the school district’s ability to fund fair increases without compromising its nearly unheard of 70% fund balance.

“The district reported $9.7 million in cash or near-cash investments at the end of 2016-17 compared to $1.5 million in liabilities. That’s $6.41 in cash for every $1 in liabilities, which is more than four times higher than the $1.50-to-$1 ratio considered indicative of sound fiscal health by financial analysts,” said Fox Culver.

“The district has adopted budgets that were in deficit every year since 2009. They only ran a deficit twice since then – including a one-time debt service payment of $5.7 million. So, in 2015-16, they projected a budget deficit of $0.7 million but actually had a $0.7 million surplus. In 2016-17, the district projected a $0.8 million deficit, but actually realized a $2.2 million surplus – part of which included $1.7 million in state reimbursement of bond payments, but that still leaves a $0.5 million surplus which was heaped on the $9 million fund balance.”

All of which points to the school board’s ability to reach a fair agreement but inability to compromise from the perspective of the Association.

“The board may claim whatever justification it wants for refusing to bargain with us, but the fact of the matter is that they can easily meet a fair contract,” said Fox Culver.

“Yet, this is what we continually see in negotiations from this school board: an attitude that they are the bosses, and they will try to impose what they want instead of what is fair. It’s ridiculous that we even have to prepare for a strike when we’re separated by only $56,000.”