Striking Seattle teachers to return to classrooms

School is expected to resume Thursday for Seattle's 53,000 students after teachers reached a tentative agreement with the city's school district on Tuesday, five days into a strike that has delayed the start of the school year for tens of thousands of students.

The union's board of directors and representative assembly voted Tuesday evening to end the strike and urged the 5,000 members to approve the three-year agreement. The strike will be suspended until the union's full membership votes on the deal Sunday.

The union, the Seattle Education Association, said teachers will be back on the job Wednesday. The district is preparing for school to resume Thursday, Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman Stacy Howard said. She said that the agreement came at 6:50 a.m., after an overnight bargaining session.

The sides have been negotiating over such issues as teacher pay, evaluations and school day length. The teachers walked out Sept. 9, delaying the start of the school year for the city's school district, Washington's largest, with 53,000 students.

Educators said that living expenses have outpaced their incomes as the city's high-paid technology industry booms and they have gone six years without a cost-of-living increase. The district provided raises totaling 8 percent out of local levy money in that time.

The Seattle City Council threw its support behind the striking teachers on Monday, passing a resolution recognizing the union. The council voted unanimously to designate this week Seattle Educators Week.

Councilwoman Kshama Sawant said Monday that if the union wins, it will be a huge step forward for students and educators and will resonate outside Seattle. “A victory for the union is also a victory for education across the country. It shows that if we organize and remain united, we can resist attacks on public education,” she said.

Mayor Ed Murray said he met separately with district Superintendent Larry Nyland and union President Jonathan Knapp to offer his help and urge them to reach a fair agreement that would allow the school year to begin as soon as possible.

Pay has been a big sticking point. The union made a counterproposal over the weekend that called for raises totaling 9.75 percent over two years — far less than the 21 percent over three years it initially sought.

Teachers' annual salaries in Seattle range from about $44,000 to more than $86,000, depending on experience and education. The median price of Seattle homes sold in March rose 18.9 percent over the year before, to $535,000 — the biggest jump in at least five years, according to The Seattle Times.

This year, state lawmakers — facing a court order to increase spending on education — came up with money for new teachers and supplies. Some $37 million of that is going to Seattle. The city's school district says it has offered raises totaling 14 percent over three years, including cost-of-living adjustments from the state, but it wants to extend the school day by 20 minutes, arguing that Seattle has one of the shortest instructional days in the state, at 6 hours and 10 minutes.

The union said the proposal would force teachers to work that extra time for free. Over the weekend, the district offered to pay teachers for the added instructional minutes, Howard said. The union proposed studying the pros and cons of an extended school day.

Parents were staying flexible while they waited for a deal. Kim Flanery-Rye had to take her 7-year-old son to work one day and had his uncle watch him another. Her husband worked from home one day.

The city opened 21 community centers around the city to help accommodate up to 3,000 students during the strike. Flanery-Rye also relied on care at the Miller Community Center. “This is really a great way to make sure our children are taken care of,” she said.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press