SPS and SEA Reach Tentative Agreement

 From The Seattle Times (bold mine):

Seattle Public Schools and the district’s teachers union have reached a tentative agreement to extend the current union contract, which is set to expire at the end of August, for another year.

Neither side released details of the tentative accord. But it all but guarantees there won’t be a repeat of 2022, when the union went on a five-day strike.

The union plans to take the proposal to its membership this month, with the hope of getting it ratified by the end of the month. The deal needs a simple majority vote to be approved. 

Fred Podesta, the district’s chief operations officer, declined to divulge the terms and said they will be released within a week. 

Girard Montejo-Thompson, president of the Seattle Education Association, said both sides sought a short-term deal, given the uncertainties at the local, state and national levels.

“We are seeing the (U.S.) Department of Education being dismantled, and so making longer-term plans when we are seeing such coordinated attacks on public education doesn’t make sense,” he said. 

PS’ financial challenges also played a role, he said. The district initially forecast a nearly $100 million deficit for 2025-26 school year.

“There’s a difference of opinion on the root cause of the problem and the solutions,” he said. “But we do recognize that there is financial strain on the district and so we wanted to be considerate of that as well.”