A collective bargaining agreement nearly 60 years old in Colorado Springs is coming to an end. 

The school District 11 Board of Education voted not to renew the master agreement that has been in place since 1968 between them and the district’s teachers’ union, the Colorado Springs Education Association, during a heavily attended special meeting Wednesday evening.

The option not to renew the agreement was added during the most recent bargaining period and discussed by board members and their legal counsel since October. Per the agreement, either the board or union could present a written intention to discontinue it before the third Wednesday in January.

This possibility generated a stir of action by parties both in favor of and opposed.

Last week, about 300 union members and other community members gathered outside the board’s regular meeting to voice their support of the master agreement.

D-11 teachers rally outside board meeting to voice concerns over future of collective bargaining agreement

Leading up to the meeting, Mitchell High School teacher and CSEA member Marsha West said she was surprised when she learned that the master agreement could end, since it has served as a collaboration for students between teachers and boards for 56 years.

“As a teacher, I feel attacked [and] that people are trying to take our voices away, and that’s just unacceptable to us,” she said. “You know, we’re boots on the ground and we need to have a voice for teachers and our students.”

The board voted 6-1 in favor of ending the master agreement, with reasons ranging from it impeding progress for the district to a lack of accountability for the union to the use of taxpayer dollars going toward funding a “nonelected private corporation.”

They added that recent negotiations had turned contentious. Board Secretary Jason Jorgenson said that his past experiences in negotiating the master agreement saw the CSEA stepping out of good-faith agreements and following up with a grievance objecting to terms.

“It’s hard for them to be accepting of anything other than what they currently have, and they want a master agreement with a multi-year contract and little accountability,” he said.

Board members also echoed messages that current agreements will remain in place and championed recent additions including pay raises and health care benefits.

D-11 board approves new agreement with teachers union

Board director Julie Ott was the sole dissenting vote, saying that she was “disappointed and dismayed” by other members’ comments, that D-11 teachers have told her the master agreement was a large part of what brought them to the district.

“And I believe … that we want to invest in our staff and we want invested staff, but I don’t think ending this contract is a helpful or constructive way of showing that.”    

As what’s become a familiar scene at D-11 board meetings, people dressed in red and people in blue packed the board meeting room, trickling outside of the administration building. Members of both factions were composed of parents, current and former teachers and community members in the district, often pitting the other side as being against students and teachers.

During the public comment period that lasted over an hour, those in blue voiced their support of ending the contract and raised similar concerns of board members while adding that the teachers’ union didn’t support parents.

“Are the voices of the parents, students and local leaders truly being heard when so much authority is being vested by an external agreement? I don’t think so,” D-11 parent Larry Langston said.

Board members also said that the union will remain intact and that updates to the agreement going forward will be reflected through a revised employee handbook. Revisions will be discussed at a board work session Jan. 15. The current master agreement is set to expire June 30.

Board Vice President Jill Haffley acknowledged that the atmosphere throughout the district had turned divisive and somewhat hostile in recent months and that they will continue to work and hear from all teachers’ voices going forward.

“So, the teachers that are not happy with tonight’s decision, I totally understand that and I respect them for having that viewpoint. We’re not always going to agree on everything,” she said.

The union hasn’t decided on any actions in response to the agreement ending but also hasn’t ruled out options like a teachers’ strike.

“That’s always a possibility. … If they want to strike, I disagree with that but they’re certainly welcome to do so. It’s their right to do so and I support that right,” Haffley said.