For Immediate Release: Nov. 16, 2021
Contact:
Rosemary Boland
Sftlocal1147@epix.net
570-343-3911
Janet Bass
jbass@aft.org
301-502-5222
SCRANTON, Pa.—Statement by Scranton Federation of Teachers President Rosemary Boland on using federal aid to pay for contract, negating need to raise taxes:
“Once and for all, the Scranton Federation of Teachers has proposed a contract settlement that would not raise taxes by using federal aid that the U.S. Department of Education and both sides know is permissible. There should be no ambiguity on this issue. The chief recovery officer and her lawyer are refusing to take advantage of this funding and then ridiculously proclaiming that taxes would have to be raised to pay for the contract. This is becoming absurd. There is a nearly $60 million pot of federal funding that has been given to Scranton that can and should be used to retain educators and support teaching and learning. We need to be at the negotiating table non-stop until we have reached a fair contract. It shouldn’t have taken this long, given there is federal and state funding that the district can tap into right now. It’s time to get the students back to school.”
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