Salt Lake City Educators Rally Over Salary Negotiations
Jun 18, 2019, 1:08 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Educators and supporters rallied Tuesday outside Innovations High School over teacher salary negotiations.
The Salt Lake City School District Board of Education offered a new single-lane salary schedule that would have provided a starting teacher salary of just more than $50,000. However, protesters said that would mean a loss of more than $125,000 in earnings over a 30-year career compared to the current step-based salary schedule.
Educators protesting this morning over teacher salary & parental leave and how a new pay system would be a disadvantage in the long run. Details on @KSL5TV at Noon pic.twitter.com/KMambdO9TG
— Felicia Martinez (@FeliciaNews) June 18, 2019
Protesters said even educators from the Canyons School District who are on the salary schedule warned them not to take the deal.
A counter-offer by Salt Lake Education Association to accept a 5% increase based on the 2018-19 salary schedule was rejected by the school district. The district also rejected proposals to cap class sizes and extend pay for parental leave.
Mediation is set to take place later this summer after the Education Association announced it had declared an impasse in contract negotiations for Salt Lake School District for the 2019-20 school year.