Board opposes binding arbitration

WOONSOCKET - The School Committee has turned thumbs down on a proposal that would shackle the board to mandatory binding arbitration on monetary matters for teachers.

At its meeting Oct. 14 in the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center, the board unanimously approved a resolution opposing the mandatory binding arbitration proposal that's being weighed in the General Assembly.

The resolution's findings read:

* Payroll cost is the largest single expenditure in school budgets.

* Taxpayers are already burdened by state mandates.

* Property taxes in Rhode Island are among the highest in the nation.

* Mandatory binding arbitration would remove from elected officials the ability to control the biggest component of local budgets.

* Mandatory binding arbitration does not prevent work to rule or other union job actions.

"This takes away the work of the local school committee. I think it's a dangerous move," School Committee Chairman Marc A. Dubois told his colleagues in assessing mandatory binding arbitration's impact locally prior to the vote.

After the meeting, Dubois said mandatory binding arbitration would leave local school officials at a disadvantage in teacher contract talks by placing monetary issues in the hands of a third party, an arbitrator, who may be unfamiliar with a municipality's ability to pay.

Local control is best, the chairman said.

The committee also voted to send a copy of the resolution to every city/town council and school board in the state as well as to every state senator and representative, and Gov. Donald Carcieri.