Pasco teachers to vote on new contract. Will it match Kennewick and Richland?

Pasco teachers will decide Thursday night whether to adopt a new two-year contract.

Pasco is the last Tri-City school district without a ratified teacher contract for the new school year.

The current contract for the district’s roughly 1,200 teachers expires Friday.

Details of the proposed pact are being kept under wraps until the vote, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Pasco High School.

Scott Wilson, union president, told the Herald that he’s “very glad the teams have reached a (tentative agreement).”

In a statement this weekend, after the tentative deal was reached with the help of a state mediator, Superintendent Michelle Whitney said she’s “proud to be a part of a school district that digs into complex problems and finds solutions.”

She thanked the bargaining teams who worked on the pact.

Teacher contract negotiations have been tense across the state this summer, as officials deal with major changes to the education funding system.

The Washington Education Association has urged local unions to push for double-digit raises, pointing to a $2 billion infusion for educator pay as part of the overhaul.

But some districts have said the changes — including capping the amount that can be collected through local property tax levies, limiting what levy money can be spent on and nixing the old way of paying for teachers — makes a dent in or wipes out any infusion.

Kennewick teachers last week agreed to a new salary schedule that will cover the final year of their existing three-year contract.

It includes an average raise of 9.3 percent.

Under the new schedule, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree will make $48,210, while a teacher at the top end of the pay scale — with a master’s degree, at least 90 additional credits and at least 25 years experience — will make $95,664.

The schedule does not include benefits.

Janet Bell, president of the Kennewick teachers union, has said that while her members gave their approval, they did so with reservations, anticipating that their counterparts in neighboring districts would be getting higher pay.

While Pasco’s contract details remain to be seen, Richland’s includes a greater raise.

However, that district also received extra money from the state — called “regionalization,” to help make up for differences in cost of living — that Kennewick didn’t receive.

Richland teachers’ new three-year contract includes 14.3 percent raise this year, and a raise of about 22 percent total. The union overwhelmingly approved it last week.

This year, a brand-new teacher with a bachelor’s degree will make $51,484, while a teacher at the top of the pay scale will make $98,390.

By 2020-21, a brand-new teacher will make $55,183 and a teacher at the top of the pay scale will make $105,443.

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 12:29 PM.