Broken Arrow teachers face contract impasse
Broken Arrow teachers face contract impasse

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By Wendy K. Kleinman

Published: July 29, 2008

Negotiations on teacher salaries have stalled in the Broken Arrow School District, which recently announced it was cutting 20 teaching and administrative positions.

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The district and the bargaining association cannot agree on whether teachers with more than 25 years of experience should get step raises that would accumulate each year as opposed to a flat stipend. Both sides agreed to a $400 step raise for teachers with 25 years or less experience.

School district spokesman Keith Isbell said costs for things like fuel and substitute teachers don't leave room in the budget for other step raises, which the most experienced teachers have never received because of a salary cap. That's why the district offered a $400 annual bonus to those teachers, he said.

Airing dirty laundry

The impasse highlights what the school district spokesman says is a larger issue: the secrecy of contract negotiations.

"Out of a dollar, 90 percent of it is determined by this negotiation process, which in virtually every school district ... is almost top secret,” Isbell said.

"The taxpayer should be involved. It's their money. I think negotiations should be public, just like a school board meeting,” he said.

Greer Nichols, president of the Broken Arrow Education Association, said he does not object to that idea but also doesn't see a point in doing so.

"I don't have any problem with it being open, but here's the thing — nobody wants to air their dirty laundry in public,” he said. "It's always done in private.”

Isbell said he thinks the impasse is more about politics than money.

Nichols declined to say where the $67,000 that would be needed could be drawn from, saying he did not want to negotiate through the media.

A fact-finding committee will now be formed with assistance from the state Department of Education to make a recommendation, on which the Broken Arrow School Board will have the final say. Teachers could start school Aug. 13 under last year's contract.

Related Topics: Politics, Local Politics