Update: School employees fail to reach contract agreement over pay raises in Pasco

Contract negotiations for Pasco school employees who feed, bus and tutor students are headed to mediation after six months of talks failed to reach an agreement.

“Daily our members are on the front lines of the school doing the heavy lifting that must be done to feed, keep safe, transport, and encourage our children to succeed,” said the Pasco-PAES Chapter of Public School Employees of Washington SEIU Local 1948.

The union filed for mediation with the Public Employee Relations Committee (PERC), according to a union news release. The first session is scheduled for Jan. 21.

The previous contract expired on Aug. 31.

District leaders say they are committed to reaching a fair contract with the union.

“Pasco School District’s classified staff provide invaluable services for our students and schools every day,” according to a statement from the district. “(The district) is optimistic that the PERC mediator can help the parties reach an agreement.”

Union officials say classified employees are asking for, among other issues, “equitable wages.” However, the Pasco district has been “reticent to present an accurate picture of the school district’s financial standing,” claims the union.

“The majority of our members are below the poverty level in terms of income, and most members have two or three jobs to make ends meet,” said Doug Campbell, union chapter vice president and a security specialist at Pasco High School. “Some live on the edge of homelessness and rely on food stamps to feed their children.”

The union’s 730 members in the district include food service staff, campus security staff, paraeducators, tutors, secretaries, student achievement and intervention specialists, and clerks in the schools.

“While teachers and administrators have been able to do their jobs from a distance over technologies like Zoom, (our members) are in the school buildings and buses having direct contact with the community, continuing to perform their duties despite the risks to themselves and their families,” Campbell said

The union contends dozens of employees have had to leave the district to take jobs elsewhere because of the COVID pandemic, and many others have had their hours cut and rely on partial unemployment benefits from Washington’s Employment Security Division.

“We care about the students, and we are asking for fair treatment so we can continue serving our community,” said Campbell. “We hope that the district may be willing to be more forthright with a third-party mediator and that our members will receive the equitable wages that they deserve through this process.”

COVID costs

Pasco schools are already projecting a $7.2 million budget deficit as of a Nov. 10 presentation to the school board by Kevin Hebdon, the district’s executive director of fiscal services.

The district is estimating a $2.1 million loss because enrollment is down by 260 full-time students this year. The state provides funding to schools based on how many students attend.

All of the Tri-City school districts are being hit with declining enrollments this year. It comes as some parents hold off sending students back to school because of COVID-19, and other parents opted for private schools where they could send their students back in person.

“I think we’re optimistic as we get back into school that parents and families might start sending some of those kindergartners back in,” Hebdon said.

In addition, the district expects to see about $3.3 million less in its transportation budget and $1.8 million less for food service than it did last year. The money for both of these is provided to schools based on how much the services are used.

The funding for transportation is based on how many students were riding the bus last year at the same time. Meals are based on how many students ate at the schools.

Hebdon said the district has enough money to cover these costs. In part because of money the district didn’t spend last year, and partially because of $4.2 million in CARES Act funding.

What wasn’t certain in November was the total cost of the additional safety measures the district had to install.

These included contact tracing, buying protective masks, increased cleaning and sanitizing and paying for leaves of absences.

The district said those costs played a role in their negotiations with the union.

“During the parties’ most recent bargaining session in December, PSD provided detailed information regarding the district’s financial picture, including the loss in revenue due to this year’s enrollment decline,” the district said.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.