Membership Matters! Grievance Settled! Teachers receive back pay!

We have some exciting developments for those of you who are middle and high school teachers who have been shouldering the burden of staff shortages over the last few years. Thanks to three courageous and determined AEA teachers, a grievance has been settled related to course overages and teaching loads. Some of you will be or have recently gotten notice from ACPS that you will be getting additional pay in April and/or May.

The grievance centered on interpretation of both the Standards of Accreditation and VRS policy. VEA successfully changed the law for class and student overloads. It now requires additional, appropriate compensation for middle and high school teachers who teach over 25 course periods a week or have more than 150 students a semester. Additionally, if a middle or high school teacher does not have a daily planning period of at least the same length as a student class period, appropriate compensation must be provided. This law went into effect on January 1, 2018.

While working out the details of the grievance, AEA with support from VEA also argued that VRS guidance had shifted in recent years, and that all compensation related to a teacher’s regular classroom teaching assignment should be included in creditable compensation. VEA’s government relations and legal teams worked hard to secure this change. This guidance was first published at the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

After many months of discussion and exchanging of proposals for settlement, ACPS has agreed to both points, and will be paying back pay from the current year back to the second semester of the 2017-2018 school year to affected teachers. Additionally, anyone who has received or will now receive additional compensation related to the 2019-20, 2020-21 or 2021-22 school years will have their VRS payments for those years increased, which will affect future retirement earnings for many of you. Those teachers identified by ACPS from Schoology or other records will be receiving details of their settlements shortly. Members who feel they should receive pay but do not receive a notice from ACPS, should let us know so we can begin investigating your specific situation.

If you aren't a member yet, you can join the fight for our public schools at https://vea.link/albemarlemembership