School district 25 teachers discuss contracts

Members of the Pocatello Educators Association met Thursday night to discuss contracts and major concerns regarding pay and overall support from the school district.

The members of the PEA in School District 25 say haven’t had a pay increase since their pay was cut in 2008, and the 1 percent they agreed to isn’t going to cut it.

They have been working using the 2013-14 contracts, but Thursday they agreed to contracts for 2014-15 with a 1 percent raise. However, one teacher says he is making less now than he did nine years ago.

The teachers say it’s not just their current livelihood they’re worried about, but their retirement.

“PERSI is based on your highest 48 months,” said Tom VanDeren, president of the PEA. “Well, if you’re not receiving any type of raise, much less being pulled back, your top 48 isn’t going to increase, therefore their retirement isn’t going to go up.”

VanDeren said Thursday 75 teachers voted in favor of ratifying the contracts, with two against. But he said that’s only a small portion of the 54 percent of district teachers who are part of the association.

He said it can be hard for the district to discuss their contracts when they see so few teachers show up to negotiations. VanDeren said while life happens, getting concerns addressed doesn’t take much, sometimes not even words.

“And the way you do that is by turning out for these things,” he said. “And we hope that as time goes on people will recognize their voice is definitely needed and it’s absolutely heard.”

Now that the association has ratified the agreement, the school district will draw up new contracts for the teachers based on years and education.

One other concern the PEA had was the fact negotiations took so long. While they started in April, getting a meeting with a mediator took a month and a half. And after the PEA submitted their proposed contract to the district, the district said there would be a delay because their negotiator was on vacation.