The Knoxville Education Association has a new contract after the District 202 School Board approved it last night.
With a 5-0 vote, the board ratified in closed session a collective bargaining agreement with Knoxville teachers that includes a 9.05 percent salary increase over three years.
A joint press release from the 202 Board and the KEA says the agreement is the result of a “collaborative negotiation” that “recognizes the value the KEA members provide to the students, school district and community.”
Also ahead of the joint board meeting tonight where Knoxville will host the nine schools of Regional Office of Education 33, Wilder believes that without General State Aid in FY17, the district could make it through the next school year but not without exhausting reserves.
The district is waiting on a payment of $2,029,000 from the Capital Development Board reimbursing Knoxville for money taken from reserves to pay for the new high school.
Wilder tells WGIL that if CDB and property tax money comes in, Knoxville schools can stay open next year.
“But I would stress that’s if we get local tax revenue and we use every penny of our reserves,” Wilder says. “We’re likely going to make it through next school year, but it’s going to take a little bit of borrowing and spending every penny that we’ve saved up over the last couple of years.”
For Knoxville to receive the $2 million promised from the CDB, the General Assembly will have to pass HB4232, a bill that appropriates ongoing school construction without a full budget.
