KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM/FM) — The school year will begin with public school teachers in Kalamazoo under contract after a month of protest over claims by the union that the district wanted to deprive of them of step increases, a claim which the district denies.
The final deal will give teachers earned step increases by trimming the cost of other contract items.
The additional cost of the contract will be the same 1.88 percent increase the district offered all its other unions.
Finance Director Gary Start said they found some creative ways to make it work.
Board President Patti Scholler-Barber said the problem is underfunding by the state. She said they have had to trim $32 million out of their budgets since 1999.
Teachers ratified the deal late Thursday afternoon, giving the board time to add it to their regular agenda Thursday night.
