OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Labor on Friday ordered the Shawnee Mission School District to stop enforcing its labor contract with teachers after finding the district wrongly imposed a three-year contract that wasn’t negotiated.
The department’s ruling said the three-year contract was not a good-faith negotiation and was done to interfere with the teachers’ rights., television station KMBC reported. The teachers union and school district have typically had year-to-year deals, but the school board unilaterally ordered a three-year deal to be put in place in January.
The National Education Association-Shawnee Mission challenged the order.
In Friday’s order, the Labor Department found that the first of the contract would be allowed, but that the district could not enforce the portion of the contract covering the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years.
District officials maintained the contract was a good deal, with district spokesman David Smith saying the average wage and benefit increase to teachers over the three years was about 11%.
In a statement, the district said it will work with the union to resolve the contract dispute and has reached out to the union “to discuss the decision and will work to identify next steps.”