Washougal, WA — There will be no school on Wednesday September 5, 2018, said the Washougal School District in a public statement.

The statement reads as follows:

The school district continues to bargain with our teacher union to end their strike. Both sides bargained from 8 AM to past 1 AM, but no agreement was reached. The district provided the association with a proposal at 6 PM, but the association did not respond with a proposal. The mediators have asked both sides to come back tomorrow.

After the sides come to agreement, the association will need time to present it to their membership and vote to ratify it. We will let parents know at least 24 hours ahead of time which day will be the first day of school.

Through the 21 bargaining sessions thus far, the association and the district have worked through many language issues. Both parties brought a list of items to the table and both have withdrawn some proposed changes. The district has agreed to an association proposal that improves caseload remedies for Special Education teachers. The district added monies to a fund that recognizes longevity in the district, and added dollars to incentives for teachers to notify the district early if they plan to retire. This early notice allows the district to recruit teachers during the height of the hiring season. The two sides have agreed to language that allows therapists and psychologists to use prior licensed clinical experience to enhance their salary.

In response to association proposals, teacher leave benefits have been improved. An additional day of bereavement leave was added, and the cash-out value of each personal leave day was increased. The district also agreed that teachers will now be able to receive the dollar value of any unused personal leave days when they retire from the district. Additional improvements based on association proposals include pay for attending First Aid training and Safety Committee meetings. Teachers will receive increased compensation for packing, moving and unpacking should they need to move classrooms.

Remaining items that are still in discussions are salary, supplemental stipends for department chairs and club advisors, class size/overload changes, implementation of the new Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave program, and combination classrooms.

We remain committed to working with the association to reach an agreement so that we can all get back to serving the children in our community. Please visit our website for information on bargaining issues and to monitor the situation.

Both teams will return to the bargaining table on Tuesday September 4 to continue working with mediators to work on resolving remaining issues.

Washougal, WA — Because negotiators from the Washington Association of Educators (WAE) and the Washougal School District (WSD) could not reach a tentative agreement Monday at 5 pm, 205 WSD certificated teachers are officially on strike, effective Tuesday morning.

“The teachers already voted last week that if a tentative agreement wasn’t reached by August 27 at 5 pm, we will go on strike,” said Eric Engebretson, WAE president. “The work stoppage starts tomorrow morning. We are working on a counter proposal and we will keep negotiating. We’ve been in sessions all day. We’re still here and we started at 9. PERC is here, and they’ve been here since Friday.”

At issue are classroom sizes, salary, and WSD’s historically high turnover rates.

“We are still bargaining,” said Dr. Mary Templeton, WSD Superintendent. “We continue to press forward. Everyone is working hard at both sides of the table. We want an agreement as soon as possible. The district and the association have worked hard to reach an understanding but, unfortunately, we were not able to come to an agreement today. We have been excited to offer the biggest raise Washougal teachers have ever received, which would bring our salary into competition with regional districts. We believe our proposal supports our well-deserving teachers, is fair and equitable and is something the Washougal community can sustain over time.”

WSD put forward a new salary proposal that increases the offer to a 16% increase in salary, plus TRI. WAE countered requesting a 25.6% increase. There is still approximately $1.5 million dollar gap between the two sides.

According to WSD, they were given $14.2 million by the state to pay teachers and they have used all of these funds for salaries. They have also agreed to add $600,000 more of local money in this compensation offer. By law, Washington school districts are required to have 180 days of school. School will start on the first planned school day after the strike ends. Days will likely need to be added into the calendar later in the year.

Tentative agreements have been reached on 12 items, resolving concerns the teachers raised around salary advancement rules, retirement stipends, personal leave buy back and cash out rules, as well as just cause language.

“Everyday we will be in negotiations, said Engebretson. “We will negotiate until we cannot. We want to go back to school. It depends on the district.”

So, what actually happened on Monday during negotiations?

“There was some movement, less than a percent on salary —on their part,” he said. “No class size change.”

WSD Answers Questions

Lester Brown, WSD Communications Director, provided guidance on what a strike means, and what are next steps.

1) What does the district do when the WAE announces a strike? What’s your process?

This is uncharted territory for all of us. We are focused on working to communicate with parents and staff about a potential work stoppage and its impacts on the start of school.

We will use automated phone calls, social media and our website, so families are aware of the need to plan for the impact.

We realize this is a huge inconvenience for families and we are optimistic that teachers and students will be back in classrooms as soon as possible.

2) How long does a strike have to go on until it starts affecting this year’s school schedule? Lacamas Magazine understand it’s like using up snow days.

The work schedule for our classified staff will not be impacted by the strike actions of the WAE. Teachers will work a 180-day contract, but will see an adjusted school schedule, based on this delay to the start of schools.

School will start on the first planned school day after the strike ends. Days will likely need to be added into the calendar later in the year much like snow days. If the strike lasts fewer than four days, the district does not anticipate needing to change the date for WHS graduation.

The district still intends to allow athletics and activities, covered under a different union contract, to continue as scheduled.

3) If a strike goes past 15 days, then classified staff won’t get paid, but will the teachers also not get paid?

The work schedule for our classified staff will not be impacted by the strike actions of the WAE. Teachers will work a 180-day contract, but will see an adjusted school schedule, based on this delay to the start of schools.

Our focus right now is still on resolving the remaining concerns the union has asked to talk about so we can come to agreement. We will be researching these more complex issues over the next few days to build understanding of the impact of a longer term strike.

4) In your opinion, is a strike legal? Citing RCW 41.56.120: “Right to strike not granted. Nothing contained in this chapter shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his or her official duties.” The Attorney General’s Office said: “In Washington, state and local public employees do not have a legally protected right to strike. No such right existed at common law, and none has been granted by statute.” What is WSD’s opinion on this?

The legislature is responsible for law, but we are aware of the RCW 41.56.120. The district is working with legal counsel to understand this statue and the implications of it for the union.

5) Lacamas Magazine is hearing that oversized classrooms are a source of contention in these latest bargaining sessions. What is WSD’s position on classroom sizes?

The current teacher contract defines class sizes as “in overload” when the following numbers are reached or exceeded:
K-3: 25+
4-5: 28+
Middle and High School: 28+

In Spring 2018, WSD had a total of 60 elementary classroom teachers. Six of those, or 10%, were in overload. With 1,373 elementary students, it was the difference of 11 students that caused those overloads which were one to three students more in those rooms. During the same time frame, there were a total of 77 middle and high school teachers. Four of those had more than 140 students per day and were considered to be in overload.

The district works hard to avoid overloaded class sizes by managing the boundary process and building schedule, but sometimes classes above targeted sizes cannot be avoided.

When elementary teachers have classrooms at or above these targets, teachers have an option of hiring an additional paraeducator to assist in their classroom or accepting “overload pay” at the rate of $10 per extra student per day. For middle and high school it is $2 per student in overload.

Although WAE has stated that class size is a major point, they had been unwilling to talk about this issue for the first 11 bargaining sessions that spanned three months.

The facts are that 90% of Washougal classrooms are below state class size goals/targets. Those teachers who are in overload have the option of receiving additional resource in paraprofessional support or additional compensation of $10 per student per day as overload pay.

Another union issue was the use of classrooms that combine grade levels. The district had no combination or split classes last year, and there are none planned for this year.

“As far as class size, the district figures class size as an average,” said Engebretson. “That means they include music, P.E., library, and art teachers into the equation.  However, the actual students in one classroom can be more than than is ideal and that classroom is in overload.  Posting that the district has an average number of students per classroom is misleading to the community.”

Washougal, WA — Earlier this week, the Washougal Association of Educators (WAE) voted with 96 percent approval to reject a 15.56 percent compensation increase offered by the Washougal School District (WSD) administration. Face-to-face negotiations between both parties continue today to address those salary issues, as well as other union concerns, in an effort to avoid a strike.

“The Washougal School District is offering teachers a 15.56% total compensation increase, which would result in a professional salary package from $50,000 to $94,000, providing a fair, equitable, and regionally competitive compensation to our certificated staff,” Washougal Schools said in an official statement. “This move demonstrates the value the district has for teachers, who are doing excellent work every day in classrooms, helping our students reach their potential and thrive. This offer uses all of the state provided increase for teacher salaries, plus levy dollars, plus funds from the district’s ending fund balance.”

In addition, teachers at the top end of the scale would earn more than $1,000 more per month than they currently do.

The WAE rejected the 15.56 percent increase, citing it’s not the full amount that the state is allocating, as well as other concerns, such as classroom size, and high Washougal teacher turnover.

“We want to be at school on the first day, said WAE president, Eric Engebretson. “Despite having numbers being posted by the district that change frequently, our community members have expressed support and understand what we are negotiating for. Our numbers have remained true and consistent since day one of negotiations. Our position is that the state has recognized that salaries for teachers has lagged over the years and that teachers (in SW Washington and beyond) just want what has been allotted to them.”

Washougal is one of 295 school districts in the state that have been in bargaining sessions with local and state teacher’s unions over how money from the 2017 McCleary legislation, passed by the Washington State Legislature to “amply fund education” throughout the state, will be allocated. Overall, just over $2 billion has been earmarked to increase teacher salaries, which has been funded by a 30% property tax hike.

Per our previous articles and videos, the legislation increases overall teacher pay to 26 percent — but it comes with strings attached. McCleary changes the old salary structure model by stripping away Time, Responsibility and Incentive (TRI) pay model and by capping local levying capacity by 50 percent.

“We used an extra compensation ability, which we called TRI,” said Mary Templeton, the brand-new Washington School District Superintendent. “We created a way to find extra dollars, so this is for all the things you do outside teaching, which includes planning, preparation, grading papers on weekends, calling parents at night — all the things teachers do.”

With McCleary, she said “the state told us ‘let’s give you 26% more of direct state money.’ But now the state said they won’t fund TRI with the new legislation. They said this would put major restrictions on how TRI is paid. After careful analysis of how this affects Washougal, we realized very quickly that we can’t pay our teachers TRI.”

And to further complicate matters, local levy dollars for Washougal will drop over the next two school years, resulting in a loss of $2.9 million in local levy funding.

“The new model is a net of about 12 percent more state and local funding when you take away TRI and the levy,” said Templeton. “Every district is different so it’s unfair to make general comparisons. McCleary also affected staff mix, which allocated more state funds, which helped districts with more experienced teachers. The greater the number of experienced teachers, the more money a district would receive.”

After the WSD budget team looked at the numbers, they found a way to create the 15.56 percent increase, she said.

“The offer comes from finding more money to help us be more competitive. We are going to use our reserve. We have a $44 million operating budget. We’re going from a 16 percent reserve to a 9 percent reserve over four years. We have to be very conscientious and aware of how we’re prioritizing. We have to look at all of our expenditures to make sure we stay right at 9 percent, which is about $2.4 million at the end of 2019. That extra increase amounts to $1,197 more per teacher this year. The union wants 26 percent, but legally WSD can’t do it.”

To clarify, reserve money is not connected to levy dollars — it’s the WSD savings. The reserve is projected to decrease over four years, and is expected to level out at that time.

“We will pay for some things with levy, even with our reduced capacity,” said Templeton. “We can use levy money for enrichment. We are continuing on with a very positive approach to the whole thing. I respect their advocacy. The union wants the teachers to get every dollar the state is giving them.”

How Sustainable is McCleary?

Templeton says it’s essential they maintain their fiscal solvency, but that McCleary makes it challenging to see the future past two years, even though the new law requires districts to forecast four years ahead.

“I’ve been in education for over 25 years, I’ve been in 5-6 school districts over that time,” said Templeton. “There will always be a place or time where the district is trying to hold back money, but for the most part these are fair people. All of us were teachers at one point. We are giving you everything we have. McCleary creates a new model, and it’s a big change.”

Districts used to get paid by number of teachers, now they are paid by how many students are in a district’s boundaries. For WSD, the state gave them a $69,128 as flat rate for teachers — per teacher. WSD is offering is $70,325. The difference is $1,197 more than what they’re getting from the state, per teacher. Those funds are coming from the reserve.

The WAE believes the district will have an additional $6 million by the 2020-21 school year.

A Looming Strike?

She refers to Washington state history, saying that strikes in the state are very rare.

“I’m optimistic we will find an agreement,” Templeton said.

Negotiations between WAE and WSD are ongoing, and that the duration of 15.56 percent increase is still being negotiated. It will likely take at least two years for the system to understand this new model.

WSD leadership has requested mediation from the Washington Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) and their team will meet with WSD on Friday, August 24 as they work to finalize their negotiations with the union. School starts on August 28. The district thinks they will reach an agreement by August 27.

“We decided to look at all the money the state gave us and we decided to offer all of it, plus some at the beginning,” Templeton said. “We know that you need a salary increase, and we’re going to give it all we have, and then some. We want to retain you, so we pushed everything out right away. We took a new approach because we wanted to signal value to our teachers in transparency. This is what we have, this is our offer.”

She quoted a recent Seattle Times article that said the districts are saying I’m doing a four-year projection, and they realize they can’t pay their bills.

“What we’re offering is what we can afford,” she said. “To give anything more than that, there will be layoffs. That is the reality of every district.”

Given the new law, WSD has shifted their dollars more to personnel. Seventy-nine percent of their budget goes to personnel. It used to be 73 percent. (79 was the official number presented at board meeting 8-14-2018)

“The state gave the district 26 percent for salary, but they didn’t give us more for TRI,” she said. “We added to what the state is giving. 15.56 percent total compensation is what teachers will find in their paycheck — this doesn’t include benefits. We took every dollar the state gave us for teacher salaries and we added our own money to do it, which is $1,197 per teacher per year, from the reserves.”

This current offer provides WSD teachers a $50,000 starting salary — with a Bachelor’s degree.

“We head back into negotiations today (Friday, August 24) at 9 am and conclude at 5 pm,” said Hillary Marshall, of the WAE. “Our union has issued a strike if we don’t come to a resolution by 5 pm today which will start on Tuesday, August 28. The Washougal School District has acquired a mediator but our union didn’t feel like we needed to spend the extra funds for a mediator.”

The WAE Perspective

Since bargaining sessions are typically kept private, they can’t go into the details of those negotiations, but they have been public about general concerns and demands.

Engebretson said the WAE is concerned about the following:
• Class size
• Turnover
• Salaries
• Reserves

Class size. In an official statement, the WAE said “Overloaded classrooms have consistently been an issue for our teachers. We’ve already had parents speak at school board meetings because they are aware of how pressing the issue is, which is a detriment to our children. Our working conditions are student learning conditions, and no issue more effectively demonstrates that than reducing class size. Our union remains committed to reducing class size.”

Turnover. Hathaway teachers lost half of their teachers this summer.

“Turnover is so high in the District that for the 2018-19 school year, 1/3rd of staff will have one year or less of teaching experience in our District. “Because pay is so low in Washougal, experienced educators have chosen to teach elsewhere. How can we deliver a strong education program when we have higher turnover than fast food and retail industry? Washougal children deserve a stable staff that serve our students’ needs with consistency. Our goal is to attract and retain quality teachers.”

Salaries. “According to OSPI website Washougal will be receiving an increase of 26 percent just for teacher salaries alone. The District is offering an overall increase of 15 percent. This a significant improvement from their initial offer, which was in the single digits, and are maintaining the position that TRI (Time, Responsibility, and Incentive – additional hours worked outside of the teacher work day) no longer exists. While the District has made progress in their offer, it does not reflect the funds they are receiving from the state. The state legislature has made it clear that an investment in our teachers is an investment in our community.

Reserves. “The Washougal School District has a long track record of building their savings (labeled “Ending Fund Balance”) off the backs of our teachers. Even the District in negotiations have admitted they have not prioritized teachers!”

“We have every desire to start school on time. We want to be in our classrooms to greet our students on the first day of school. The only reason for why this wouldn’t happen has everything to do with the Washougal School District, once again, not prioritizing our teachers. You can’t put students first, if you put teachers last!”

Valuing Teachers

“Teachers are really vulnerable right now, since No Child Left Behind,” Templeton said. “Teachers used to be heroes in our society, and we need to polish it up and begin to talk about how important teachers are. They are the shaper of dreams, and the molders of the future. Teachers want to be valued. It’s more than just money — it comes in lots of different ways. What does the community say about teachers? Those are the things that create value, and compensation is part of that. People need money and that’s a reality, but they also need to be thanked for the contribution to society. That’s all of us, that’s the community. We need to get teachers back to where they should be. The heroes of society.”