Teachers in Kalispell have a new contract and a nice raise to go with it. Last week, the Kalispell School board unanimously approved a new collective bargaining agreement. Now, we learn that 88% of the members of the Kalispell Education Association approved the new deal.
The 2-year agreement gives 450-certified staff a 13%-increase–retroactive to the beginning of the school year. That means that a first-year teacher with a Bachelors Degree will earn $43,375 annually. Next school year, that increases by about $4,500. For teachers of all experience-levels, the increase is 4.64%.
The challenges facing the negotiations included the mass-increases in the cost-of-living in the District. Flathead County has the second-highest media home-prices in the state at $652,000. This new contract aims to bring the salary levels up to the average in Montana’s double-A schools.
The District and the Teachers Union understand that a projected District budget deficit has forced a substantial reduction in staff. District Finance Director Chris Campbell tells the Board that 14-full time positions in the elementary schools and 25-in the High Schools will have to be eliminated. It’s hoped that most of that will be handled through attrition with notices will be going out in the next few weeks.
All Montana school districts are facing major funding issues, which they hope will be addressed in the next Legislative Session in January. These include 90% state-funding, requiring the remainder to be funded by local school levies, which aren’t passing. The State caps inflationary increases at levels below the actual rates of inflation, along with related increases in insurance costs. The Covid relief funds, which staved-off the immediate funding crises, have now been totally expended.
