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Lambert districts tentatively agree to two-year teachers' contract with stipend and health contribution increases
Summary
Negotiations Committee for Lambert School Districts #86 & #4 tentatively approved a two-year (2026–2028) Master Contract on Jan. 19 that updates contract dates, replaces a union name, raises the extracurricular stipend base to $35,853 and sets a district health contribution up to $14,545 per teacher; salary cells will be verified and circulated.
Lambert School Districts #86 & #4 negotiations committee members met Jan. 19 and tentatively agreed to a two-year Master Contract that will take effect July 1, 2026, and run through June 30, 2028, the minutes record.
The agreement as recorded changes the contract start date language from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2026, and updates the named union in the contract from "Montana Federation of Teachers" to "Montana Federation of Public Employees." The committee also agreed to delete a contingency clause that had tied teacher salaries to passage of House Bill 252 (STARS Act).
The committee set the base for calculating extracurricular stipends at $35,853.00 for 2026–2028, an increase from $34,809 in the prior schedule (minutes note a 3% change). The district will contribute up to $14,545 per teacher annually toward the District's cafeteria plan for the 2026–2028 period, with the amount subject to adjustment per the contract's Section 1-B language.
On school hours and related language (page 5, Section 1), the committee reordered subsections: early dismissal will be allowed on Fridays according to the adopted class schedule; the administration will determine dismissal time the day before a school holiday when students have left their rooms and bus students are en route; "Prep Time" will be designated as subsection E and "Duty free lunches" as subsection F. The minutes record additional editorial and grammatical corrections in contract text, including removal of Appendix A.2.
The committee noted it will verify the amounts to place in "cell one" of the salary schedule for 2026–2027 and 2027–2028. Rebecca Kollman, an LEA negotiations committee member, will circulate the verified salary figures and accompanying spreadsheets showing total salary increases to committee members once the numbers are confirmed.
The meeting began at 4:02 p.m. and adjourned at 5:38 p.m.; present were trustee Lacey Mullin (board chair), LEA committee members Rebecca Kollman and Sheri Pust, and District Clerk Sammie Nelson. No votes were recorded in the minutes and the agreement is described as tentative pending verification of salary schedule figures.
