Sioux Falls school board candidate questions transparency of teacher pay raise decision

A school board candidate and soon-to-be-former city councilor is questioning the transparency of a recent Sioux Falls School District decision.

Pat Starr said Monday that last week’s school board announcement that teachers would get raises by way of a new memorandum of understanding between the district and Sioux Falls Education Association should have been voted on by the board.

Having the announcement in the “Good News Report” portion of the meeting, not during the regular portion of the agenda that board members can vote on, and not posting the MOU with the agenda in advance of the meeting so members of the public could comment on it during the public comment section of the meeting, is putting the public in a bad position, he said.

More: Sioux Falls School District, Education Association reach agreement to raise teacher pay

“They’re missing out on the ability to have a say in the future of their school district,” Starr said on Monday.

However, the working agreement board members approved between the district and SFEA in 2022 includes a provision allowing changes or amendments through a MOU, which only need to be signed by the superintendent and SFEA president to become part of the agreement, community relations coordinator DeeAnn Konrad said Monday.

“Given the additional requirements of Senate Bill 127, (the district) and SFEA agreed to proceed with compensation increases for the 24-25 school year,” Konrad said. “As part of the regular processes, the Board annually approves the budget and salary schedules, which reflect compensation increases.”

The MOU should be posted on the district’s website in the coming days, Konrad said. The new salary schedules will be presented to the board for approval at the April 8 board meeting, and are part of the budget for fiscal year 2025, which, if approved, would go into effect this summer on July 1.

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Starr said while it may have been legal to approve the MOU without a board vote, he said being “ethical, open and transparent” has a higher standard than being legal, and that’s a standard he wants the board and district to use.

Konrad’s statements to the Argus Leader did not answer questions about when any executive sessions or meetings were held to propose the salary increases or who was in on those meetings. Neither SFEA President Tim Eckart nor any of the school board members (Carly Reiter, Marc Murren, Kate Serenbetz, Nan Baker or Dawn Marie Johnson) answered similar questions.

Murren, Bobbie Tibbetts and Stuart Willett did not answer questions on how they would’ve handled this situation if elected, but Starr and Gail Swenson did. Swenson said most people who haven’t been part of negotiating union contracts may not understand the process.

With the recent increase to state aid at 4%, the district and SFEA reopened negotiations recently and formed the MOU, Swenson explained, noting the district and SFEA both have an equal number of representatives at the bargaining table.

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“Obviously, the district and SFEA wanted to make an announcement of this agreement public, so deciding to do a Good News Report was the vehicle they chose. Again, if that was the agreement of both parties, I think it’s fine to announce it that way,” Swenson said. “The bargaining process is complete. There is no public vote to be had.”

Swenson added that members of the public can still make comments at any school board meeting or during the upcoming public budget hearing. She said as a board member, it would be her role to follow all processes and procedures set out in negotiated agreements approved by the bargaining units and the district.

Starr added that boards should drive policy discussion, which he said he sees as the “wrong way” to drive the discussion into the future.

“The overall point is that we’ve gotten to the point where the board approves policy, rather than makes policy,” he said. “What I’ve seen is that the board isn’t driving the policy discussion, it’s coming from the school administration, which leaves a lot of people out of the process, including the public who want to be part of the policy discussion.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls school board candidate questions pay raise transparency