Superintendent: GAEA ratified 2024–27 contract; students return after 10-day strike

Annie Gardner, superintendent, announced that the Greater Albany teachers union (GAEA) ratified a new 2024–27 contract on Dec. 2 and that the district ratified the agreement in an emergency session, ending a strike that began Nov. 12 and kept students out of school for 10 student-contact days. "We now have a contract," Gardner said, adding that 87% of union voters approved the settlement.

The agreement restores most lost instructional time: Gardner said the parties agreed to make up eight of the missed student-contact days and to add a ninth teacher workday at the end of the year so teachers are not left without a work day. "As we worked towards an agreement, our priority was to restore as many of those student contact days as we could," Gardner said.

Why it matters: the settlement returns students to classrooms while shifting the district’s near-term focus to healing relationships and calculating the financial impact of the deal. Gardner told attendees the initial-year salary settlement provides a 7% increase overall, with teachers at the top of the scale receiving about 9% as the district works to be more competitive. She said bargaining had shown teachers had fallen "about 9% against inflation." On insurance, Gardner said coverage was resolved through the return-to-work agreement and that the state OEA would cover major medical, dental and vision through the scribe fund, per the OEA statewide policy manual.

Budget and calendar details were not finalized at the meeting. Gardner said insurance costs equate to roughly 3.4% over the next two years as negotiated in the agreement, and that the district remains "within budget" on the offer it had presented in August, but staff must complete additional calculations based on state funding and enrollment trends before the district can provide a hard-dollar total. "We've been busy in mediation and have not had time to turn to this, and we are starting that work today," she said, and promised to share fiscal details at future board meetings.

The settlement also addresses class-size concerns. Gardner described a class-size fund commonly sized at $500,000 to limit open-ended liability; she said a final resolution on that item occurred on the last day of bargaining. When a questioner referenced a $1,500,000 figure, Gardner said that would have been a one-year fund. Gardner also said a one-year memorandum of understanding commits $200,000 of the $500,000 fund exclusively to kindergarten and will expire at the end of the following school year when the district and GAEA will evaluate it.

On schedule and prep-time issues, Gardner said the district had previously agreed to language affecting high school schedules but implementation is difficult when matters are bargaining issues. She said the district chose to prioritize compensation during a hard funding biennium.

Gardner acknowledged the district does not yet know how many students, if any, left the district because of the closures and that staff are reviewing enrollment changes to identify departures attributable to the strike. She also noted that four days are not currently being paid to teachers and that some teachers have an option to recoup pay by teaching summer school; specifics were not finalized.

The superintendent took questions after her remarks and said the district will follow up with more precise cost numbers and timing for implementation of makeup days and other provisions. Becca Mallory, communications director, told attendees to email with follow-up inquiries and said staff would provide additional information as it becomes available.