Rochester school district, teacher’s union reach tentative agreement after months of negotiations

In Rochester, negotiations between the school district and teacher’s union led to a tentative agreement on Monday.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS sister station KAAL initially reported that the Rochester Education Association (REA) and representatives for Rochester Public Schools (RPS) met at Harriet Bishop Elementary on Monday night, with teachers winning a pay increase, improved health care costs and smaller class sizes under a new contract.

The REA asked for an extra $3000 a year to the teacher per additional student over the class limit, on a per diem basis, according to KAAL.

“What it’s going to mean, is that there are limits that the elementary class sizes will be set at; and if the class size goes over that, there will be additional compensation for those teachers to reflect that additional work,” RPS superintendent Dr. Kent Pekel said.

Both sides first came to the table last July.

RPS previously said their last offer was the best that could be made, given the district’s current financial situation.

“Teacher salaries have not kept up with the cost of living in the past 10-to-15 years,” said Vince Wagner, President of REA. “So, hopefully, we can get a settlement that will catch us up here in Rochester.”

While teachers in RPS are expected to see a pay increase, the district wanted to express their gratitude and compensate their teachers accordingly.

“We know we wanted to do as much as we could for them on salary, but we also needed to address our healthcare issues and so cumulatively, we’re going to be at a 15.44% increase or so,” Pekel said.

The proposed contract will go in front of the school board on March 19, where board members will vote on these new conditions.