POUGHKEEPSIE – Teachers from several Hudson Valley school districts joined in a rally by the Poughkeepsie Public School Teachers Association outside of the Poughkeepsie district offices where negotiators from both the union and the district were meeting with the appointed mediators.
More than 300 educators gathered to express their frustration with the district for failing to give Poughkeepsie teachers a new contract. The Poughkeepsie teachers have gone six years without a new contract despite every surrounding school district signing new contracts in the last year.
“Six years without a contract is too long,” said union President Kim Popken. “The district’s failure to negotiate in good faith is damaging to staff morale, recruitment, and during a time when the nation is facing a severe teacher shortage. Six years without an agreement is too long, and educators are feeling unvalued, unappreciated, and unsupported.”
In the budget year of 2012-2013, Poughkeepsie teachers earned a median salary of $81,712 per year, making them the fifth highest-paid district in Dutchess County. In 2021-2022, the salary has increased to $86,992, making them the 12th highest-paid out of 13 districts in the county.
For the 2020-2021 school budget, the school district experienced a fund balance increase of 140 percent, totaling just over $22 million. In the 2021-2022 budget year, the district added another $4.6 million to the fund balance, bringing it to $26.8 million. During that time, contract negotiations in Poughkeepsie remained deadlocked.
The union is seeking an annual pay raise of 1.75 percent a year for each year of the agreement and includes salary schedules, credits for higher education, and longevities. According to data from the union, the first year of the contract, 2019, would not add any new costs to the district and minimal increases until the 2023-2024 year of the contract which would be the full 1.75 percent, costing the district a total of…
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