Anchorage teachers now officially have new contracts. The Anchorage School Board on Tuesday approved the agreement reached between the Anchorage School District and the Anchorage Education Association, the teachers union.
The three-year contract increases salaries for roughly 2,800 teachers by 5% in each of the first two years and by 4% in the third. Plus, the contract retroactively gives teachers a 3% raise for the current school year.
The finalized contract follows roughly 15 months of negotiations. Talks escalated in November when the union and district scheduled arbitration for the first time in nearly two decades.
Negotiators for the union and district announced the agreement in mid-January, and union members voted to support the contract proposal last week.
The agreement comes as the district approaches an uncertain financial future. Facing a projected budget deficit of about $90 million next school year, district officials recently proposed a budget that would cut more than 500 staff, increase class sizes and eliminate many programs.
Additionally, Anchorage voters will decide on a one-time, $11.8 million tax hike to help support the school district in April. If approved, district leaders have committed to using all of the tax on teaching positions, estimating it would cover more than 80 educators.
