Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - After a couple trying years of negotiations between the Buffalo Public School District and the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF), the Buffalo School Board voted unanimously in approval of a new contract for teachers on Friday in a special board meeting at City Hall.
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"I'm very happy. I want every single one of our teachers to feel valued," said Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams. "I'm excited when I hear our Chief of Human Resources say it's not just for the staff that we have now, but we are recruiting just like other districts around Western New York, and we are competitive now. We're a great place to work. Buffalo Public Schools, no other district has the diversity that we have. We have diversity amongst our student populations, diversity amongst the academic programs that we offer, and now we can go out and really be competitive and recruit the best and the brightest.
"This Board of Education, and this superintendent values and respects the work that they do. They do life-altering, life-changing work. If this Board did not believe they were worth every penny, trust me, we wouldn't have gotten the unanimous vote that we got today."
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For School Board member Terrance Heard, a former educator himself, he says Friday was a moment to look back on the two years of, at times, tumultuous negotiations and celebrate that a deal is finally done between the District and the teachers union.
"We have a great staff here, we have a superintendent that came aboard, and no one could do a better job than what she's done. No one could do a better job," said Heard following Friday's vote. "For me and Nate Kuzma, our attorney that's here, I just remember the countless hours and it looks on his face after coming out of these meetings, and meeting with the union and trying to get this resolved for the last two years. I just know the impact on it is great, and it's gonna have a great impact with our teachers."
While School Board member Ann Rivera acknowledges times got tough during the negotiation period, Friday was the culmination of the Board's investment in stakeholders, students and the community.
"It was a bumpy time, but I think the fact that the board stayed focused on what was important, that we continue to come back to the table with our negotiating partners says how important, how critical and how invested we are in these relationships," said Rivera on Friday. "I think this really shows, in a lot of ways, we've spoken loud-and-clear to our teachers about how important they are to us."
One of the main focuses during these negotiation periods between the District and the BTF was the ability to attract more teachers to come to Buffalo Public Schools. In addition, it was just as much of a focus during contract talks to be able to agree on a deal that will also help retain as many teachers coming to the District as possible.
Chief of Human Resources, Tami Hollie-McGee feels with this new contract with the BTF, the District is going to be competitive with its salaries now.
"I think our Board and the negotiating team, we wanted to make sure our teachers were valued, and they knew that we know that happy teachers results in productivity and academic success for our students. So we wanted to make sure we were going into September with teachers in a frame of mind that would help our children and our students become successful," said Hollie-McGee.
With this new contract for teachers in Buffalo, starting salaries for new incoming teachers will be second in the entire region only to Lackawanna Schools. However, the overall increase in pay for teachers over the years will put Buffalo Public Schools among some of the top-paying districts in the region.
Heard believes the contract in place will be the best to offer in Western New York for teachers.
"We actually give health care for the next four years to any teachers that come in, or they want to transfer to the district. We've got the best healthcare, we've got the best policy that's out right down in our school system, and we have the best students also," Heard said. "We're looking for these individuals to come in, and they've been calling me. I've been receiving emails, I've been talking to them. I reached a bunch of charter school instructors that want to come out to the district, and we've been given them to our HR department. We have 119 people already that's on the list. So that's amazing, and that's an accomplishment we've never heard of before."
While equitable compensation is certainly one of the attractive features of this new contract with the District, Rivera also points out another factor that will attract more teachers to join the Buffalo Public Schools family.
"We have been able to streamline their progression within our own ranks," she explains. "One of the most critical things when you're working in an institution is allowing talent to continue, and not stop them up in some ways. When we remove these steps and allow our teachers to move through the ranks, to be seen as the credentialed experienced, qualified teachers they are, that's a really critical piece of a very functional system, a very functional school district. That's one of the things that speaks to me loudly about it, and we were able to do it by valuing our teachers, but also making sure we get the initiative done. They are always together. You cannot accomplish initiatives without the folks involved in carrying them out."
The new contract between Buffalo Public Schools and the BTF will see the deal run retroactive to 2019, but will be in place for Buffalo educators through June 30, 2026. Chief Negotiator for the Buffalo Public Schools, Nathan Kuzma, says this new deal with the teachers union gives everyone a new framework to work with when a new deal is needed in another three years.
"There are other things we want to do as a school district. There are committees that are going to be formed, where professionals will get at the table, things that will need sign off from the Federation. This will create the pathway for a new relationship, quite frankly, with our BTF partners, and the opportunity to get more things done in the coming year or two before we have to start negotiating the next complete collective bargaining agreement," said Kuzma on Friday.
It is the hope of Rivera and the rest of the School Board that this new contract is a positive framework to build upon moving forward.
"Negotiations are important, but also contracts are important, because it allows us to progress," Rivera said. "I think looking back, what we can see in the pattern is that we're still committed no matter what. We're going to make this work, we're going to get to a resolution, we're going to continue negotiations, we're going to be at the table. I hope that is loud-and-clear to our negotiating partners."
The BTF will convene Monday at Kleinhans Music Hall to hold a ratification voting process. If they vote and approve the new contract, it will make the deal official between the teachers union and the District.