Juneau School District is close to putting negotiations with its teachers and staff to bed for the next three years.
According to officials, the district is made up of three main groups of employees: about 350 teachers, 300 support staff and 19 administrative staff. Separate three-year contracts have been negotiated between each group’s union and the district.
Ted VanBronkhorst, the district’s director of human resources, said the agreements will give a sense of certainty in a time of fiscal uncertainty.
“That allows us some real breathing room as far as knowing what our costs are going to be, and establishing a budget, and being able to make good plans for the future,” VanBronkhorst said.
Juneau Education Association President Dirk Miller also said having a three-year agreement is largely good for teachers.
“We have been negotiating a lot of short-term, one-year contracts. In fact, this is the second contract we were negotiating this year in my term as JEA president. It’s nice to step away from the bargaining table and now we can teach,” Miller said.
He said most of the district’s teaching staff approved the negotiated contract, but the vote wasn’t unanimous. He said some objected that teacher pay schedules won’t keep up with inflation and health care cost increases, and there’s worry over how the state’s fiscal policy will change in the near future.
“Agreeing to a long-term contract locks us in. We don’t really know what the fiscal climate will look like in two years,” Miller said.
He said many teachers’ associations around the state haven’t committed to a contract because of that uncertainty.
The president of Juneau Education Support Staff said their contract with the district is a good compromise.
Each union’s contract has been approved by the Juneau School Board except for the Juneau School Administrative Association’s. VanBronkhorst expects the school board to approve that agreement during a special meeting on Wednesday.
