Vancouver Public Schools learned last night from a media inquiry that Vancouver Association of Educational Support Professionals’ leadership reported to its members that the district withdrew from the tentative agreement reached through mediation on Dec. 21, 2018.
The district absolutely has not withdrawn from the tentative agreement.
That agreement improves total hourly wages from 2017-18 to 2018-19 by 10.2 percent on average and 2 percent on average in 2019-20, for a total improvement of 12.2 percent on average over two years.
The total cost of the wage improvement is $2.4 million in 2018-19 and $600,000 in 2019-20 for an overall cost increase of $3 million per year by 2019-20.
The district is requesting immediate assistance from the state-appointed mediator to understand why VAESP would report otherwise and, if necessary, to work through any misunderstanding of what was agreed to through mediated bargaining.