Tacoma Public Schools believes this proposal is competitive with surrounding districts and honors the request by teachers to provide raises. The latest district proposal alone would not cause irreparable damage to the systems and structures that we have put in place to support students.
The proposal does, however, require the district to make reductions in force for the 2019-2020 school year of an additional 90 staff including teachers, administrators, para educators, custodians, office and technical staff and other labor groups. 90 staff represent approximately 2.7 percent of the district workforce.
Before bargaining between the district and TEA began, Tacoma Public Schools faced a
$25 million deficit for the 2019-2020 school year
, which means a
reduction of approximately 300 positions
across all labor groups and additional program cuts.
Without a legislative fix in the funding formula for education in the 2019 legislative session, the combined deficit Tacoma Public Schools will face is
$32 million—or an estimated 390 positions and program cuts
.
The school district has been bargaining with teachers union representatives during the last few months to determine salary increases for teachers for the 2018-2019 school year. Unfortunately, we have not come to an agreement yet.
