(The Center Square) – Around 500 Moses Lake teachers on strike may soon qualify for unemployment benefits under a state law that Democrats passed this year, despite another statute deeming it illegal.
State Democrats approved Senate Bill 5041 last spring without a single Republican vote, though a few members of the Democratic majority crossed the aisle to oppose it. The bill was designed to provide unemployment benefits to striking workers for up to six weeks, though Democrats initially proposed offering up to 12 weeks.
The Moses Lake Education Association’s strike entered its fifth day on Friday. The Moses Lake School District suspended classes on Monday in response, continuing to offer lunches at the elementary schools to some extent. While negotiations began in August, the parties still haven’t reached an agreement.
“I received as a board member over 1,400 emails over the last 10 days, and I read every single one of them,” former School Board Member Ryan Coulston testified Thursday, minutes after the district swore in his new replacement. “It’s interesting how black and white affairs are when you’re not as involved.”
MLEA’s contract expired at the end of August as MLSD climbed out of a $20 million budget crisis after back-to-back levy failures and accounting errors. Taxpayers passed a new levy in February, but the school district won’t start collecting until next year, so the school board is trying to hold on tight to its purse strings.
Technically, state law prohibits public school teachers from launching a work stoppage, but the statute doesn’t lay out any penalties. Instead, MLSD would have to seek a court injunction declaring the strike illegal, which the district filed in court against MLEA leaders and teachers participating on Wednesday.
Chris Barron, communications director for the Washington Employment Security Department, told The Center Square that SB 5041 doesn’t go into effect until next month. After that, if teachers meets the eligibility requirements, they would receive unemployment benefits until a court finds the strike illegal.
“If a court later finds the strike was illegal, they would have to repay the unemployment benefits,” he said. “The [ESD] doesn’t determine whether a strike is legal. We just look at a claimant’s eligibility.”
Barron said the state would have more information about the law and ESD’s role in a few weeks.
Several parents testified at Thursday’s school board meeting. Some called it embarrassing to raise kids there, as MLSD holds out despite finance staff noting a fund balance of about $21 million on Thursday.
MLEA argues there is more than enough to satisfy the association’s demands, but MLSD Business Manager Ruby Perez said Thursday the school district may need to use about $9.8 million of that fund balance.
The district had to set aside $4.5 million to cover federal audits that found it lacked adequate controls to ensure compliance with the grant requirements. About $75,000 is set aside for inventory, $635,000 for employees taking paid leave, and $794,000 for prior unused funding required for specific programs.
Only about $1.1 million of the total is considered “unassigned,” and $16 million is required to meet the board’s policy obligating at least 12.5% of total general funding spending to reserves. The district may dip into that rainy day fund soon, but announced a “supposal” on Friday, hoping to end the strike.
“[MLSD] wants nothing more than to reach an agreement that supports our educators while protecting our students and taxpayers,” Superintendent Carol Lewis expressed in a news release. “This supposal reflects a substantial movement by the District — including full contract restoration and the complete pass-through of all state IPD funding received by the state specifically for certified instructional staff.”
According to the supposal, MLEA must accept everything as proposed, or the district will revert to its prior proposal. If approved, it would fully restore MLEA’s 2022-2025 contract, including retroactive pay, provided the association agrees to give up on reviving the 30-minute cut from the elementary school day.
MLEA wanted to restore that class time before the end of the school year, but under the supposal, it wouldn’t return until next fall. MLSD also agreed not to discipline any employees for participating in the strike. The supposal, which includes many of MLEA’s wishes, would extend the contract to 2028.
MLEA President Heather Whittall did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
“We must be responsible stewards of public funds,” Lewis wrote Friday.” We cannot place the District back into a position of financial instability by committing to costs that are not fiscally sustainable.”
