With the start of school less than three weeks away, thousands of Kansas public school teachers are without contracts for the coming year. But one major Johnson County district is getting close.
While Shawnee Mission, Olathe, and Kansas City, Kansas are all still in contract negotiations, Blue Valley officials say a "tentative proposed agreement" has been forwarded to the district's teachers for approval.
Still, there are no guarantees from any of these Kansas districts that deals will get done before students return. And while this situation is not unprecedented, some district officials and teachers blame this year’s budget battles in Topeka for creating an especially “unusual” circumstance.
"It was absolutely the number one reason we have not been able to get negotiations done," says Debra Hotujac, a long-time teacher and the president of the Blue Valley KNEA.
Negotiations in Blue Valley were suspended in June during the extended legislative session in which lawmakers debated over how best to close a $400 million budget gap.
“You can’t decide anything when you don’t know what the legislature has decided.”
Hotujac, who has led contract negotiations for Blue Valley teachers, praises the process in that district and says she hopes both the district's teachers and school board can approve an agreement by the start of school.
Likewise, officials with Shawnee Mission School District say negotiations are ongoing but progress was slowed by the legislature’s elongated session.
"The process between both sides has been very positive," says Dr. Leigh Ann Neal, Shawnee Mission’s Assistant Superintendent for Communications. “But we were waiting a long time for the legislature.”
The legislature's budget squabble has affected educators, too.
“It’s frustrating to have what happens at the state level affect you locally,” says Jared Zuckerman, the debate coach at Blue Valley Southwest High School. “It just makes you start asking questions. The uncertainty just makes it hard to get ready for your job.”
According to state law, if districts do not finalize a contract before the start of school, teachers will work under last year’s contracts. Teachers like Zuckerman, then, don’t have to worry about getting paid, but they would not immediately see their scheduled bumps in salary.
And there are worries that not getting timely contracts will hurt morale.
“This just creates a feeling among educators that they are not getting the respect they deserve” says Hotujac.
Officials in both Kansas City, Kansas, and Olathe districts say ongoing negotiations over teacher contracts were not a byproduct of the budget battles in Topeka. Officials in both districts also say contract talks are still happening regularly.
Hotujac says teachers in the Blue Valley district are typically given their next year’s contracts in May before they leave for the summer.
This year, she says she hopes negotiators can forward a proposal to the school board by its next meeting Aug. 10. That’s two days before school starts.
“It will be close, whatever happens.”
