SEATTLE SCHOOLS: Teachers union getting the word out as contract expiration looms

(SEA photo of members at West Seattle Farmers Market yesterday)

By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

You may have wondered about all the people in red shirts. Yesterday it was leafleting at the West Seattle and Capitol Hill farmers’ markets, and tomorrow it’s back to the bargaining table for members of the Seattle Education Association (SEA), as the teachers’ union continues negotiations with Seattle Public Schools ahead of their contract expiration on August 31st.

SEA and SPS started the bargaining process in late June. Just a couple of weeks later, the SPS board had a public hearing on the proposed 2026-27 district budget. At $1.34 billion, it includes cuts that aim to both balance the budget and shore up the district’s reserve funds, which had been projected to be depleted next year. Even though the budget is not yet approved, it is top of mind. “More than anything, we’re bargaining against SPS’ budget challenges and against the calendar,” said SEA Lead Bargainer Davina Diaz in a community update on SEA’s website last week. “SEA has put on the table all 18 of our “small” issues, called that because we believe they’re less expensive and easier to reach agreement on. So far we have reached agreement on two of those.”

(SEA photo)

The teachers’ union has been working under a 3-year contract negotiated in 2022, which was extended for 1 year. The 2022 contract was only reached after a strike that delayed the start of school for the district’s 50,000 students for one week. SEA and SPS have met 14 times already, with another 6 dates set, but SEA has asked for more dates to be added. They have a list of 57 issues to resolve, from class sizes and compensation to professional development and supports for students. “We’re committed to winning more time for supporting students in our days, safer schools, and respectful pay,” said Diaz. SEA’s bargaining team includes two dozen educators, including 3 from West Seattle schools—one each from Sanislo Elementary, Lafayette Elementary and West Seattle High School.

This all comes as SPS’s new Superintendent Ben Shuldiner is finishing his first 6 months on the job. SPS has not yet replied to a request for comment on the negotiations, but Shuldiner’s introduction to the new budget is clearly focused on the bottom line, including maintaining an adequate reserve. “A negative fund balance means the district enters binding conditions, potentially losing local control over how we spend money and make decisions for our students. We cannot let that happen, and that is what compels us to make difficult choices now, in the year ahead, and every following year until we have turned this around,” he wrote. “We have many hard choices ahead. We will address those head on, and we will do it together.”

“We’re doing everything we can to reach an agreement,” SEA spokesperson Julie Popper told WSB this afternoon. They’re also ready for anything, as evidenced by Picket Captain training listed on their website schedule for SEA members later this month. “We’re preparing just in case, but nobody wants to go on strike.”

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