Miami-Dade Schools

Faulty Arithmetic

Teachers criticize school board’s $1 million-a-year payments to union officers

By Jordan Melnick    

A memo written by Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Rudy Crew reveals that the school district is paying more than $1 million this year to 18 employees of the United Teachers of Dade, an organization representing the interests of 38,000 district employees.

The memo verifies that the district pays UTD President Karen Aronowitz $44,500 and Vice President Arthur Leichner $70,325 each year in addition to their union salaries.

As the UTD’s mission of “negotiating salaries and benefits for all our members” often brings it into direct conflict with the district, many consider the arrangement a conflict of interest.

“It is a conflict of interest when the superintendent is paying the salaries of the people representing teachers,” said School Board member Marta Pérez.

It was Pérez who, while going through the budget “line by line,” discovered an allotment for UTD officers and requested the names and salaries of union members on the district’s payroll. On April 24, Crew sent her a list of 18 UTD employees being paid a total of $1,013,421 by the district. 

Although a clause in the contract between the union and the school board allows the district to subsidize union salaries, it also states that the union must pay the district back. Article 23, section 6, stipulates that “pay shall be provided for the president of the union and up to four union officers ... provided the union reimburses the board for the salary.”

The clause enables district employees to work for the union without losing their benefits. Before becoming president and vice president of the UTD, Aronowitz and Leichner were both teachers in Miami-Dade County.

After receiving Crew’s memo, Pérez requested proof that the union had indeed reimbursed the district. She also asked who authorized that 18 UTD employees — 13 more than stipulated in the contract — be put on the district’s payroll.

“I consider that at a time of financial crisis we have to look at everything,” Pérez said. “If we haven’t been reimbursed, we need to know, and we need to know why.”

The district, however, has not yet answered Pérez’s request.

Not surprisingly, the revelation that the district is subsidizing UTD salaries has some teachers concerned — even angry.

“To me, this represents a tremendous conflict of interest,” said union member Shawn Beightol, a teacher at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High. “Can the union really do its job while the threat of the punitive loss of salaries exists? Isn’t this kind of like being offered a defense attorney only to find out the plaintiff is paying 10 percent of his fees?”

Former union member Ira Paul, a teacher at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High, wonders why the district is paying UTD employees at a time when money is tight.

“I think it’s outrageous that the district is funding the UTD during a budget crisis,” he said. “[UTD] has more than enough money to fund themselves. They charge the highest membership fees in the country.”

The controversy calls into question the UTD’s bona fides at a particularly bad time, as it recently suffered a loss when the district decided to postpone teacher salary raises in an effort to cope with large budget cuts.

President Aronowitz — who, according to the UTD payroll schedule, makes $129,987 as union president in addition to her $44,500 district subsidy — refused to speak to the media. Instead, she issued this statement on the UTD’s Web site: “This is a union-busting tactic. It is an attempt to silence our teachers and ... limit their access to fair representation before the district.”

The statement, titled “UTD Under Attack,” also alluded to “a school board member” — a certain reference to Pérez — throwing “dirt on negotiated release time for union officers and its members.”

Though the arrangement between the district and the UTD is supported by a contract, it is not supported by teachers.

“If the UTD is going to be effective, they have to fund themselves,” said Paul. “How can the union represent teachers when they are beholden to the school district?”