Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Seattle Teachers' Tentative Deal Tackles Issues Beyond Pay

Kyle Stokes
/
KPLU

 Striking Seattle teachers have won unusual concessions in a tentative contract deal: guaranteed 30-minute recess and teams created to address racial disparity in schools.

Experts say the dispute that delayed the school year by a week reflects a strategy shift by teachers nationwide to take on broader issues that promote the public interest.

 
Bob Bruno, a professor of labor and employment at University of Illinois, says teachers are fighting for more than raising their own pay. They're bargaining in the broader defense of education.

 
Seattle Education Association President Jonathan Knapp says the union took a new approach, working closely with parents, communities of color and others to advance "a progressive agenda."

 
“We really feel like this is a new era for public education,” said Knapp. “We’re opening the doors for progress on a variety of issues beyond the traditional pay and benefits.” 

 
Students are starting school Thursday, after union leadership voted to suspend the strike. The full union membership will vote on the deal Sunday.

 

The Associated Press (“AP”) is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from the AP. Founded in 1846, the AP today is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. The AP considers itself to be the backbone of the world’s information system, serving thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television, and online customers with coverage in text, photos, graphics, audio and video.
Kyle Stokes covers the issues facing kids and the policies impacting Washington's schools for KPLU.