The agreement allowed classes for grades one through twelve to open on Wednesday, September 2, as published on the district calendar, while kindergarten and preschool programs remain scheduled to begin on September 8 following customary family conferences.
Salary Step Increases and the Three-Year Compensation Package Under the proposed terms of the three-year contract, educators and certified staff will receive cumulative cost-of-living salary increases totaling nearly 9 percent through the 2028-29 school year.
Special education educators have long argued that isolating students with diverse learning needs in self-contained rooms increases behavioral strain and burdens specialized staff with unmanageable administrative paperwork.
Elementary campuses with student enrollments exceeding 350 will now be guaranteed a full-time dedicated counselor or licensed social worker on site every instructional day.
This economic reality creates an operational tension: while the collective bargaining pact guarantees competitive wages and enhanced staffing standards, the district must still determine how to maintain neighborhood facilities when dozens of elementary buildings operate below 65 percent of capacity.
Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association reached a tentative contract agreement late Tuesday, avoiding a strike and opening classrooms for 50,000 students on Wednesday morning.