Halstead teachers, district at impasse

HALSTEAD – Progress doesn’t seem to be something the negotiations between the teachers of USD 440 Halstead-Bentley can make with the school board.

The two sides are still at a stalemate following a meeting Monday morning discussing the teaching contract for the district.

Dave Kirkbride, executive director of the South Central Kansas National Education Association, said the meeting did not result in an agreement. In fact, the school board gave an ultimatum to the teachers’ representatives to be taken back to the teachers in the district for ratification.

Initially, the board of education and teacher representatives reached an impasse over the amount of an increase to the salary schedule, but when the two sides went into mediation meetings, the issue changed. What they are wrangling over, it seems, is years of service and when a teacher can qualify for early retirement benefits.

The two sides participated in a fact-finding hearing at the end of April. By law, they were required to have one negotiation session following the fact-finding results to try and resolve the matter.

The board hasn’t budged from its stance on early retirement, Kirkbride said.

The benefit is how much of their salary, according to where they are on the salary schedule, they can receive as a sort of pension payment for five years after retirement.

“The dispute is on early retirement language in our negotiated agreement,” teacher negotiations team member Ron Chronister said. “We currently have an early retirement provision that allows teachers who have been in the district to request and receive a portion of their final salary to be paid over the next five years. The amount depends on how long they have been in the district.”

A teacher who has been in the district for 10 years and has five years in another KPERs qualifying position, or 15 years in USD 440, can request 22.5 percent of the salary each year for five years. With 20 years in the district and five years in a KPERs qualifying position, or 25 years in Halstead-Bentley schools, a teacher qualifies for payments equaling 25 percent of the final salary.

The Board of Education is seeking to change the number of years of service for qualifying service — removing the qualifying service from outside the district and requiring teachers to have 25 years of service for the 22.5 percent payments and 35 years of service for the 25 percent payments.

According to what was said during the fact finding hearing, the district is seeking the change because it creates a financial burden and it encourages teachers to leave the district early.

“If the teachers don’t approve what the board presented (Monday), the board will offer a unilateral contract,” Kirkbride said. “Who knows what that contract could include.”

The teachers have three options by state law at this point. They can choose to accept the contract, reject it and work under last year’s contract and if the unilateral contract is imposed, they have the right to resign within 15 days without penalty, Kirkbride said.

He said the representative that met with the school board will meet with the district’s teachers on June 9 to discuss where to go from here.