By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief
St. Louis – Teachers and staff in St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) have ratified a new contract that will see them get their largest raises in nearly 20 years.
The new contract, ratified by American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 420 members, gives most teachers a 17 percent pay increase over three years. Special education teachers will receive a 22 percent raise in the contract negotiated by district leaders and Local 420.
Special education positions are among the hardest for the district to fill and retain, said AFT Local 420 President Ray Cummings. St. Louis Public Schools don’t receive special funding from the state for special education teachers in the way the Special School District does, and pay difference makes it hard to retain teachers.
“Once they get experience with us they want to go to the Special School District because the pay so much better,” Cummings said. “This will help with that.
“By the time we get to the end of this agreement, everybody will get a least a 10 percent raise and some will get at least 22 percent,” he said.
The new contract starts in July.
‘SUPPORTING OUR TEACHERS’
“We have to make sure we are supporting our teachers,” District Superintendent Keisha Scarlett said in a statement. “When we support our teachers, we definitely know we will see the impact that it will have on our students and families.”
The average salary in SLPS for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $53,854, which is fourth highest in the state according to the Missouri National Education Association.
Teachers will see a seven percent raise in fiscal 2025, the first year of the contract, and five percent in both 2026 and 2027. The pay for special education teachers will jump by 10 percent in the first year and six percent in each of the following two years. Other staff members represented by the union will receive a minimum 10 percent raise during the three-year contract.
“With the new raises, we’re now No. 1,” said Local 420 spokesman Byron Clemens “We’re now competitive with the St. Louis County school districts, including Clayton.”
RECRUIT AND RETAIN
The increases come at a crucial time when teacher shortages across the nation have escalated, especially since the onset of the Covid pandemic. A recent report revealed that 86 percent of public schools nationwide still struggled to hire educators entering the 2023-24 school year.
“This agreement demonstrates a genuine effort to recruit and retain a dedicated, qualified, workforce,” Cummings said. “Investing in our educators is an investment in our children’s future.
“This agreement reflects a genuine effort to recruit and retain dedicated educators, emphasizing their crucial role in creating a hopeful future for St. Louis’ children and families. This positive development reflects the commitment of the district leadership to its teachers and the vital role they play in shaping young minds.”
The pay increases will begin rolling out, with teachers seeing more money in their paychecks on July 1, which marks the beginning of the new fiscal year for the school district, Cummings said.
KIPP High School returns to the bargaining table with wage offer
St. Louis – KIPP St. Louis Charter High School teachers represented by American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 420 rallied outside the school at 706 N. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis on March 13 as the union and school officials returned to the bargaining table, with a proposed three to 10 percent wage increase offered by KIPP.
Teachers and staff at KIPP organized in December of 2022. It took KIPP administrators seven months to come to the bargaining table, but after five months of on-and-off negotiations, bargaining had all but ground to a halt. That was until March 7 when KIPP administrators, shamed by recent news articles and alerted to a looming strike, finally produced a counter proposal, and agreed to return to the bargaining table.
KIPP teachers have hosted rallies outside the school attended by fellow union members, including United Auto Workers (UAW), Communications Workers (CWA) and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) St. Louis. They attempted to petition KIPP’s administrative officers Feb. 22 but administrators refused to accept the petition.
Nate Gibson, a KIPP history teacher and member of the bargaining team, said Local 420’s recently negotiated raises for St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) teachers likely played a role in KIPP administrators’ return to the bargaining table.
“We got a new proposal from KIPP’s attorney and administrators for a raise for this year and next year,” Gibson said. “We credit the union for negotiating the raise with SLPS teachers and SLPS staff who are in the same union we’re in. We also credit our staff for coming together and showing our unity, showing KIPP that we expect a contract soon on behalf of our students and ourselves.
“Per KIPP’s communication, we want the same thing,” he said. “We all want to retain good staff at this school so kids can have a good education, and we need a good contract now to do that.”
KIPP St. Louis teachers rallied outside the high school March 13 ahead of a scheduled bargaining meeting to show their commitment to negotiating a fair contract.
MANY TEACHERS NOT COMING BACK
Arika Biney, a mental health professional at KIPP St. Louis, said she feels a sense of progress that KIPP has returned to the bargaining table, “but I also feel like we had to force their hand to get there. I don’t feel like we should just lay down and take what they’re giving. But at the same time, we have to respect the timeline. We have a lot of staff turnover and there are a lot of people who will not be coming back next year.
And they’re still deserving of their retroactive pay. We’re trying to get this done quickly, but also be sensitive to the fact that we’re asking for multiple things.”
‘HOPEULLY MAKE SOME MOVEMENT’
“Hopefully we’re going to make some movement,” said Justin Fox, a choir and fine arts appreciation teacher at KIPP. “We’ve had some pretty significant movement with pay that we have been begging for quite some time, but it’s still not quite enough. We will need some more and we need to keep pushing harder to give these students the environment that they deserve and that they are required to have to effectively learn and grow.”
The contract teachers are seeking isn’t just about raising wages, Fox said, it also has to do with safety, reducing teacher turnover and addressing educational gaps that he says aren’t being addressed.
“There are a lot of band-aids that are being provided but no real long-term solutions and that’s why we’re fighting for a contract,” Fox said.
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