The state's largest school district and the Seattle educators' union reached a last-minute contract deal to avoid a strike on the first day of classes.
The state's largest school district and the Seattle educators' union reached a last-minute contract deal to avoid a strike on the first day of classes, but the district's budget problems are far from over.
The Seattle Education Association voted a week earlier to authorize a strike, sending some Seattle Public Schools families scrambling to arrange childcare or to make other plans.
SPS families were left wondering until the 11th-hour Tuesday whether school would start on time.
"We were prepared to hold our kids out and find activities if it came to a strike, which we were obviously really supportive of, but luckily we didn’t have to reach any of those contingencies," said Kyle Dugan.
His twins, Lilly and Jack, are first graders at West Woodland Elementary School.
"To be honest, it was giving me a little bit of anxiety, but I just hope the teachers are getting what they deserve and it sound like they’ve come to an agreement," stated Dani Dugan, who has an incoming Kindergartener at Alki Elementary. "I think when you’re a parent of little kids, you’re kind of predisposed to chaos. I just didn’t want the start of school to feel overly politicized for me. I wanted it to be more of a community, happy, positive experience for my child."
The school district and the educators' union can't release details about the tentative agreement until both sides review and vote on it, which Superintendent Ben Shuldiner estimated could take a couple of weeks.
Approximately 416 students and their families saw the new Alki Elementary School for the first day of school on Wednesday. The building was paid for through the capital levy.
"The joy, the excitement, the anticipation from our students has made all of this worth it," Alki Elementary School Principal Mason Skeffington stated.
With contract talks down to the wire, teachers, counselors, nurses and other staff as part of the Seattle Education Association had rallied support for better pay, special education resources and smaller class sizes, and voted a week earlier to authorize a strike on the first day of classes for Seattle Public Schools if they could not reach a new agreement.
At a press conference at the new West Seattle school Wednesday morning, Superintendent Ben Shuldiner gave partial insight into the tentative agreement between SPS and the SEA's 6,000 members.
"Was there a specific turning point last night that led to you both reaching a tentative agreement?" KOMO's Jackie Kent asked.
"I think we were really getting there over the last couple of days and so the last couple hours were really just dotting Ts and crossing Is," Shuldiner responded. "Things like nurses and social workers and counselors- those are all [negotiating points] we wanted to do, figure out the right number, figuring out how to do that. I think that’s kind of where the compromise came."
He added SPS is offering more than its initial proposal of a raise of 8.8 percent over three years to unionized members; plus, the creation of a pilot program to investigate potential changes to special education and staffing, as 16-percent of district students are part of an individualized education program. SPS will spend a year and a half studying changes to special education, then plans to roll out a pilot program by the third year of the contract.
"We believe we really need to rethink special education to get more services to the kids that want it," Shuldiner explained. "Special education needs to be a service and not a place. We’re allowing for, or we hope, [for] a pilot program that would allow us to try some ideas."
Some families with kids who rely on those programs say that, without knowing what will happen just yet, they look forward to future conversations with the district about their priorities.
"I am so glad that the teachers were able to work with Seattle Public Schools and still stand strong for special education," parent Jessie Dugan added. As KOMO has reported, her family uprooted from Texas so that her 6-year-old son would have better access to special education supports. "I’m so happy they raised so much awareness to it."
As the district faces an $87 million budget deficit, Shuldiner clarified the salary raises are within what SPS was willing to negotiate, and what the budget allows for this next year. SPS gets some funding from the state and local levies, though Shuldiner acknowledged SPS is working to find ways to be more efficient, like leaving some FTE staffing positions vacant.
Shuldiner adds the district has worked to be transparent with the SEA about its finances, and he believes through contract talks the two sides have a better working relationship going forward.
"Sometimes you have to go through some tough things to get out something that’s great, and we did that, and it was wonderful," Shuldiner said. "I’m really comfortable with what we agreed to. I think it keeps us well within our ability to possibly stay solvent."
In total, the district bargained on 52 issues, and the union told KOMO it hopes to release a timeline for its vote by Wednesday evening.
Class for Kindergarteners and preschool-aged kids starts on Sept. 8.
