Spokane Public Schools board accepts one-year teacher contract

The Spokane Public Schools board voted unanimously to accept a one-year teacher contract Wednesday evening.

“The only comment I would make is one of thanks for those who prepared and met for the many, many hours that they did,” board member Rocky Treppiedi said.

However, Treppiedi and several other board members raised concerns about the state Legislature’s influence on the contract negotiations.

“I would certainly be remiss if I didn’t chastise the state Legislature for its failure to, No. 1, pass a budget in a timely manner,” Treppiedi said.

Board member Deana Brower echoed Treppiedi, saying the Legislature needs to start funding education instead of placing the burden on school districts.

The contract, which was ratified Tuesday night by union members, comes after six months of negotiations and a near strike at the beginning of the school year. On Tuesday night, 1,380 union members voted to accept the contract. All bargaining groups received some sort of pay increase.

“Thank you to both teams for coming together so we didn’t have a strike,” Superintendent Shelley Redinger said. “I know it was very stressful for a lot of people.”

Although the contract mostly affects employees, parents will notice some differences, district spokesman Kevin Morrison said.

Thursday late-start days will be phased out, with the last one on Sept. 24. K-12 parent-teacher conferences will last three days instead of one week. Conferences will be conducted twice per year for elementary students and once a year for secondary students. Additionally, the 2016 school year will start before Labor Day.

The agreement will expire Aug. 31, 2016. The district and the union agreed to start working on next year’s contract in January, with the goal of avoiding a similar pre-school stalemate.

Although board President Jeffrey Bierman said he was happy to eliminate late Thursday starts, he is concerned about the compensation structure. According to Bierman, the structure only perpetuates the divide between the highest-paid teachers and the lowest paid, instead of working to equalize it.

“We’ve brought up the low side, somewhat, but we’ve made our problems worse,” he said.

Meanwhile, teachers in Seattle went on strike Wednesday after failing to negotiate a new contract, and a strike in Pasco was in its second week.

“That could have been us,” union President Jenny Rose said Tuesday.