Winfield school district officials will make a new contract offer to local teachers, a district official said Wednesday. Teachers voted down the district’s first offer in September.
“A new offer will be made,” Glennis Zimmerman, assistant superintendent for USD 465, said. “We can’t discuss much more than that until negotiations have concluded.”
The school district had been waiting for the results of an audit to determine enrollment figures for the current school year. A higher student count means more aid from the state and more money for the USD 465’s budget.
Zimmerman said the audit concluded that an increased student count had created about $144,000 in discretionary money that the district can spend in a manner it sees fit.
The new money is close to the $150,000 that separates teacher demands and an offer approved by the school board. Teachers have asked for a 7 percent across the board raise for this year, the district’s first offer was just under 6 percent.
Zimmerman could not comment on whether all the additional money would be included in the new offer. The details of the latest offer were discussed during a closed-door meeting of the school board Monday night.
A spokesperson for the teachers has previously said that teachers will vote on at least one more district before negotiations advance to fact finding. In the fact-finding stage, a third party audits the district’s finances and makes a recommendation on a contract.
