Kalispell Public Schools, teachers union pause contract negotiations

Teachers will be paid according to a contract that was set to expire this week after the Kalispell Education Association and Kalispell Public Schools failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement following roughly five months of negotiations. 

Negotiations between the union and school district were paused for the summer break and are tentatively expected to resume Sept. 16 when staff have returned for the 2024-25 school year. 

The decisions affect about 460 certified staff, including school nurses, psychologists and speech-language pathologists as well as teachers.

Teachers are paid on a salary schedule with steps and lanes based on years of experience and education. Past practice at the district has been to start new teachers above the base salary at step two, which is currently $38,865. 

In this round of negotiations, both district officials and the Kalispell Education Association agreed to do away with the practice and instead increase the base. In its last proposal, the association requested increasing that amount to $43,000 for the 2024-25 school year. The district’s counter-proposal was $41,253. Teachers who max out of the salary schedule are currently paid $79,049, which the association proposed increasing to $81,339 for the 2024-25 school year. The district’s counter-proposal was $80,629.

For the 2025-26 school year, the district proposed a 1.5% increase.

FACTORING INTO negotiations is the school district’s anticipation of a $1.7 million budget shortfall going into the 2024-25 school year. 

Both the association and district recognize the challenges that inflation and the cost of living, failed levies and an outdated state funding formula pose in reaching an agreement.

“We want to see our teachers paid as well as we can do,” Superintendent Matt Jensen said. “At this time, we weren't able to accept or agree to the last recommendation from the union because we didn’t know if we could afford it.”

He said the district’s proposal was a “thoughtfully calculated” amount that budget officials believed it could fund without being “forced to make deeper cuts.” The district cut four elementary positions this year through attrition, which means the district didn’t fill positions after people retired or resigned. The district anticipates more reductions next year after a $700,000 high school general fund levy failed in the May school elections. A high school levy of any type hasn’t passed since 2007. 

Jensen said even if the district covers the deficit with a combination of cuts and available one-time funds, administrators need to think ahead about how the 2025-26 school year’s budget will be balanced. 

“Hopefully, the Legislature will add funding to K-12 schools,” Jensen said.

In a press release, Kalispell Education Association Vice President and Negotiations chair Anthony Lapke countered by saying, “We know that the district is facing staffing cuts just like most AA districts, but we did not ask for the moon. We bargained to receive the average starting wage amongst AA schools and other K-12 districts in the Flathead Valley,” 

The association contends the increases it proposed will aid in recruiting and retaining quality teachers. 

“We are losing our young teachers and are having quality candidates turn down offers,” Lapke said. “Our wages have not kept up with inflation, and we are nearly 10% below cost of living adjustments over the last decade.”

“The idea is to get our newest teachers a living wage so they could actually live in the communities they teach in,” said Lynne Rider, president of the association.

Rider said a budget shortfall is not new at the district.

“We’ve been dealing with a budget crisis for almost 10 years now,” she said.

As teachers are tasked with more duties following staff reductions, namely support staff, there’s a limit. She said she understands the situation the district is facing, “but you can only understand for so long, right?” 

“Without these contracts, there are things that just won’t happen. There’s a lot of extra time being put in that teachers do,” Rider said.

“What do you do when you have teachers who can’t live in the valley?” she asked. 

Three-year contracts for maintenance and custodial staff were recently ratified. For the 2024-25 school year, maintenance staff will receive an 8.5% pay increase and custodians, 10%. Both unions will get a 2% increase in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.  

Throughout the negotiation process, there was also the added task of getting new hires in key roles at the bargaining table up to speed. During negotiations, new people were hired to the superintendent, human resources director and business director positions. Two school board trustees on the negotiations committee also changed after the May school elections.

Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.