Salem-Keizer Public Schools’ licensed staff would receive a compensation package worth $36.8 million over two years under Superintendent Andrea Castañeda’s latest contract offer.
The offer includes a 5.5% cost-of-living raise this school year and a 3.5% raise next school year, according to details district officials released Wednesday afternoon.
The release followed Castañeda’s announcement Tuesday of the district’s offer of a $45 million compensation package to its classified workers’ union.
The district has been in contract negotiations with both unions since last spring.
Castañeda said both offers represent the most the district can afford, and will result in a huge reduction in force.
“The final outcome of both of these offers will mean we are going to lose hundreds of employees from our workforce,” Castañeda said during a media briefing Tuesday. “A system of our size facing a 5% or more reduction in our overall workforce means we are all going to see it.”
She blamed Oregon’s school public school funding system, saying it is not keeping pace with the actual cost of funding schools. In December, Castañeda announced a series of budget cuts totaling about $31 million.