La Center schools ask state to fix McCleary — again

Although La Center School District teachers didn’t go on strike, their deal was less than ideal, both the district and its teachers’ union agree.

The district and teachers union quietly ratified the contract the day before school started, including a modest pay raise. The approved salary schedule has teachers making anywhere from $43,206 (for a new teacher fresh out of college) to $82,658 (for one with 25-plus years of experience, a master’s degree and 90 credit hours on top of that).

Those numbers are lower than the approved contracts from nearby, slightly bigger districts in Ridgefield and Woodland. Part of the issue, according to La Center School District Dave Holmes and La Center Education Association President Kathy Bounds, was how the state ended up deciding on a funding structure following the ostensible “fix” by the McCleary school funding court case.

As a result of that case, the Washington State Legislature was tasked to fully fund K-12 education statewide which involved a number of aspects including the promise of larger salaries. 

The Washington Education Association was pushing for 15 percent raises for certificated staff (teachers) — La Center’s raises were about half that on average.

Whereas in the past salaries were determined by a statewide schedule that took into account years of experience and education, an amendment to the legislation made it an average per teacher, Bounds explained. She said the district got a flat $69,129 per teacher regardless of credentials.

Because La Center has a large number of teachers who fall into the upper brackets of its new pay schedule, it led to the district not being able to make such increases. 

“We are loaded with teachers that have been in this district for years,” Bounds remarked, herself a 26-year veteran of the district. Holmes said about 40 percent of its teachers have six or more years of experience and a master’s degree. He added that La Center was in the top-20 of the most-experienced teaching staff of the nearly 300 districts in the state.

Bounds said that it felt like the Legislature was punishing teachers with experience because of the funding procedure they used. She has polled union members, with some indicating they would pursue opportunities in other districts with better pay scales should they arise. 

Bounds said she was worried about her own pension which for teachers is based on salary from the last five years of teaching. It could make her change districts for the first time in her career.

“If there’s an opening at Camas (School District) in business education, which those jobs are hard to find teachers for, I will apply,” she said.

Bounds is sending a letter to her local legislators in Vancouver where she asks “The $12,575 question,” referencing how much more she could make given her place on the pay schedule if a Camas opening happened.

But whether or not a district would hire teachers who would fall in their higher pay brackets is another question both Bounds and Holmes had. 

“There will be people and places in this state that make decisions for hiring based on dollars and not what’s best for kids and who’s the best person to put in there,” Holmes said.

Although the contracts were less than ideal, La Center was one of only a few districts in Clark County that did not have a teacher strike at the start of the school year. Bounds said she realized the strike would do more harm than good given the situation the district was in.

“I’m not out to make this district bleed,” Bounds remarked.

The district will send its own letter to legislators whose constituents live within its boundaries, with a message of taking into account teachers with years in the career, not just an average.

“There has to be some kind of factor … for districts that have teachers that are very experienced,” Holmes said.