Teacher, support staff unions vote to ratify contract

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to show that the tentative agreement reached by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, the Kenai Peninsula Educational Association and the Kenai Peninsula Educational Support Association will provide members of both associations with a $750 stipend.

The associations for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s teachers and support staff have voted to ratify a proposed tentative agreement on their contracts.

The approximately 1,174 members of the two associations — the Kenai Peninsula Educational Association and the Kenai Peninsula Educational Support Association — voted over the course of the last three weeks on whether to ratify the tentative contract reached Sept. 7, the result of nearly 18 months of collective bargaining and an arbitration process. The leaders of the two associations delivered the results to the school district administration Monday morning, said David Brighton, the president of KPEA.

“Both groups voted to ratify the tentative contract,” Brighton said.

Now all that’s left is for the Board of Education to vote to approve the contracts at the Nov. 7 meeting before the contract will become final. He said he thought the board would likely ratify it at the meeting.

School district spokeswoman Pegge Erkeneff said the district did receive the information from the associations Monday and would schedule the vote for approval of the contracts for the Nov. 7 Board of Education meeting.

Brighton said he and KPESA President Patti Sirois have been visiting as many schools as they could to discuss the tentative contract with association members and answer their questions. Health care was one of the major concerns members had, he said.

“The number one question was about the new high deductible plan, and just trying to get more information about what that would look like for them,” he said.

KPEA and KPESA have been engaged in collective bargaining over the contract since February 2015. The main contention arose over the health care benefits in the district’s original offer, consisting of a traditional plan and a high-deductible plan and a per-employee, per-month cap on health care expenditures.

The district and the associations hired Oregon-based arbitrator David Axon to help them reach an agreement. After the report came out with his suggestions, the three negotiating teams arrived at the compromise of keeping the per-employee, per-month cap but allowing employees to opt out of the health care plan as soon as the tentative agreement is ratified rather than waiting until Jan. 1, 2017, and providing members of both associations with $750 stipends, according to previous Clarion reporting.

The contracts are only effective for three years. If the Board of Education votes to approve the contracts, they will be good until the end of the 2017–2018 school year. Collective bargaining would begin again in January 2018.

 

Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Alaska State Troopers logo.
State Trooper convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a minor

Vance Peronto, formerly an Alaska State Trooper based in Soldotna, was convicted… Continue reading

Soldotna City Hall is seen on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna moves ahead with staff recruitment strategies

Soldotna City Council members last week gave city administration a thumbs up… Continue reading

State representatives Tom McKay, R-Anchorage, and Andi Story, D-Juneau, offering competing amendments to a bill increasing the per-student funding formula for public schools by $1,250 during a House Education Committee meeting Wednesday morning. McKay’s proposal to lower the increase to $150 was defeated. Story’s proposal to implement an increase during the next two years was approved, after her proposed amounts totalling about $1,500 were reduced to $800.
Borough, Soldotna call on Legislature to increase school funding

The City of Soldotna last week became the latest entity to call… Continue reading

Kenai River Brown Bears goalie Nils Wallstrom celebrates winning a shootout over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Saturday, March 25, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Brown Bears sweep Ice Dogs, move into 3rd place

The Kenai River Brown Bears earned a two-game sweep over the Fairbanks… Continue reading

The waters of Cook Inlet lap against Nikishka Beach in Nikiski, Alaska, where several local fish sites are located, on Friday, March 24, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Unprecedented closures threaten setnet way of life

Setnetters have been vocal about their opposition to the way their fishery is managed

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

Expert skateboarder Di’Orr Greenwood, an artist born and raised in the Navajo Nation in Arizona and whose work is featured on the new U.S. stamps, rides her skateboard next to her artworks in the Venice Beach neighborhood in Los Angeles Monday, March 20, 2023. On Friday, March 24, the U.S. Postal Service is debuting the “Art of the Skateboard,” four stamps that will be the first to pay tribute to skateboarding. The stamps underscore how prevalent skateboarding has become, especially in Indian Country, where the demand for designated skate spots has only grown in recent years. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Indigenous artists help skateboarding earn stamp of approval

The postal agency ceremoniously unveiled the “Art of the Skateboard” stamps in a Phoenix skate park

Bruce Jaffa, of Jaffa Construction, speaks to a group of students at Seward High School’s Career Day on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at Seward High School in Seward, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward students talk careers at fair

More than 50 businesses were represented

Alaska state Sen. Bert Stedman, center, a co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, listens to a presentation on the major North Slope oil project known as the Willow project on Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. The committee heard an update on the project from the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Revenue. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Official: Willow oil project holds promise, faces obstacles

State tax officials on Thursday provided lawmakers an analysis of potential revenue impacts and benefits from the project

Most Read