Ritchie Webb: NFT’s Counter Offer is 'Unaffordable'

Though it seems that the Neshaminy School Board and Neshaminy Federation of Teachers have making progress during negotiation sessions, school board President Ritchie Webb said Monday "that is not to say that we are on the verge of a settlement."

While Webb said that the school board will withhold its official response to the union's latest offer until this Wednesday's negotiation session, there are issues with the proposal that "have significant financial impact, potentially adding millions of dollars to our annual operating budget."

He said that these issues render the offer "unaffordable to the district" and that any reports that the proposal is "cost neutral" to the board's Council Rock offer are "inaccurate and misleading."

Aside from finances, Webb said that there are items in the NFT proposal in regards to day-to-day operations that "further the distance" between the parties.

"The union kept what they liked about the CR contract and they added in what they wanted to protect from the expired Neshaminy CBA. This best- of-both-worlds strategy actually does more to stifle Administration than it does to recognize the decision-making authority it should have," Webb said.

The school board offered the union the recently settled Council Rock contract at the beginning of September. Webb refered to this proposal as a "game-changing" offercounter proposal was more or less a rejection of the Council Rock offer. 

To view the NFT's counter proposal, click the attacked PDF above.