Wichita teachers contract discussion on hold

Wichita teacher contract talks are on hold indefinitely as district leaders consider a union proposal to unfreeze longevity pay and waive some health insurance premiums for teachers.

“Obviously, the district is in a tight spot, and they’re willing to look at what we’ve countered,” said Steve Wentz, president of United Teachers of Wichita. “I’m encouraged.”

At the start of Wednesday’s negotiation session, Tom Powell, lead negotiator for the Wichita school board, presented what he said was the district’s “last and final offer.”

The proposal featured a one-time, 1 percent lump sum payment to teachers – estimated to cost $2.1 million – and some raises linked to additional experience and education, known as “steps” and “tracks.”

It also included some items from the union’s most recent proposal: changes to contract language regarding teacher plans of assistance, a pledge to reduce teacher workload and the formation of a task force to study special education.

“I think that you all had to have been pleasantly surprised by the board’s offer, because it’s not doing what we usually do at all,” Powell said.

“We didn’t think that this was the right time … to play the games we usually play where we give you a low-ball proposal and we go back and forth,” he said. “So we put our best foot forward.”

After the teams met privately on Wednesday, Keith Welty, lead negotiator for the union, told Powell: “We’re closer than where we thought we were going to be … but it’s not there yet.”

The union proposed that, in lieu of a 1 percent lump sum payment, the district unfreeze longevity pay – annual raises teachers are supposed to receive beginning their 15th year – and lower health insurance premiums by about $55 a month.

“Teachers are drowning, and we don’t want them to sink further underwater,” Welty said. “We’re just looking to tread water right now in a tough budget year.”

Welty also re-emphasized the union’s call for more recess in elementary schools.

“Research is pretty clear these days, and so we still feel it is in the students’ best interest and in student achievement’s best interest to make sure there are two 15-minute recesses – one in the morning and one in the afternoon each day,” he said.

Assistant superintendent Alicia Thompson said a recess committee, formed last spring at the urging of district parents, has recommended elementary schools schedule one 15-minute recess per day in addition to lunch recess.

Powell said Wednesday that recess time is “a curriculum issue … so we’re not willing to negotiate that.”

He said the district would consider the union’s latest proposal but did not say when talks would resume. The school board’s next regular meeting is Aug. 22.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Wichita teachers contract discussion on hold."