The South Butler School Board will present the teachers union with a new contract proposal in an effort to come to an agreement and avert a possible strike.
Board Solicitor Tom Breth said Tuesday this new proposal will represent the district’s “best effort” at a compromise, which the board hopes can happen before the end of the school year. That would allow time for changes to health care plans to be made before the start of the 2018-19 school year, according to the board.
Once a new offer is presented to the teachers’ union, it will be posted on the district’s website at southbutler.org. Head of the teachers’ union Brook Witt said Tuesday that she had not yet seen the proposal and didn’t have any further comment at this time.
No additional bargaining sessions have been scheduled at this time but Breth has asked the state-appointed mediator to schedule multiple sessions in each of the next three months.
South Butler teachers have been working without a contract for nearly four years. The major sticking points continue to be wages and healthcare.
Earlier this month the union voted to authorize its leaders to call for a strike.
