Salary Hike, Smaller Classes For Wenatchee Teachers In New Contract With District

Teachers in the Wenatchee School District have a new contract. On Tuesday members of the Wenatchee Education Association met at Wenatchee High School to ratify a new two year contract with the School District. Of the 367 members in attendance, 98 percent voted to accept the agreement. The Association represents over 500 non-administrative certificated educators in Wenatchee.

Teachers will get a salary increase this school year and cost of living adjustment in 2019-2020. The new agreement also provides for some reductions in caseloads for non-teaching staff such as therapists and psychologists, and adds new limits to daily class load for teachers.

Wenatchee Education Association President Kris Cameron joined Dan Langager on the KOHO Morning Show. She said the raises help bring educators’ salaries closer to where they should be after years of stagnant wage growth against inflation, and comparable private-sector jobs. She said the Association’s bargaining team is grateful the District committed all of the available state allocated salary funding to District educators.

The District released a statement saying it’s happy to have reached an agreement that meets the needs of teaching staff and students.