Grand Forks teacher contract negotiations, which stalled in May, could move closer to a resolution after a report is issued by Friday from a commission charged with reviewing the matter.
The North Dakota Education Fact Finding Commission will outline recommendations aimed at resolving the impasse between the Grand Forks School Board and the Grand Forks Education Association, said Dean Rummel, chairman of the commission.
The board and the education association will then have 20 days to meet and try to reach an agreement.
The report will be sent Friday to the GFEA, School Board President Doug Carpenter and Superintendent Larry Nybladh, Rummel said.
The School Board is expected to take up the matter at its next meeting, set for 6 p.m. July 10 at the Mark Sanford Education Center.
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The commission's recommendations are not binding, said Jon Martinson, executive director of the North Dakota School Board Association. But if agreement is not reached within that 20-day time frame, the commission's report will be published in the Herald and will include an explanation of why, in the chairman's opinion, negotiations failed and who, in his opinion, compromised the possibility for agreement.
"If one side doesn't agree (to the commission's recommendations), then the two sides are essentially still at impasse," Martinson said.
"The school board retains its right to offer contracts after that," and could then offer teachers its last best offer that was on the table before the impasse was declared, he said.
Grand Forks is not alone in dealing with difficult contract issues.
Negotiations between teachers and school boards have stalled in several school districts throughout North Dakota, Martinson said, largely because of the decision by the 2017 state Legislature to freeze, for the next two years, the level of per-student funding, $9,646, that was in effect for 2016-17.
Rummel, who recently was appointed to his sixth term on the fact-finding commission, agreed. "With the Legislature not providing any new money to school districts, there's a lot of issues," he said.
Along with Grand Forks, several other districts have asked for the commission's help to work things out, Rummel said.
Teacher pay in dispute
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Grand Forks teachers have asked for a 5 percent raise for next year and a 3 percent raise for the 2018-19 school year.
The Grand Forks School Board has proposed no increase in teacher salaries for the next two years, citing budget constraints brought on by rising expenses, especially in employees' health insurance premiums, and by the freeze on annual per-student funding.
Other sticking points in negotiations involve maternity leave and preparation time for elementary school teachers.
On May 22, the board officially declared an impasse in teacher contract negotiations had been reached. That action meant the issue moved to the North Dakota Fact Finding Commission for review.
The three-member commission then asked each side to provide documents outlining their respective positions and held a public hearing June 15 to receive input from teachers, school board members and others.
Commission members are Rummel of Dickinson, Jerry Hieb of Valley City and Barb Evanson of Bismarck. Members are appointed by the North Dakota governor, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction.
Other schools affected
Across the state, the commission has hosted several public hearings over impasses in teacher contract negotiations, Martinson said. And "there are going to be more."
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School boards and teachers in Dunseith, Fargo, Turtle Lake-Mercer, Rolla and Williston school districts have reached an impasse, he said. Hearings have been held in Rolla, Dunseith and Williston, and others are scheduled this month for Turtle Lake-Mercer and Fargo, he said.
"There were more fact-finding hearings in June than in any other June," Martinson said.
Last year, there were no school districts that reached an impasse, he said, probably because most school boards negotiate a two-year contract with teachers.
Martinson declined to identify the other school districts which are at impasse but whose hearing dates have not been confirmed.
"It's especially tough this year because school districts are not getting as much money," he said.
"The legislature was not able to appropriate an increase in funding for K-12 education," which has put school boards in a tough spot.
"How does a district advance teachers, based on experience and additional education, when there's no additional funding?" he said. "It's extremely difficult."
"I know our school boards; they are members of the community. They want to be able to give an increase (in salaries), but when they can't, they can't. There isn't money. It's bleak."
