EPEA has one more round of voting next week.

Look for info from your site rep on whether you will vote on Tuesday the 28th or Wednesday the 29th.

Items on your ballot will include:

* Q COMP MOU

* EPEA VICE PRESIDENT AND TREASURER

* YOUR SITE BUILDING REPS

Please review the proposed Q Comp MOU prior to voting next week.

There is very little in changes from last year. Under observations you’ll find a more specific reference to the third observation. Some years that is a walk thru and some years (your summative year) it is a full observation. There’s no change in practice intended or agreed to in this updated language. The performance award and VEBA portion remain the same.

There are a couple other things to know:

* State Q Comp funding has reached it’s cap and due to inflation, the state is no longer paying out 100% of the funds to those districts that have a plan. This year it is 98% of what it would have been for our student enrollment. That is likely to drop again next year. That means that our local expenditures continue to rise and state revenue is declining.

* Teacher Development and Evaluation is MN’s legislated observation and development system. This was created by agreement in 2014-2015 with EPS and the teachers. It is not negotiated or contract but the district’s plan. In that plan to meet the state obligations of the law are PLCs, team goals, Individual Growth Plans, Student Learning Goals, Student engagement surveys and student engagement data from walk thru observations, as well as summative evaluations.

With out a State Q Comp plan negotiated by the teachers the only thing that would change is the receipt of a performance award.

You can view the EPS Teacher and Development Guidebook here.

Heads up: All-member phone survey to start May 13
I want to give you advance word about an all-member phone survey we’ll be conducting this month. Starting May 13 and continuing for about two weeks, our paid phone vendor will be calling our list of members to assess individual member union affinity and find out if and how these members might like to be more involved in the union.

Information acquired from the survey will help inform our strategic membership-engagement decisions going forward, and results will be made available to the governing board and to local leaders later this summer. With the Janus decision and the 2018 midterms behind us, and the 2019 legislative session coming to a close, we have an opportunity to again gather this useful information from our members about how we can better serve them.

So, if you are able, please let your members know that the survey is coming, that the vendor is legitimate and working for our interest, and that they should participate if possible. Shortly before the survey calls start, we’ll send an all-member email to let them know about this as well.

Again, the data we collect will be critical for targeting our member engagement and other program work in the months and years to come, so please encourage your members to participate.

Summer Seminar is open to all EPEA members. People might go to earn CEUs. People might go to learn more about our union and to get involved or to get a specific training for roles such as Treasurer, Secretary, Member Rights or Negotiations. Please see the resources and info here and let me know if you’re considering. Check out the link.

Summer Seminar
School is almost out for the year, and that means Summer Seminar is right around the corner!

Registration for Education Minnesota’s three-day professional development showcase opens Friday, May 3.

2019 Summer Seminar
Aug. 5-7
College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph

Members – Please review new support for educator student loan forgiveness.

New loan-forgiveness service available free to members
Minnesota ranks fifth in the country when it comes to education debt. For many educators, it is a burden that prevents us from buying homes, starting families and building towards a secure economic future.

More than 5,000 members have attended our Degrees Not Debt training. Those members told us that applying for loan forgiveness and lowering payments needs to be easier. We listened.

Last week, we announced that Education Minnesota has launched a new partnership to help members save on their education debt and apply for loan forgiveness. In the few days since, more than 1,500 members already have signed up for the loan-forgiveness service called Summer.

Members have FREE access to Summer (register here). The tools on the Summer website make it easy for educators to lower monthly payments and qualify for loan forgiveness programs.

Based on your unique situation, Summer will determine which savings programs you’re eligible for, compare your options side-by-side and help you enroll––all online. The site will even submit paperwork to your school district on your behalf. Members can also receive assistance from Summer’s team of loan experts via online chat or by email.

We already are seeing this partnership pay off. One of our members who tried Summer is now on track to save almost $30,000 on her student loans.

Please pass this information on to your members, and encourage them to visit Education Minnesota’s signup page: www.meetsummer.org/education-minnesota.

Have you checked out the learning opportunities for this summer?

Check it out.

Summer Learning Catalog

EPEA now has an email you can use when you are concerned about privacy. For most all communications please continue to use my school email.

When you have a question about privacy and want to be sure your communication cannot be retrieved, use a personal device that is not on district wifi and send your message to epea.epea@gmail.com. Note: I am the only person reading email on that account.

This form is a way to request support of EPEA or to inform EPEA of a concern or request. It is shared and managed privately only by EPEA President.

Do you have requests for EPEA News?

Do you have other feedback on EPEA News?

Please contact me or any rep.

Tom Baker, President

Allen Lundberg, Vice President

Adam Cooke, Treasurer
Cheryl Heaney, Secretary