Ann Arbor school district, teacher union reach tentative agreement

Posted on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 12:42 p.m.

The Ann Arbor school district and its teachers union have reached a tentative agreement on wages for next year, union President Brit Satchwell confirmed this morning.

But Satchwell declined to comment on the terms of the agreement, including any wage reductions and health benefit adjustments.

Ann Arbor administrators, teachers and other community members have been meeting for months to search for solutions to the district's budget problems. - File photo

District spokeswoman Liz Margolis confirmed an agreement had been reached, but declined further comment.

The agreement was reached Monday afternoon.

The tentative agreement will now head to the more than 1,100 union members for a vote. Voting will take place online on the teachers union’s website on Thursday and Friday. Results are expected to be known Friday, Satchwell said.

If union members pass it, the agreement will then head to the school board for ratification. That vote would likely take place at the board’s June 23 meeting.

“My members and the board need to be able to consult without a lot of comment from the public,” Satchwell said. “Once it has been passed, we will open it up for everyone to look at and comment on.”

An agreement with the teachers union is one of the last remaining significant factors to influence next year’s budget.

The school board passed a budget last week that contained $20 million in cuts, including the elimination of 90 teaching positions. The district has already sent 191 pink slips to teachers.

Both Superintendent Todd Roberts and Satchwell have repeatedly said they hoped to come to some sort of agreement that would allow all the teachers to be recalled.

The district’s budget plan announced earlier in the year called for $4 million in cuts from the teachers.

The union and the district signed a two-year contract before the beginning of this school year that included a provision calling for them to bargain to set the wages for next school year. Teachers had a wage freeze this school year.