Dispute: Could earlier contract deadline reduce Washington teachers strikes?

(The Center Square) – The recent teacher strikes in King County have some people questioning why contracts between teachers unions and school districts expire around the beginning of the school…

(The Center Square) – The recent teacher strikes in King County have some people questioning why contracts between teachers unions and school districts expire around the beginning of the school year.

In the case of the strikes in the Seattle and Kent school districts, the contracts between the teachers unions and districts ended on Aug. 31, around the same time classes were scheduled to begin.

Negotiations in both cases failed to come to an agreement before the deadline, giving the teachers unions a reason to strike and delay the start of school.

There are no state laws in Washington that specify when school district collective bargaining agreements must be negotiated or expire. Maxford Nelson, director of labor policy at the Freedom Foundation, says each union and school district gets to determine the terms of the negotiated agreement between the two.

He added that it is quite common for teachers’ collective bargaining agreements to be in sync with a district’s school year.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if both union and district bargaining teams generally prefer not to work on bargaining near the end of the school year and, once school is out for the summer, bargaining is probably the last thing on everyone’s minds,” Nelson said to The Center Square in an email.

That leaves late summer to get things sorted out. However, if negotiations don’t go smoothly, strikes can occur and delay the start of school.

Students at Seattle Public Schools (SPS) will have to make up five days of classes to reach the state-required 180 days of school. Kent School District students will have to make up 10 days to reach the requirement. Nelson says that having a contract deadline at a different point in the year would not do much to prevent students from missing school if a delay occurs.

“I doubt that shifting the bargaining calendar would make much difference,” Nelson said. “Whether a strike occurs at the beginning, middle, or end of the school year, it’s going to disrupt student learning and families’ schedules.”

While the contract between the Kent Education Association and the Kent School District was ratified earlier this month, the Seattle Education Association has yet to vote on finalizing its tentatively agreed upon contract with SPS.

Schools throughout Seattle still began classes on Sept. 14 as the Seattle Education Association voted 57% in favor of suspending the strike and starting school.