Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The sunset may be on the horizon for the 3-year-long battle between the Buffalo Public Schools and the Buffalo Teachers Federation regarding a teacher contract.
The Buffalo Public Schools' Board of Education gathered at City Hall to hold a special meeting designed to come together to fully commit to the deal that was suggested to both the union and the school district via a third party fact-finder.
President of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, Phil Rumore, was in attendance for this meeting and spoke in front of the board. "I've come to say that, while we may disagree, one of the things that we have done in the past, the most important thing that we do, is we find a way to come together and we are committed to working with you to come to an agreement."
"You know it is of utmost priority that we get a contract, for our vital teachers who are doing the hard work day in and day out. I know that we can get it done together," said Nate Kuzma, General Counsel and Chief Negotiator for the school district. "We're going to get this done and we're gonna get it done soon, aren't we President Rumore?"
"Yes we are," Rumore replied.
Kuzma then ran down with the Board of Education the numbers of this potential contract, based solely on the fact-finding report, which includes raises, starting immediately upon ratification of the contract starting at an 8% raise and then July 1st of every year from 2023-2025 increase to 6%, 4% and then 3%, respectively.
In addition, the teachers will receive an 8% bonus of their salary as soon as a new contract is ratified.
"Under the fact finders recommendation, we remain very, very competitive in the early stages of a teacher's career and are amongst one of the highest in the region. Make no mistake about that," said Kuzma. "This contract is fair, it's competitive, it makes our district very competitive for teachers to come to work from a financial standpoint."
The Board of Education subsequently voted unanimously on a resolution showing support of Kuzma, the negotiating team and the Superintendent of Schools and the results of the fact-finding report, in attempts to close the curtain on this long-awaited deal.
Going forward, the BTF and the school district's negotiating team are expected to meet Thursday, February 9th at 1 p.m. and again the following week, February 14th for further discussion on the matter.
"Each and every day that goes by is money that is not in our teachers pockets," Kuzma outlines in his presentation. "It's money that they're unable to utilize for their families, our 3800 teachers and the families that rely on them for the money that they bring home, each and every paycheck."
Although the BTF originally rejected the fact-finding report, it would appear that the deal may be the basis for consensus on a negotiated agreement.
When asked if a deal could potentially be made before the July 1st deadline, Rumore responded, "Oh yeah. I would expect that there would be a settlement before. I mean, July 1 is too far. So you know, I would hope that we could wrap this up in a month at the most."