GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Tina Ratliff never expected her teaching career would qualify her for public assistance.

The second-grade teacher at Grand Rapids Public Schools’ Burton Elementary was among nearly 150 teachers summoned by their union’s crisis team to pressure school officials Monday, March 4 to settle a pending contract and do something about applying a state law limiting what school districts and other public employers pay for employee health insurance premiums.

Since Feb. 15 when the district began deducting back health insurance premiums over what it's allowed to pay under the state's Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act of 2011, Ratliff said morale among teachers has suffered dramatically and a sort of depression has set in. Some are losing $300 per pay check.

“I am a five-year teacher who brings home $555.39 for two weeks and who currently qualifies for a Bridge Card,” Ratliff told the school board Monday to loud applause from her colleagues. “How is this possible?"

Some two dozen teachers told similar stories during nearly an hour of often emotional testimonials. Some told of renting rooms in order to keep their homes while others said they simply can no longer pay their bills.

“You can see it in people’s eyes and in the way they hold themselves,” Ratliff said after Monday’s meeting. “We don’t know what to do.

“I did everything I was supposed to,” Ratliff added. “I went to the university, I moved to North Carolina to get a job and I felt lucky to be able to come back to GRPS and teach but now I could make more money as a substitute.”

School board President Wendy Falb conceded hearing that teachers are suffering was emotional, but added the district is constrained by financial realities. She said it’s especially hard not to be able to respond with negotiations on a new teacher contract underway.

“It’s hard to be seen as the enemy when you’re working extremely hard to do your very best for everyone in the district,” Falb said. “You want to be able to dispel myths, to respond to inaccuracies but you can’t during negotiations.”

Paul Helder, president of the Grand Rapids Education Association, said emotions among his members may have been higher had they known about the district’s most recent offer made Monday morning. Though district officials said they couldn’t talk about negotiations ongoing since last spring, Helder said the district is offering a new pay scale and about a $1,000 per employee increase, with no percentage or step increases during the next three years.

Teachers said the union is seeking a 2 percent pay hike.

“The offer they made today is for three years, no step increases, nothing whatsoever for the two years after that and it doesn’t even cover the increased health care costs,” Helder said. “It is in effect a cut in compensation.”

The two sides plan to meet again Wednesday and while both sides agree talks are more amicable than in recent years under former Superintendent Bernard Taylor, they differ on whether discussions have been productive.

“We are continuing to try to reach an agreement as fast as we can,” said Julie Davis, the district’s executive director of business and finance and someone who has been on the district’s negotiating team. “We understand that GREA members have been without a contract since August.”

Also looming is a March 27 deadline when the state’s new so-called Right to Work law takes effect. The law makes it optional whether union members pay dues.

Helder declined to speculate whether the district is stalling to pressure union negotiators as the deadline nears, though he said discussions got off to a slow start last spring as the district repeatedly said it wasn’t ready. Right to Work can’t take effect under an existing contract approved before the deadline.

Helder added it’s been frustrating negotiating with staff he says have claimed they’re not empowered to make certain decisions. He said it’s been disappointing school board members – some who the union helped elect – haven’t been at the negotiating table.

“Sometimes it’s better that everyone have their separate roles during contract negotiations,” said school board President Falb. “I’m confident the bargaining team has heard our concerns and is following our direction.”