Mediator makes little progress in St. Regis teacher salary standoff

An outside mediator couldn't bring the St. Regis teachers and the St. Regis Board of Trustees any closer on an agreement on the teachers' base pay.

Vicki Knudsen, a labor mediator for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, met with the board for over three hours and with the teachers for more than two hours Wednesday, but no resolution was reached.

The decision to bring Knudsen into the negotiations was made in late October, after nearly six months of unsuccessful negotiations between the teachers and board. The teachers and the school board have been trying to agree on an acceptable base salary for the teachers since May. At each negotiation meeting, the teachers have asked for a seven percent raise on their base pay and the school board has countered by offering zero percent.

"There was no progress made. There's still an offer of zero percent," said Terri Barclay, the president of the St. Regis Education Association. She said the teachers have put things on hold until after Christmas vacation and then they will decide what their next step will be. She said she isn't sure what their next step will be, but she does think they will continue their efforts to get an increase on their base pay. "I think as a group we decided we want to continue fighting for something," she said.

"The board and administration are saddened by the impasse. The teachers in this district have always worked hard to provide the absolute best there is. They deserve the best," reads a district statement prepared by St. Regis Superintendent Becky Aaring and Board of Trustee Chairman Shelly Dunlap.

"I think the union is frustrated and tired and would like to come to some sort of closure," said Barclay, who represents 11 of the 22 teachers at St. Regis as president of the St. Regis Education Association. She said the negotiation process is stressful for both the teachers and the board. She said in a small town it is important that they keep the negotiations as friendly as possible and not let it affect the relationship between the board and teachers. "It's not anybody's wish that it goes anywhere negative," she said.

The district's statement acknowledges this sentiment as well. "Our school is at the center of a very close-knit community and the community has looked with pride to the school and the strength of our teachers. We understand that and know the relationship between the teachers, board and administration is important to maintaining that strength."

The teachers have argued that they deserve an increase in their base pay because the new programs St. Regis has instituted in the past couple of the years has increased their workload and the increases to their base pay in the last 12 years haven't kept up with the rate of inflation.

Barclay said that with the base pay as it is, St. Regis is unable to attract new teachers and keep the ones they have. "We're just trying to secure a salary so that we can continue to bring in good teachers that will want to stay in the area," she said. Barclay said the teachers that have stayed at the school for a long time all have other ties to the community that keep them there.

Barclay said a one percent raise for the teachers would only cost the district $6,800. She said this is a small amount with the district's general fund at over $1.3 million.

The board has reiterated that they would like to give the teachers a raise, but there just isn't any money in the budget. According to the district's statement, St. Regis received only half of what they normally receive from the state for the general fund this year and district's budget next year will fall between $18,000 and $29,000 short of the funding necessary to preserve current programs and services with teacher pay as it is. The budget has also been reduced by over $60,000 in protested taxes.

According to the statement, the board and administration feel that it is important that the school be as fiscally prudent as possible, and over the past two years they have trimmed more than $77,000 from the budget in areas other than teacher salaries

One of the areas that makes the teachers the most confused about not receiving a raise is that the school board will be receiving over $500,000 in restitution from the Julie Downing embezzlement case. At the mediation hearing, the board held their stance that the restitution money was "one-time" money and couldn't sustain the raise. "Once it's gone, how do we continue to fund the raises?" asked Dunlap.