MUNCIE — Muncie Community Schools lawyers have filed an appeal of a state fact finder's report that found in favor of the Muncie Teachers Association and against MCS in a collective-bargaining impasse.
Fact finder Sandra Jensen last month accepted the MTA's "last best offer," which, according to the school corporation, "results in deficit financing and therefore is void and/or is contrary to Indiana law."
On Jan. 1, 2016, MCS's general fund cash balance was $301,030. Twelve months later, on Dec. 31, 2016, the balance was negative $10,137,825.
"… it is simply inconceivable" that MTA's offer "would not worsen that deficit," attorney William T. Hopkins Jr. wrote in the appeal to the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB).
MCS’s "last best offer" (LBO) included significant cuts in teacher salaries and benefits applicable retroactively to July 1, 2015.
Other arguments in the appeal filed by Hopkins and other lawyers from Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg:
• In her fact finding determination, Jensen failed to account for the school corporation's payment on Dec. 30, 2016, of $10,267,875 for so-called "joint services" expenses including special education, vocational education and the Youth Opportunity School for troubled children.