Negotiations 2024

Dear Colleagues:

The USD 232 Board of Education and a majority of the De Soto Teachers' Association have voted to ratify the Tentative Professional Negotiated Agreement.

The following is a summary of changes to the Professional Negotiated Agreement:
 

Compensation: All cells on the salary schedule will increase by 2.4% plus an additional $1,500 and step movement. Certified employee will receive an average raise of 6.32%. The District will also pay for horizontal column movement for qualifying employees and an estimated 10% increase to individual employee health insurance premiums.  For changes to specific cells and new salary schedules, please see the Tentative Agreement 2024-25, Tentative Salary Schedule 2024-25, and Tentative Supplemental Salary Schedule 2024-25 below.

Supplemental Salaries: All cells on the supplemental salary schedule will increase by 5% plus step movement. In addition, we have added the following two supplemental positions: 

• KAYS Club Sponsor at Category 13
• Combined Boys & Girls Head Wrestling Coach

Stipends for Center-Based Special Education Teachers:  Due to unique and specific challenges in hiring and retaining center-based SPED teachers, the District will provide fully certified center-based SPED teachers with an annual stipend of $1,500 and provisionally licensed center-based SPED teachers with an annual stipend of $750. Stipends will be prorated for center-based SPED teachers who do not serve a full year in the position.

Third School Event or Activity Outside the School Day: Sunset language on the third school event or activity outside the school day will be eliminated. Language will be added to ensure that teachers are not required to participate in logistical planning for such events during their plan time and that teachers who agree to participate outside of the school day in planning such events will be compensated with extra duty pay.

Extending Elementary Lunch Period: While no new language has been added to the PNA, District administration has agreed that “elementary administrators will be directed to schedule all lunch periods at 30 minutes,” thereby extending the lunch period by three minutes.

New Flex Teacher Workdays: For the 2024-25 school year, on October 18, 2024 and March 24, 2025, “flexibility with respect to locations and working will be supported.” Thus, teachers will be able to work from home on those days, if they choose.

Sell-Back of Unused Discretionary Leave: This section is amended to set the sell-back rate at the current rate of substitute pay rather than a fixed dollar amount to ensure the rate would rise midyear if there were an increase in substitute pay. The current rate remains $155 per day. This section also fixes the rate discrepancy between voluntary sell-back of discretionary leave and forced sell-back of discretionary leave after 130 days. This discrepancy was fixed for the 2023-24 school year with a Memo of Understanding in November 2023; the new language permanently fixes the discrepancy by ensuring that both voluntary and forced sell-back of discretionary leave are linked to the rate of substitute pay. 

Liquidated Damages for Late Resignation:  New language allows the District to collect liquidated damages of up to $2,500 for certified employees who breach their contract by resigning midyear. See the Tentative Agreement 2024-25 for the specific scale. The District would be able to waive the liquidated damages for “unforeseeable circumstances.” Per Kansas state law, the District may also report an employee who resigns during the contract year to the Professional Practices Commission.

Tuition Reimbursement: Both sides discussed extending tuition reimbursement to cover more continuing education opportunities, but both sides ultimately agreed to maintain the existing language. Both sides also agreed to work collaboratively in the fall to draft mutually agreeable language.

Fair Dismissal Procedures: The Board declined to extend binding arbitration to its certified employees. Under the current terms of the PNA, even if a certified employee could prove to a third-party arbitrator that the employee had been wrongfully terminated, the Board would not have to follow the arbitrator’s ruling. USD 232 is outlier among Johnson County school districts in that it does not have binding arbitration.

Thank you to all members of the bargaining unit who followed the proceedings on YouTube and sent us comments and questions.
 

We would also like to thank our DTA members for their membership. The right to collective bargaining is only guaranteed by law if a majority of our certified employees are members of the De Soto Teachers’ Association. Simply put, without your membership, there would be no negotiations process, and we would be forced to accept whatever terms the Board of Education would choose to offer.

Thank you for your support and interest in the negotiations process!
 

Sincerely,

DTA Negotiations Team