TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) -
Toledo School Board President Brenda Hill tells Toledo News Now that Superintendent Romules Durant told her that teachers in the Toledo Federation of Teachers did agree to the fact-finder's report at their meeting today.
Toledo Public Schools teachers have been working without a contract since July.
A fact-finding mediator was brought in to, hopefully, bring the lengthy negotiation process to a close, and today both TPS and the teacher's union voted on the fact finder's report.
This latest round of negotiations between Toledo Public Schools and the Toledo Federation of Teachers has lasted longer than previous negotiations.
Saturday morning, the TPS school board approved the fact finder report, leaving it in the hands of union members, who voted Saturday morning at the Stranahan Theater.
The mediator recommended giving recognition for teachers with more experience, continuing concessions in health care and not increasing supplemental services for after school programs.
One of the biggest aspects of the report was giving teachers a 1% raise effective January 1st 2014, and an additional 1% raise in 2015.
The raises do not cover the concessions previously given up by teachers in contract negotiations two years ago.
After the last round of negotiations in 2011, teachers had to accept an overall 3 percent pay-cut.
"By no means do I think it's a great agreement. I believe it is a realistic agreement given the economic times of Toledo and Toledo Public Schools," said Kevin Dalton, President of the Toledo Federation of Teachers.
The union also made it a point that they wanted to make sure language was put in place to make sure the needs of students were still being met.
"People understand that there is an economic hard times in Toledo Public Schools, and some of the language in tentative agreements were positive because it provided additional; services for students who need them," said Mr. Dalton.
The consensus of the teachers at the meeting seemed to be that they don't like the report, but it's better than nothing.
There is no word on if substitute teachers or the para-professionals have agreed to the report.
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