Tacoma teachers: Even Yakima gets pay fairness
Re: “With salaries disputed, strike chances rising for Puyallup, Tacoma teachers,” (TNT, 8/29).
At the Aug. 23 Tacoma School Board meeting, district chief financial officer Rosalind Medina presented the legislative impacts due to levy loss.
She specifically noted that higher poverty districts were disadvantaged by the regionalization rate. In particular, she compared Tacoma to Yakima.
Poor little Yakima was described as being in a worse situation than Tacoma with a 0 percent regionalization rate.
How amazing that Yakima was able to avert a strike last week by settling negotiations with their teachers to include salary increases of 16 percent.
(Coleman is a school psychologist with the Tacoma Public Schools)