With a school budget of $26 million, about 83% of which goes towards salaries and other compensation for teachers and other school employees, the town of Chagrin Falls has always enjoyed a relatively friendly relationship with its teacher’s union.  However, School Superintendent Bob Hunt warned at the most recent meeting of the school board that the chances of contract negotiations with the union heading to Federal mediation were almost assured.

The school district has struggled with changed mandates from State and local authorities while simultaneously seeing its budget shrink as the burden of financing the school system shifts from government sources to local residents.  As a result, the school board has made it clear that while it “values” the teachers, it cannot agree to their most recent salary and benefits proposals.

Hunt stated that he believed a teacher’s strike to be “unlikely.”  No statement from the teacher’s union concerning the possibility of Federal mediation or a strike action was available and negotiations regarding the 2014 contract continue to take place.  The shift of school budgets from State and Federal funding sources to local tax rolls is happening all across the United States and many schools are struggling to maintain services and staffing.