Kalispell Schools, Teachers Union Ratify Contract After Months of Negotiations
Teachers across all experience levels will see an average salary increase of 4.64% for the 2024-25 school year
By Denali Sagner
The Kalispell Public Schools (KPS) and its teachers union have ratified a two-year collective bargaining agreement, closing a tense chapter for the school district after it failed to reach a contract agreement with its union last spring.
In a press release on Wednesday, KPS Superintendent Matt Jensen said the agreement “represents our school community coming together to support the teachers who dedicate themselves to improving the lives of the children and families we serve.”
The approved collective bargaining agreement between KPS and the Kalispell Education Association (KEA), the union that represents 397 teachers, school psychologists, speech and language pathologists, special educators and nurses in the district, includes a 13% pay increase at the bottom of the certified salary matrix for the 2024-25 school year and a 2.5% increase at the top of the matrix. Teachers across all experience levels will see an average salary increase of 4.64%.
The agreement was approved unanimously by the KPS school board on Nov. 19 and ratified by nearly 90% of KEA members on Tuesday.
A first-year teacher with bachelor’s degree will be paid $43,375 for the current school year, compared to $38,385 last year. The school district in September proposed a base salary of $40,489, which would have made Kalispell the lowest-paying AA school district in Montana for first-year teachers.
For the 2025-26 school year, per the new agreement, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree will make $47,713.
Under the agreement, non-union district employees will receive a 4% pay increase for the 2024-25 school year and a 3% increase for the 2025-26 school year. Administrators will receive a 2.5% increase for the current school year and a 2.11% increase next school year.
Over months of negotiations, Kalispell teachers raised concerns that their salaries had failed to keep up with the high cost of living in the Flathead Valley, where the median sales price of a home sat at $600,000 last month, according to Montana Regional MLS.
“I’m talking gas, groceries, medical bills. I can’t even live paycheck to paycheck in this valley,” Glacier High School language teacher Brooke Gardner said at a September school board meeting.
The district and the union in a press release said the new contract will help keep teachers in the Flathead Valley, where housing costs remain higher than in some of Montana’s largest metro areas, including Billings and Missoula.
KEA Negotiations Chair Anthony Lapke said, “Many educators have faced financial strain, from taking on second jobs to delaying major life milestones. This contract addresses those concerns and will help Kalispell educators stay and serve the students and families in the community that we love.”
Yet KPS, like the majority of school districts across Montana, is facing mounting fiscal challenges. The district anticipates a general fund budget deficit of $2.7 million this year, and it plans to reduce teaching staff by 14 positions at the elementary and middle school level next year. If voters yet again reject a high school levy this spring, the district will cut around 20 high school teaching positions.
KPS Finance Director Chris Campbell told the Beacon last week, “If we were able to pass a high school levy, there would be no need to reduce any staff at our high schools.”
“You can’t really overstate the significance of that,” Campbell said. “There’s 20 jobs at stake.”
Montana’s funding formula for public schools functions such that districts must levy local tax payers to cover around 20% of their budget, a tall task in recent years as property tax rates have ballooned across the state.
Kalispell’s high school district is currently only 90% funded. Kalispell school district voters have not passed a high school levy since 2007.
On top of a funding formula that leaves districts across the state to contend with multi-million dollar deficits, Montana’s public schools are struggling to keep up with inflation and declining enrollment. Montana’s public schools are funded principally by the number of students they enroll.
“We’re at a critical juncture,” Lapke, the KEA negotiations chair, said in a statement. “While this agreement honors our staff and creates a sustainable pay matrix, it is clear we need community support and state-level funding reforms to ensure long-term stability.”
Educators have proposed a number of bills to address education funding shortfalls during the upcoming legislative session, including a reconfiguration of district-by-district mill levy rates. Gov. Greg Gianforte last week unveiled his two-year budget proposal, which includes $100 million to boost teacher pay, specifically for early-career teachers, and other incentives for schools to implement policies such as cell phone-free classrooms.