Thursday, September 17, 2009

UFT Loses Budget Sharing Arbitration- Updated

UPDATED (9 20 09): See an update on this issue from Jeff Kaufman:

Sharing Budget Information with Your UFT Chapter Leader: A Tale of Two Spins


As Chapter Leader, I used to use Article 8(C) to force my principal to share info, which she resisted strenuously.

Sharing Budget Information with Your UFT Chapter Leader
An arbitrator recently determined that, under Article 8(C) of the Teachers’ Contract, chapter leaders and other union representatives are not entitled to the full view of a school’s budget on the Galaxy Table of Organization. The arbitrator determined that principals in all schools must provide their chapter leader and chapter committee with a copy of the School Leadership Team view of the Galaxy Table of Organization at the opening of the school year in September and before the end of the school year in June. Principals should continue to consult with their chapter committees regarding use of school allocations and any budget modifications. If you have any questions regarding this issue, contact Kellie Walker at kwalker7@schools.nyc.gov or (212) 374-5398.

How did we lose this arbitration when the info is readily available under the Freedom of Information Law?- Jeff Kaufman

4 comments:

JW said...

Apart from Jeff's question, can someone explain the difference between the "full view" - to which CLs are not apparently entitled to see - and the "School Leadership Team view" - which they do get a chance to see twice a year?

And then explain why the secrecy.

Anonymous said...

THEY ALL LIE, THAT'S WHY

Anonymous said...

The full view budget from the galaxy provides a great deal of information. For instance, in the persession and Other Than Personnel Services (OTPS) you will see two columns on the right-hand side. One column shows the amount of money allocated for each category and the column to the left of it shows the amount of money committed or the amount already spent. It also shows the job ID for each line in the budget and the allocation funding line. It is more comprehensive than the SLT view. Trust me you will see a BIG difference.

JW said...

I'm not questioning the difference. I am SURE there's a big difference, and that's why they are attempting to hide it.
I just wanted it explained better, and if Anon. 10:41 is someone who really knows about it, can you write up a short post on this for the ICE blog ? (I get the feeling you're ICE anyway, so you know where to send it to get it posted. If it were a Unity person explaining this, it's not their inclination to actually help the membership by clarifiying, posting, or demanding something as simple as this.)

Everyone should know about this.
If people have weak chapter leaders who don't get into this level of detail (sometimes they're intimidated, so I'm not blaming them), they have to know what's going on.