AISD Trustees Revise Consultation Policy to Expand Employee Representation

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Austin, TX—Austin ISD’s Board of Trustees voted to revise the district’s consultation policy to expand employee representation on such issues as compensation and workplace environment.


Since December, AISD has been reviewing its policy, which recognized Education Austin as the district's exclusive consultation agent for the past four years, to examine how to potentially increase the amount of employee input the consultation agent considers when addressing key district issues.

 

Superintendent Meria Carstarphen and Chief Human Capital Officer Michael Houser outlined the joint recommendation, which AISD administrators and Education Austin brought forward together. The Board of Trustees voted to approve the joint recommendation and to revise the Board Policy DGB (LOCAL) to include such changes as:

 

  • Elected term of office: The elected consultation representative’s term of office will be reduced from four years to two.
  • Lead representative: Consulting teams will identify a lead member to represent the teams.
  • Consultation Agent Advisory Council:  The elected consultation agent will meet with the CAAC, a newly established advisory council of representatives from employee organizations that can document membership of five percent of either the district’s nonprofessional supervisory or classified employees. In addition, all AISD employees may attend CAAC meetings to offer input and information to the members of the council.
  • Good faith commitment:  Members of the consulting teams will work in good faith to reach agreement on proposed items.

Education Austin will continue to represent AISD employees under the current policy, which covers approximately 10,600 of the district’s 12,226 educators and staff members, through Dec. 31, 2013. The first election under the new policy will take place during the Fall 2013 semester for the two-year consultation term that will begin Jan. 1, 2014.

In addition to working with Education Austin, AISD administrators requested feedback about the proposals from all district employees, the Austin Association of Texas Professional Educators, the Texas Classroom Teacher Association and Southwest Public Workers Union.

To learn more about Board Policy DGB (LOCAL), Section I and II, Consultation with Nonsupervisory Professional Employees and Consultation with Classified Employees, please visit www.austinisd.org.