SALEM, Ore. — Salem-Keizer Public Schools's union, Salem-Keizer Education Association, declared an impasse amid the seventh day of mediation over teacher contracts, "making the first move toward a possible strike," the district said Thursday.
“When we shared our offer with the licensed association, we were clear that this is all we could offer - anything more will do lasting harm to our schools,” said SKPS Superintendent Andrea Castañeda in a press release. “They rejected our maximum offer and declared impasse, functionally abandoning the bargaining process. But we aren’t giving up because we know that a strike will hurt students and our community.”
In the most recent bargaining round, the district proposed a two-year contract worth $37 million for teachers and licensed educators, which would raise salaries by 9.5% over two years. For the district's support staff, which includes custodians and instructional assistants, they are proposing a three-year contract worth $45 million.
It also included, according to the release, a $5,000 retention and recognition bonus and additional teacher prep time at the elementary level.
For the last nine months, the second-largest school district in Oregon has been trying to avoid a strike by teachers and other school staff members over contract negotiations, battling over class size amid a budget gap.
“We would love to pay our staff even more, hire more teachers, and have smaller class sizes — but the reality is that our district, like the districts around us, has to close a budget gap. We cannot pay people more, lay off staff and reduce class size. It is mathematically impossible because everything is a tradeoff,” Castañeda said.
Meanwhile, the Salem-Keizer Education Association issued a statement, saying, "The decision to move SKEA in the direction of a potential strike was not entered lightly."
The Salem-Keizer Education Association added that two major sticking points are class-size/caseload caps and calculating full-time worktime.
"The impact of the District’s language would mean that they could hire a new elementary teacher at less than full-time, assign them to work an hour or two less each week, pay them this hour or two less a week, but still expect them to complete all the necessary job functions of an elementary teacher," the union explained. "The District’s position also fails to acknowledge the work licensed staff do to be prepared to teach or interact with students — offering compensation narrowly connected to their time with students only."
In the event of a strike, all schools in Salem-Keizer would close.