Sobering Editorial On Seattle Schools' Teachers Contract
A worthy effort from the Editorial Board of The Seattle Times yesterday,
The Seattle School Board could not be any clearer: Current negotiations with the teachers union must finish with a contract that ensures the financial stability of Seattle Public Schools.
That has not been the case in the past. So, this time, the school board put it in writing. SPS is mired in “a significant structural deficit,” its seven members said in a resolution approved unanimously last month. It directs Superintendent Ben Shuldiner to “address and eliminate” this problem.
The Times is right; the Board is clear in this resolution (partial):
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to continue to engage in collective bargaining in good faith and in a manner that reflects mutual respect, transparency, and a collaborative approach with the District’s labor partners; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to continue to negotiate agreements that advance the District’s long term fiscal well-being, recognizing that structural financial stability is in the best interests of serving students, supporting employees, and preserving public trust in Seattle Public Schools; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board reaffirms its commitment to collaborativelabor relations and to working in partnership with employees and their unions in service of students, families, and the Seattle community.
Are those last two paragraphs at odds? Maybe.
The Times says:
It’s seven trustees signaling they will spurn any agreement with teachers resembling the one signed in 2022, which pushed SPS into a position where there was more money going out than coming in. That dynamic remains in effect today.
I concur. SEA should understand that and not go on strike. I have a feeling if they do, there will be no widespread "soup for teachers." Meaning, parents will be very upset.
SEA vice president Davina Diaz seems confident that Olympia will send more money to Seattle next year. But it’s hard to see how negotiators can be so certain, since the state will likely face another multibillion-dollar budget hole, and Gov. Bob Ferguson has asked most agencies to propose cuts. True, he’s signaled an intention to hold education sacrosanct, but schools will be lucky to escape unscathed.
SEA says that they can't even get SPS to agree on "easy" issues that don't involve salaries.
I see from the SEA website that they are training picket captains on August 18th; I'm sure that's a "just in case, we'll be ready" kind of event.
Also, here is the SEA negotiating team and I'm happy to see a nurse in there. If the state would better fund schools, there could probably be a nurse in every school. Also glad to see someone from the Skills Center.
Here are some of their "bargaining proposals."
For each of these proposals, the SEA bargaining team is considering them against the backdrop of what SPS can afford, how SEA’s contract compares with others in the area, and, for compensation, how it compares with the cost of living in King County. Members identified significantly more areas for improvement than we have proposals. We are strategically focused on the most widely and deeply felt challenges and those that SPS has the capacity to address.
Members identified significantly more areas for improvement than we have proposals. We are strategically focused on the most widely and deeply felt challenges and those that SPS has the capacity to address.
Among their wants:
- Early-release Wednesdays continuing
- "Reasonable class sizes" and they reject the idea they might get more pay for a bigger class.
We need to create a true cap, beyond which the district must add staff or reduce the class size to ensure students have the opportunity to learn.
- But they DO want overage pay for these other members:
- Students need not just reasonable class sizes but also access to adequate physical, social, behavioral and emotional supports to succeed. Whether we’re psychologists, nurses, audiologists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, counselors, or social workers, we need to encourage the district to maintain reasonable caseloads and create economic incentives for them by ensuring overage pay.
There are quotes from members of the negotiating team:
"We only have 9 steps on our pay schedule and so many of use are at the top. I have been there for 24 years."
But there is also this:
"We need to ensure employees are paid a fair living wage for the work we perform daily, that we have safe working environments, and that we have job security and protections.
It is extremely hard to exit a teacher so I'm confused what SEA wants?
To note:
- It appears that SEA will have a General Membership meeting on Wednesday, August 26th at the Seattle Convention Center.
- I've stated this before but the Board has no role in negotiations. They let their one employee - Superintendent Shuldiner - know their expectations.
- The current contract (which I believe was extended one year last year) expires on August 31st. From the Times:
That these discussions always happen with the new school year looming is no accident. For the union, it’s powerful leverage. And the SEA is rightly demanding smaller class sizes and better provisions for special education students.
- The Times points a huge difference from 2022 and 2026 and that is Shuldiner himself. Interestingly he is "participating personally in hammering out a deal..."
- Since 2012, at least half of negotiations with the SEA have resulted in members voting to hit the picket line. They actually did so in 2015 and 2022, delaying the start of school by five days in each case.
- SEA's last message to members was on July 23rd.
Comments
Still, the Seattle Times hasn’t processed the fact that his words to turn the district’s “Byzantine” status quo attitude into a highly efficient one were premature self-promotion or a pipe dream for reviving the ripped off district.
Where is the $100M or even $50M budget reduction he said he could make? Didn’t happen, and it’s $10M reduction that Seattle Times is so psyched about after all the hypes about him. And that’s not by cutting the Central Office bloat at all, because the Strategic Goals (about $7M/yr) was merely moved from the Central Office budget to a different place in the total budget. His “puzzle-solving” has kept all the unhelpful HR employees and senior managers with the same or more bloat in the Central Office. He is quite a cognitive dissonance maker rather than any remarkable change maker.
If SEA was going to strike, the district would further end up with the most jaded teachers and the Byzantine Central Office with high salaries that they did not earn earnestly. That will ensure to make the students the casualties, with little to no representation.
For Da Children 2026
An observation: when SPS can run a deficit and then increase pay for everyone, it creates a lot of pressure on nearby districts to also increase pay and run a deficit. So when the text in the post says they want to look at other districts nearby, please be real and look at their finances. But, good luck making sense of them. School district budgets in general are really hard to figure out. Example: school nurses, mentioned above. How many have one for a full day? For a part day? How busy are the nurses?
Class sizes are going to increase when pay goes up. There is no way the district can hire more staff at higher rates. The money isn't there.
I suspect the union will complain that the district isn’t collecting enough for rental properties which might be the case, but those dollars amount to a hill of beans compared to the debt.
I have not forgotten that teachers went on strike right after kids missed a year of school due to Covid. I couldn’t believe they would strike after kids missed a year of school due. I was wrong.
- Public Sector Unions For You
-
Why couldn't you believe that they would strike after kids missed a year of school for COVID?
Whatever else they might claim, the union has the sole objective of getting their members more money for less work.
That isn't intended to be a moral judgment - that is their job. Everything else the SEA leadership puts out is just marketing material to sway the public to support their pursuit of that singular goal. Will it sometimes be the case that the union's goals overlap with benefit of students? Sure. But the last strike was an absurd theatrical performance in which the union threw out almost all the things they supposedly cared about and then just took a big pile of money in the form of a contract that the district couldn't then and still can't afford.
Will a strike this year snuff out the nascent recovery of SPS? Maybe. I tend to think that enrollment is near the bottom in terms the percentage of Seattle students at SPS vs private school. I still believe this district would be better off going to binding conditions and having a conservator take a chainsaw to the entire budget.
- Seeing Red
I personally get sick when I hear union claims of lower class sizes. That will never happen. SEA will work to fill teacher’s pockets. There is nothing left for small class sizes. You can add counselors to the list, as well.
It will be interesting to watch the board. We have a left leaning board with one member heavily involved with a union- and another that began Soup for Teachers. I might add the particular union rep might be involved in holding back efforts for affordable food, and workers getting dividends over union support.
Binding conditions might not be a bad idea. I would certainly love to see the issue explored.
-Public Sector Unions for You
I foolishly thought SEA had some sense of right/wrong after kids missed over a year of school! Foolish me!
- Public Sector Unions For You