The two unions representing roughly 1,000 Kenai Peninsula Borough School District employees recently spent two days walking the district’s bargaining team through their respective contract proposals. There are some places where the two sides agree. But there are more places where they don’t agree.
It’s been more than a month since the school district and unions swapped contract proposals. But it wasn’t until last month’s marathon meetings that the groups took a detailed, line-by-line look at what the unions are asking.
“It's going to be a long day, and we have all the proposals that you have set forward, so I think it would make sense for us just to start working through them if that works for you,” said Michael Caulfield, the school district’s attorney.
First, the district team met with the Kenai Peninsula Education Association. That union represents the district’s 569 certified employees, including teachers. Then, the district team met with the Kenai Peninsula Educational Support Association. That union represents almost 500 classified employees, like secretaries and custodians.
The unions usually bargain together. But this year, they’re bargaining separately.
There are a lot of changes proposed across the two contracts’ combined total of more than 100 pages. In fact, Caulfield says there are so many changes, he expects negotiations to go on for a while – into the summer, if needed.
“What's been proposed here is a very substantial rewrite of the negotiated agreement,” he said. “And so it should not surprise anyone that it's going to take quite a bit of time to work through, because we need to know what we're agreeing to here.”
Among other things, the teacher’s union is asking for more support for special education employees, cash trade-ins for unused sick leave and designated times for parent-teacher conferences. That’s on top of more protections for employees against occasional violent behavior by students, more retirement perks and more opportunities to meet with district employees.
The teacher’s union’s bargaining team said district human resources director Nate Crabtree told them to be creative as they considered what contract changes could help recruit and retain employees. Kenai Central High School special education teacher Michael Reid says that’s exactly what they did.
“You said ‘be creative,’ Nate, right?” Reid said. “We're being pretty creative here, aren't we? Yeah, every single section, we try to create some sort of chaos for you.”
The support staff union wants front-loaded sick leave for new employees who fall ill shortly after starting their job. They want the district to give their workers priority when a vacancy opens up. And they want easier access to workers to keep them updated on union happenings.
The union’s National Education Association representative, Caitlin Tumlinson talked through a proposed “workload management” contract section. It would require the district to give the union advanced notice of any new programs that would increase an employee’s workload. It’d require a workload analysis ahead of those programs and meetings with district staff to talk about what impact the program would have on employees.
“Particularly with the staffing shortages, the workload on our support staff has been immense, and there's not been a process to – an equitable process, to ask for and get help,” she said.
The groups haven’t started negotiating salaries and health insurance yet. The teachers union is asking for 22% raises, while support employees are asking for 15% raises. The combined cost of those requests at status quo staffing levels would be about $15.5 million. That doesn’t include some of the other union proposals that carry their own price tags.
The district team expressed concerns about the costs of certain proposals multiple times. School board members are actively working to fill in a $17 million budget hole heading into the next fiscal year. And uncertainty over state funding has them reluctant to make big financial commitments.
“We are going to be working as fast as we can,” Caulfield said. “You know, we have shared the interest that you, you all have, and wanting to get an agreement.”
But the union says the district can’t afford to not implement some of their proposals. And Tumlinson says the district isn’t in a unique situation.
“All districts are in this boat, not all districts are choosing to wait until they have a more clear, defined picture,” she said. “So other members across the state are able to hear this is what the district has committed to as a starting point that, you know, they can prioritize this at the minimum.”
There are also some big-picture differences the two sides will need to reconcile. The unions are proposing a one-year contract, while the district is proposing a three-year contract. And there are some proposals the district has already said it’s not open to.
The three groups will meet again later this month. Caulfield, the district’s attorney, says his team is planning to come back with a counter offer and response.
All of the contract proposals and recordings of negotiation meetings to date are available on the school district’s human resources webpage.
