Kent School District, teachers agree to one-year contract

Kent School District teachers started school last week with a one-year contract instead of the usual multiyear agreement in place.

“We try to bargain a multiyear contract,” Kent Education Association President Christie Padilla said. “It puts everyone’s minds at ease and allows for a long-term plan for teachers, families and the community. It’s ideal.”

The district’s last contract, bargained in 2013, was for three years.

The KEA ratified the new one-year agreement on Aug. 19, and the school board approved it on Aug. 31.

The primary reason for the shorter-than-normal contract is uncertainty in future state funding as the Legislature works to comply with the state Supreme Court’s McCleary ruling, which mandates the state adequately fund basic education by 2018, KEA and district officials said.

“Assuming no action by the Legislature, our levy authority will decrease, impacting the funds available for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years by as much as $20 million”, Scott Nicholson, the district’s director of labor and employee relations, said in an email. “With over 1,600 KEA employees, it would not be fiscally prudent for the district to agree to long-term salary increases without an option to reopen these supplemental pay increases with our labor partners if our levy authority or compensation structure is modified by state action or inaction.”

The district proposed to renegotiate compensation depending on Legislative action, Nicholson said.

“While some of our other labor partners agreed to such reopener contract language allowing us to make multiyear deals with compensation increases, our KEA labor partners disagreed,” he said. “As such, we were left with a one-year deal. Of course, our goal is to always be fair with our employees and offer compensation that is both reasonable and competitive. But, we also have a duty to our taxpayers to negotiate contracts that are sustainable. Current conditions in Olympia mean we have to sometimes come up with short-term solutions for long-term challenges.”

Being unable to agree on a multiyear contract in light of the state financial situation was unique to Kent, Padilla said.

“It appears that other districts were able to work on that, but we just weren’t,” she said. “It is KEA’s position that we could have bargained a three-year contract and worked within the parameters of what the Legislature is doing. But, the district has a responsibility – they have a fiduciary duty – to make sure they are in good standing as well.”

Despite disappointment in the contract’s length, teachers were satisfied what the proposal offered, Padilla said.

“Our members were pleased that we did get a moderate increase in compensation,” she said.

Teachers got a 3.85-percent salary increase from the district this year.

The number of required meetings for teachers was reduced, allowing teachers more time to focus on their students, and teachers will have more input on extra duties, such as supervisory roles or committees, Padilla said.

The new contract addresses some of the safety concerns staff brought to the school board in May. More than a dozen teachers shared stories with the board about violent encounters in the classroom.

“We were able to come to some protocols that I think will work for the district, the families and the classrooms,” Padilla said. “I think we kind of nailed down some building protocol more specifically about the ways we are going to make sure discipline is handled appropriately while making sure we address needs of students.”

One of the teachers’ requests agreed to by the district was to add a counselor, social worker or behavioral interventionist at each building – or more than one depending on the needs of the school.

The union and the district reached an informal agreement on how to solve issues when they arise, Padilla said.

“I think the district has been open to having more on going meetings between KEA leadership and district leadership about the school budget and looking at priorities,” she said.

As KEA gears up for another round of bargaining this spring, Padilla said the union would like to address health care issues in the next contract.

“That was on area where the district and KEA didn’t really come in to agreement,” she said. “We would like some subsidies there because teachers are now paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket with the rising cost of health care. … Surrounding districts have found a way to supplement that, whereas our district will not consider it.”

KEA will also continue to push for funding to be directed to schools, Padilla said.

“It is our position, that the priority seems to be at increasing the level of funding at the district office and less at the (school) level,” she said.

She said she would like to see more emphasis on funding initiatives that help students succeed.

“The are real specific curriculums for kids that need extra resources or alternative curriculum that would maybe benefit their learning style, which have not been available readily, so we like to see some of those resources at the district office shift down at the building level,” she said.

Padilla said she hopes the next contract will be longer.

“There are some real assumptions made when we agree on a one-year contract,” she said. “People wonder what we are gearing up for. There are a lot of stresses. I would say it is never comfortable to be in a one-year contract.”