The ongoing independent negotiations regarding Mountain View School District have drawn to a close and the issue regarding contract negotiations is headed to mediation, which is set to begin August 16^th.  This will be less than a week before the start of the upcoming school year.

The dispute over contracts is between Mountain View and the Central Idaho Education Association.  There have been several meetings to discuss contract matters, all of which were described as contentious.

According to Mountain View Superintendent Marcus Scheibe, the dispute boils down to disagreements over salary and benefits.  Scheibe explains, “(The mediator) will try and help us come to an agreement, some sort of compromise. ” He pointed out that mediation was used last year for contract negotiations successfully. 

Due to the negotiations for the 2017-2018 school year, it turned out that many new teacher were earning more than teachers with longer stints in the district.  The union has requested $500,000 be put toward increasing salaries to account for the disparity. 

According to the school board, this amount is unaffordable. 

The district wants to increase everyone’s salaries aside from the four new teachers so they are all making more than those teachers with less experience.  According to the board, they cannot take money away from the new employees, but there is no money available to make up the difference and better compensate the older employees.

The district does plan to increase teacher salaries by four percent in the upcoming school year and that money has been set aside in the budget to do so.