This story is an update of the story “Teacher Contract Negotiations at Impasse; Educators React” posted on Wednesday, Feb. 26. 

With his mom being a substitute teacher in Rockwood, Noah Southerland, junior, has been aware of teacher contract issues regarding salary.

Southerland and his mom joined other Rockwood teachers and parents in front of Crestview on Friday, Feb. 28, to participate in a Coffee at the Curb event to bring awareness to contract negotiations between the district and the Rockwood National Education Association (RNEA). 

Teacher contract negotiations began in September and were at an impasse because both sides could not reach an agreement on teacher salaries and family and medical leave (FML).

“My family figured that in solidarity we should support the teachers that we have had in the past and that my mother works with,” Southerland said.

Southerland said teacher salary is an important issue to him.

“I think that fair pay should be guaranteed to Rockwood’s teachers for the work they do, for the students and the community at large,” Southerland said.

Contract Negotiations

Rockwood and RNEA complete a bargaining process for teacher contracts every three years. This year’s negotiations concluded Tuesday with 89.33% of RNEA members voting in favor of the most current agreement between the district and RNEA.

Two weeks ago, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Dr. Kim Cohen, district negotiation chair, said the district received an offer from Tom Cook, RNEA president, and Lisa Ali, UniServ director for the Missouri National Education Association.

This accepted offer is a three-year agreement of a 10% guaranteed salary increase over two years, with a 5.25% increase in the first year and a 4.75% increase in the second. The salary increase for the third year will be renegotiated during year two.

The ratified agreement will now go to the Board of Education for approval. Contracts would then go out to teachers on Friday, March 28.

Although the district and RNEA will negotiate teacher salaries again during the 26-27 school year, Cook said he isn’t concerned about a salary freeze occurring.

“I have no reason to believe at this moment that Rockwood’s finances will be so dire in two years that there will be a salary freeze,” Cook said.

Cook said that the 10% increase in the salary fund has been the highest increase that they’ve ever achieved, and that if they hadn’t come to this agreement, teacher salaries would have been frozen for the following year.

“This does not completely solve the issue, that is something we will continue looking at and fighting for because educators, just like any professional in their career, deserve to earn a comfortable living wage,” Cook said.

Teacher Concerns

With fewer people graduating college with education degrees or using the education degree they may have, Cook said it’s important to offer competitive compensation to recruit and retain teachers.

“Ultimately, when educators are valued and successful, then the community thrives,” Cook said.

Cook also added that offering competitive benefits is important because fewer people are graduating with education degrees.

“We want to stop losing ground to our neighboring districts in Saint Louis County,” Cook said.

Julie Bayha, former MHS Spanish teacher, said she has seen how discouraging it is for teachers to not be compensated similarly to surrounding districts.

“They don’t feel appreciated or valued, and then you consider the fact that they could do the same work somewhere else and get paid more, I know teachers are very frustrated,” Bayha said. 

A Rockwood teacher with a bachelor’s degree in their seventh year of teaching is paid less than a teacher with the same degree and years of experience in Parkway and other neighboring districts, according to data compiled by the RNEA based on public records.

Bayha now works in the Affton School District, as Affton was willing to honor all of Bayha’s previous teaching experiences, while Rockwood only honored 10 of her 14 total years of teaching when she was first hired in 2020. 

Bayha said when she left, Rockwood was offering incoming teachers 15 years of experience but wouldn’t bring up teachers who were already employed by the district.

As prices in everyday items continue to rise, Bayha said it’s necessary for teachers to get paid more to be able to keep up with these costs.

“It’s more important than ever that teachers feel supported and valued within the district where they work,” Bayha said.

District Concerns

Dr. Cohen said the district is concerned about what could happen to salaries in the third year due to potential future decreases in district funding.

“Our staff members would have a better picture of financial resources within the district at the time,” Dr. Cohen said.

Cohen said there may need to be a salary freeze in the third year. The district is preparing a bid to learn more about a tax levy increase, which is a local property tax approved by voters to provide funding to schools.

Cyndee Byous, chief financial officer for the district, said there are several possible changes to Missouri’s education budget that may occur next school year.

The state adequacy target, or the amount of money per pupil the state provides school districts, was recalculated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and was set to increase from $6,760 to $7,145.

Governor Mike Kehoe’s budget recommendations, released on Jan. 28 during his State of the State Address, did not include the $300 million needed to fully fund the adequacy target recalculation. 

“School districts across the state, including Rockwood, have already developed our fiscal year 2025-2026 budgets based on that funding going up to $7,145,” Byous said.

If passed, Byous said that loss would immediately pull more than $7 million out of the district’s operating budget for this coming school year. Over the next three years, it would be about $21.6 million.

“It’s the biggest hit we’ve had to take in at least 10 years,” Byous said.

Byous said the finance department presented a preliminary budget to the Board of Education in December. They anticipate being able to retain the same budget expenditures as presented in December to the Board of Education, but this will require some deficit spending.

“The Rockwood School District has a strong financial position right now, but continued cuts like this are going to have a serious impact,” Byous said. “When we have to project deficit spending, that means we need to start looking at ways to turn that around and change that trajectory, and we don’t know yet what all the impacts of that might be.”

If passed, Byous said these proposed cuts could impact all areas of the district’s expenses, including salaries.

Mallory McGowin, DESE chief communications officer, said it is still very early in a much longer budget process that happens each year. The state budget will not be finalized by the legislature until May 9; the governor then has until late June to sign it.