PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Education Association this week ratified a three-year contract with the Port Angeles School District just days before its previous collective bargaining agreement expired on Thursday and a week prior to the first day of classes Sept. 5.
The agreement was reached Monday without the contentiousness that marked last year’s bargaining when the Port Angeles Education Association (PAEA), which represents teachers, counselors, nurses, occupational therapists and psychologists, voted to authorize a strike and a mediator was called in to assist the two sides in coming to a down-to-the-last-minute resolution the night before classes began. PAEA membership ratified the agreement Tuesday.
Negotiations this time around proceeded more smoothly both Superintendent Marty Brewer and PAEA president John Henry said.
“We have our budget challenges and I think everybody recognized that, and yet we were able to sit down and work through some difficult issues and keep open lines of communication and work to resolve to resolve complex issues with very little money,” Brewer said.
“It was just a collaborative dialogue and conversations on both sides of the table and the art of compromise.”
Henry said the hours at the bargaining table were worth it.
“We worked hard and we put in quite a bit of time because there’s a lot of details to work out,” Henry said. “But we had very productive meetings throughout the process.”
Brewer credited a debriefing after last year’s bargaining sessions ended that involved himself, Director of Human Resources Scott Harker, Henry and PAEA lead negotiator Eric Pickens as paving the way to more constructive and effective negotiating this year.
“We just had a conversation on what worked and what didn’t work,” Brewer said. “I think we really listened to one another and developed some operating protocols that both sides could agree to and to just stay focused on the work.”
The Port Angeles Paraeducators Association, the Public School Employees of Washington local No. 1948 that represents bus drivers and custodians and the Port Angeles Educational Office Professionals are all also bargaining with the district after signing one-year contracts last fall.
State support
If there was one topic on which the district and an all bargaining units could unambiguously agreed it was that the state does not adequately support rural districts like Port Angeles, Henry said.
“The paraeducators, the office professionals and even our administration will say state funding needs to fully account for what it takes to run a school and having that full funding would really help small communities,” Henry said.
Brewer said the district would continue pressing the state Legislature to revisit regionalization, levy equalization, special education funding and state-funded cost of living adjustments designated by the Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) that worked to the district’s disadvantage.
“Access to good, high-quality educational programs shouldn’t be reliant upon your zip code,” Brewer said. “That will need to continue to be wrestled at the state level.”
The board will vote on approval of the 2023-2026 PAEA contract at its next regular meeting on Sept. 21.
The 2023-2024 budget of $58.4 million the school board unanimously approved Aug. 24 included the capacity to cover salary increases that were anticipated with collective bargaining, Business and Operations Director Kira Acker had said.
About 78 percent of the district’s budget comes from the state and is based on an anticipated enrollment of 3,365 students, with other funds coming local taxes and non-tax support, and the federal government.
The budget approved by the board was identical to the preliminary budget Acker presented to it at an Aug. 10 budget hearing and work session. Acker said at the time that developing the budget had been a collaborative process.
“We’ve done a lot of work with looking at reductions and trying to find that areas where we could reduce but not reducing too much,” she had said. “Finding that happy medium where we can save money and get back to where we need to be with revenues over expenditures but not take away resources from students.”
The 2023-24 budget resolution can be found here: tinyurl.com/yu57btb8
Acker’s 2023-24 budget presentation can be found here: tinyurl.com/4byf6bwe
Also at the Aug. 24 meeting:
• Brewer said shock pads and rolls of turf had been delivered to the new Monroe Field and were ready for installation.
“Very soon you’re going to see the first synthetic field the Port Angeles School District owns,” Brewer said. “There’s going to be walking track around it — it’s as much for the community as it is for the school system.”
He said there would be a ribbon-cutting ceremony when construction at the facility is complete.
• Carmen Watson-Charles, the district’s Native American liaison, presented lessons and teacher support materials that are being developed as part of the district’s Since Time Immemorial curriculum that will be launched soon. Since 2015, Since Time Immemorial curricula focusing on tribal history, culture, treaty rights, and contemporary tribal and state governments has been required in all state schools.
Watson-Charles, who is leading the project, has been working with tribal members and teachers to put the curriculum together.
“This will be the ideal STI delivery point across the state, we will have the model based on the work this team has done,” Brewer said.
Other unions negotiating
Other district unions are in the process of bargaining with Port Angeles School District.
A representative with the Public School Employees of Washington local No. 1948 said in an email, “We are actively bargaining and already have secured language to help the bargaining group maintain great working conditions. However, there are serious financial challenges that the District is facing due to loss of regionalization and a significant decrease to their enrollment. At this time, we are working with the District to find ways that we can make Port Angeles competitive while also recognizing the current staff.”
Rebecca Winters with the Port Angeles Paraeducators Association said in an email that her group would begin talks with the district in the next week or two.
Port Angeles Educational Office Professionals declined to provide details about the status of its collective bargaining with the district, but through a spokesperson confirmed that negotiations were continuing.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at Paula.Hunt@soundpublishing.com
