S. Butler teachers inch closer to a strike
The South Butler Education Association moved closer to a strike Wednesday after voting to reject a fact-finding report regarding its contract dispute with the school district.
The teachers union and district have been in a contract dispute since 2014, when the previous contract ended. The union requested a fact-finding hearing in July, and it was held in August.
Association representative Brooke Witt said the union voted against the fact-finding report, in part, because it recommended no wage increases for teachers for the first two years of the contract.
The district voted Wednesday at a school board meeting to accept the fact-finding results. Because the union voted against the results, both the district and union have 10 days from Wednesday to vote again.
Witt said she expects the union to again vote against the results.
“We are more than willing to go back to the table and go through the outstanding issues with the board, but I can’t imagine — if we aren’t able to come to a deal in the relatively near future — that a strike will be avoidable,” Witt said.
