CCSD declares ‘impasse’ in negotiations with teachers’ union, calls for arbitration

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County School District has declared an “impasse in negotiations” with the Clark County Education Association, the district said in a statement Tuesday.

According to the CCSD, in the eleventh bargaining session held on Sept. 12, the district offered a 9% salary increase in the first year, and $10K incentives for Tier 1 special education and “hard-to-fill” positions, in addition to “correcting the inequities in the salary schedule for thousands of teachers.”

CCSD said that the CCEA leadership team has rejected every offer, leading the district to declare an impasse on Tuesday, claiming that arbitration will be the only way to finish negotiations.

This declaration comes after CCSD filed an emergency motion Monday night claiming that teacher shortages at campuses have “severely disrupted” or forced the closures of schools across the district.

On Tuesday afternoon, the CCEA released a lengthy statement in response to the district’s declaration. The statement acknowledged that the District “declared impasse in negotiations and refused to continue bargaining.”

The statement went on to say that the CCEA made contract proposals that were “in alignment with the priorities passed in the 2023 Legislative Session and the governor’s budget,” before noting that there are nearly 2,000 vacancies in the District currently, with “more than 35,000 students without a full-time teacher.”

The CCEA said that two of the “key proposals” that it made were to pay special education teachers more “in order to retain and recruit more educators for those students,” as there are high vacancy rates among them.

The statement went on to discuss the cost-of-living increase that teachers have not received in two years “despite 8% inflation in one year alone.” It added that the district started the school year with a 1.875% salary decrease.

“Unfortunately, arbitration doesn’t happen like a light switch,” the statement concluded. “And in the time it takes to resolve, CCEA is sad to say that, under Superintendent Jara, 300,000 students will lose another year of instruction because more educators will quit, their classes will be the largest in the nation, and CCSD will fail to recruit the new educators needed to teach them.”

Tuesday morning, four Las Vegas valley schools canceled classes due to a “high number of unexpected teacher absences.”

“CCSD never attempted to address those issues until this past month—and even then, made proposals that did not adequately address the vacancy crisis,” the statement read.

CCSD alleges that the absences are part of a coordinated sickout and called the rolling sickouts a “continuance of a strike by licensed educators represented by the Clark County Education Association (CCEA).”

The District said it decided to file the motion due to the escalating nature of the rolling sickouts that have been reported starting Sept. 1, “as there is no indication that they will cease without court intervention and injunctive relief,” CCSD stated on Monday.

A hearing has been set for Wednesday, Sept. 13, for a judge to determine if a restraining order should be issued.

CCSD Statement

The full statement from CCSD issued Tuesday is as follows:

After today’s eleventh bargaining session, the Clark County School District (CCSD) declared an impasse with the Clark County Education Association (CCEA). CCSD ultimately offered a 9% salary increase in the first year, and $10k incentives for Tier 1 special education and hard-to-fill positions, plus correcting the inequities in the salary schedule for thousands of teachers. CCEA’s leadership team has rejected every offer. 

CCEA’s latest proposal only deepened the deficit they would impose on the District and continues to divide our hard-working teachers. By increasing the financial burden it hopes to place on the District, CCEA continues moving farther away from any agreement.

By law, these sessions are for bargaining and negotiation, not surrender. CCEA never moved from its original unaffordable, budget-busting, and inequitable demands to benefit its most senior members while leaving those educators placed on the salary schedule inequitably to continue working for wages that do not honor them for their experience and education.

Because of CCEA’s inflexibility, arbitration becomes the only way to resolve the issues and pay our educators more equitably so our kids can benefit in the classroom.

SB 231 funds can still be negotiated once the state informs the District of its allocation for each employee group.

CCEA Response

The full statement released by the CCEA is as follows:

Today, CCSD declared impasse in negotiations and refused to continue bargaining. Since
March 30, 2023, CCEA has made contract proposals that are in alignment with the priorities
passed in the 2023 Legislative Session and the governor’s budget. These proposals were
designed to address the high vacancies that exist in CCSD, where there are currently nearly
2,000 vacancies and more than 35,000 students without a full time teacher.

Our Title I schools have 82% of all vacancies. Our special needs students have high vacancy
rates among all special education teachers. Two key proposals CCEA made were to pay those
positions more in order to retain and recruit more educators for those students. CCSD never
attempted to address those issues until this past month—and even then, made proposals that
did not adequately address the vacancy crisis.

Furthermore, 69% of all educators recruited by CCSD to fill these vacancies come through the
Nevada teacher pipeline, which means CCSD competes primarily with other urban school
districts, many of which are in Southern California. Currently, CCSD’s entry level pay is more
than $12,000 less than the starting pay in Southern California. That is why CCEA proposed a
10% adjustment on the salary schedule in the first year and another 8% in the second year—so
we can be competitive enough to address the high vacancy rates.

CCEA also proposed the 10% and 8% increases to better retain our educators, who are
currently leaving faster than we can hire them. These educators have not had a COLA increase
in two years despite 8% inflation in one year alone. They started the school year with CCSD
reducing their salaries by 1.875%—a pay cut. The 18% CCEA proposal is also coupled with a
one-time review of placement on the salary schedule for all educators.

On health insurance, CCEA proposed that CCSD increase the monthly premium contributions to
keep up with rising healthcare costs. Otherwise teachers, many of whom are single parents, will
have to pay more out-of-pocket costs for health insurance.

Finally, CCEA proposed increasing instruction time to help mitigate lost learning from COVID by
extending the instructional day with educators’ pay increased to compensate them for their
additional time.

Unfortunately, CCSD refused all of our proposals. Rather than taking care of educators, CCSD
rewarded their highest paid employees—principals—with 12% increases in pay and health
insurance. Superintendent Jara was stuck on proposals that created more disparity in our ranks
with educators falling even further behind.

Impasse has been declared. CCEA has gone this route before with CCSD. The good thing now
is a third set of eyes will see just how much more money—hundreds of millions of
dollars—CCSD received from the legislature, including the $250 million specifically allocated for
educator salary increases. It won’t be up to Jara; it won’t be up to CCSD’s CFO; it won’t be up to
trustees blindly following the Jara wagon.

Unfortunately, arbitration doesn’t happen like a light switch. And in the time it takes to resolve,
CCEA is sad to say that, under Superintendent Jara, 300,000 students will lose another year of
instruction because more educators will quit, their classes will be the largest in the nation, and
CCSD will fail to recruit the new educators needed to teach them.

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