Negotiation Updates

Hello WPUSD:

On Tuesday, 5/26/26, WPUSD and CSEA had their final negotiations session of the year.  Here is an update on what took place, sent on behalf of CSEA and WPUSD:

1. Sunshine proposals were confirmed for both sides for re-openers for next year.  These sunshine proposals will have a first read at the 6/2/26 WPUSD Board meeting.

2. Numerous MOUs have been signed and will go to the local chapter meeting on 6/12 for ratification before going to the Board on 6/16 for final approval. They include:

• Adding additional days to the work calendars of Health Clerks, LVN/Paraprofessionals, and  Assistant Principal Secretaries
• Creating two new classified positions (Wellness Coach and College and Career Specialist)
• A cleanup of the classified salary schedule removing unused positions
• A test run of allowing district office classified employees to work four ten-hour shifts rather than five eight-hour shifts during the summer hours period.
• A renewal of the paraprofessional tier MOU, continuing the tiered bonus stipend pay for paraprofessionals in certain assignments. 
• Agreement on the "me too" aspect of the tentative agreement for salary, allowing CSEA members to access the additional .37% raise (on top of the original agreement of 2.5%) effective 1/1/27, and a one-time increase of $500 to the annual district benefits cap.

3. We set dates for negotiations to begin next year on 9/9/26 with two additional sessions scheduled as well.

We are grateful for a positive year of negotiations, and look forward to continued collaboration together in 2026/2027.

Yesterday, WPUSD and WPTA met for their final negotiations session of the year.  Here is an update on what took place:

1.  We came to an agreement on the last remaining articles open for negotiations.  This included:

• Article IX: Class Size: We remained largely status quo on this article. However, we did establish a cutoff date for submitting for compensation for overages, and clarified language on what days count towards a student enrollment qualifying towards overage status. 
• Article XXIII: Summer School We came to an agreement on language for Summer School that matches what Summer School currently looks like.
• Article XVII: Concerted Activities: We came to agreement adding language to this article that ensured that the rights of the union to organize and take part in activities including impasse and striking are protected by law.

As a result of this, we are now in a verbal tentative agreement over the successor contract for 2025-2028.  We will be working on creating a clean copy of all changes made so it can be signed (hopefully within the next two weeks) and presented to the union for ratification and sent to the School Board for final approval. Given the timing, we expect this to be on a Board agenda in early to mid  August.  We also anticipate creating a "cliff notes" version of the changes to make the impacts of the new language more easily accessible.

2. We agreed on two MOUs:

• Presidential Leave: Allows for an additional period of unassigned duty for the WPTA President, to be paid for at union expense
• Home Visit Program: Sets parameters on the district continuing with its home visit program. Highlights of the MOU include emphasizing that participation is voluntary and what compensation for participants looks like. 

We expect this to be the last negotiations update of the year, and we hope that you have found the information useful.

Hello WPUSD:

The following is an update on the negotiations session between WPUSD and WPTA that took place on 5/21/26:

The session started with a joint audience of a presentation analyzing the Governor's May Revised Budget that was presented by School Services.  The presentation went into more detail of many of the key provisions of the May Revise.  The overall analysis is that the May Revise is a more positive budget for schools than the initial January budget, but that the "strings" tied to some of the funding (for example, the "Super Cola" being tied to a requirement that all schools districts provide 14 weeks of fully paid pregnancy disability leave) and the fact that the budget must still pass legislation requires that districts be cautious with their budgeting until more is decided.

In actual negotiations, the following items were discussed:

1. Article VII- Hours: After many exchanges of language on this article, we have agreed to remain status quo.  There is no change to the language regarding the time between student dismissal and end of teacher work day for elementary schools, and there is no change to crossing guard duty being allowable and that elementary teachers may be assigned up to 14 hours a year of extracurricular/supervision duty.  The District has committed to more robust crossing guard training and working with Lincoln Police Department to both provide that training and be a greater presence at high priority crossing guard areas, especially at the beginning of the year.

2. Article IX- Class Size:  This article remains open as we continue to work towards language that allows for inclusion to take place in line with state mandates.

3. Article XXIII- Summer School: We have come to agreement on this article, with newly defined hours that better capture the current iteration of summer school.

4. Article XVII: Concerted Activities: This article remains open as WPTA continues to review their interests in this article.

5. Appendix B: We have come to agreement on an updated Appendix B, with many new positions/stipends listed, most of which are the result of Proposition 28 (Arts) funding.

6. We came to agreement on a Presidential Release MOU, that allows for the WPTA President to receive an additional period away from the teaching assignment, with that release time paid for by WPTA.

7. WPUSD is continuing to review elements of an MOU presented by WPTA in relation to our Home Visit program.

Our next session is scheduled for 6/28/26.

Hello WPUSD:

Below is an update on the negotiations session between CSEA and WPUSD on 5/15/26:

We agreed to MOUs on a variety of topics including:

• Adding one day to the work calendars of the Health Clerk and LVN/Paraprofessional classifications
• Adding two days to the work calendars of the Assistant Principal Secretary classification
• Raising the Speech Language Pathology Assistant pay range from range 28 to range 32
• Removing several classifications from the classified salary schedule that are no longer in use
• Adding two new job classifications to the classified work group- "Wellness Coach" and "College and Career Specialist"

These MOUs will need to be ratified by the CSEA local chapter and be Board approved before they go into effect.

We discussed the potential impact of the WPTA tentative agreement  for salary and benefits on the CSEA group, and we came to verbal agreement that, should the WPUSD Board approve the WPTA agreement, we will need to initiate an MOU with CSEA to enact the "me too" language from the CSEA agreement to add the additional compensation from the WPTA agreement to the CSEA group.

We shared initial thoughts on "sunshining" articles for language review for the 2026/2027 negotiations year.  We expect to have sunshine proposals officially read at the two Board meetings in June.

We have our next negotiations session on Tuesday, 5/26/26.

The following is an update from the WPUSD/WPTA Negotiations Session on 4/30/26:

We discussed several ongoing items in connection with various articles and MOUs that are open or proposed for renewal.  We will be meeting again on 5/7/26, and we expect to be able to provide a more detailed update on those items at that time.

We are pleased to announce that we have come to a tentative agreement (TA) on Salary and Benefits with WPTA.  The provisions of that TA are:

• A 3.0% raise to all cells of the certificated salary schedules effective 1/1/26.

• An additional 2.87% raise to all cells of the  certificated salary schedules effective 1/1/27.

• A one-time increase of the District benefits contribution cap of $500, raising the District benefits cap to $14,924.00.  This increase will expire after the 2026/2027 school year.

This is a two-year agreement, and would close Salary and Benefits negotiations for the 25/26 and 26/27 school years.

The TA will now go to WPTA membership for ratification and then be presented to the WPUSD Board for Board approval.

Our next session is scheduled for 5/7/26.