SEATTLE, Wash. — The clock is ticking for Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association to strike a new contract deal.
Their current contract expires Tuesday night at 11:59 p.m.
If they don’t reach a deal, teachers say they have the ability to go on strike, and the school year won’t start on time Wednesday morning.
With that deadline looming, the teachers representing the union say they are feeling the pressure to strike a deal and start the school year on time, but they won’t do so until they come to good terms that benefit both the teachers and students.
The teacher’s union tells us they worked until 1 a.m. Tuesday morning and were already back in negotiations by 10 a.m.
They are asking for better pay, smaller and more manageable class sizes, and support for special education services.
Both sides say changes need to be made, but there is a lot of disagreement on what that looks like, especially when SPS is facing an $87 million budget deficit.
Matt Legacki, a special education teacher at Laurelhurst Elementary, tells us they need more support to do their jobs properly.
“As an educator, when you have too many restraints, when you’re too overloaded, you’re just not the best teacher you can be,” Legacki said. “We want to make sure we have the ability give the kids the education they deserve.”
To try to push a deal through, a state mediator was brought in to help. Teachers say they feel progress is being made, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
In a statement, SPS Superintendent Ben Shuldiner says in part:
“We are willing to meet with the mediator, morning, noon, and night. We are willing to pay retro once a deal is done, we are willing to adjust and compromise, but what I am not willing to do is play a game with our children’s education.”
We are expecting to hear from the union again at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and will bring you that update as we hear more about these negotiations.
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