The South Washington County Schools board on Dec. 11 approved tentative collective bargaining agreements covering certificated staff and transportation employees, after presentations from district negotiators and public comments from office professionals who said bargaining had left some lower-paid employees behind.

Abby Baker, the district's executive director of human resources and operations, told the board the United Teachers of South Washington County approved a tentative agreement covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027. In a summary presented to the board, the district listed salary and benefit changes including two percentage increases noted in the presentation, higher district contributions for health insurance and other pay adjustments; the district recommended approval of the contract. The board approved the motion by voice vote.

Baker also presented a tentative agreement with the district's bus drivers and bus assistants covering the same contract term. The district summary included increases to $28 per hour for drivers on July 1, 2025, and to $29 per hour on July 1, 2026; bus assistants would move to $21 per hour on July 1, 2025, and $22 per hour on July 1, 2026. The summary also listed a 9% increase in the district contribution toward high-deductible health plans for 2026 and the 2027 plan year and added Christmas Day and New Year's Day as paid holidays. The board approved that motion by voice vote.

Those approvals came after two members of the office professionals bargaining unit addressed the board during the public-comment period. Jennifer Johansen, who said she has worked in the district for 20 years as a health assistant and office coordinator, said the bargaining team came to the table with "thoughtful, responsible proposals" but that district proposals were "unfair" and "divide our union." Johansen said members of her group remain without a contract and that "we will be heading into the new year in mediation because we had to seek support from the state to help move this process forward."

Stephanie Olson, who identified herself as an office professional and said she currently works three jobs, told the board the district's earlier financial package offered substantial increases to higher-paid members while proposing "less than 50¢ an hour to our lowest paid members," a disparity she said was "not equitable and not acceptable."

Administration framed the tentative agreements as the result of bargaining and recommended board approval. The motions were approved by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the meeting transcript.