Good news for teachers and students Monday night as union presidents of the 14 state-owned universities passed an agreement with the state after more than a year of negotiations.
The agreement has to go through two more boards before it is finalized.
This is a huge step after a year and a half of negotiations, leaving both teachers and students very pleased.
On Friday the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties met for the 46th time, and after two full days of negotiations, they came to a tentative agreement on contracts.
“At that point they felt that the faculty and the state system had reached some sort of frame work for an agreement,” explained Lauren Gutshall, Director of Communications for State APSCUF. “This evening our negotiations committee formally approved unanimously that tentative agreement.”
The main topics of discussion for this agreement were teachers’ salaries, health care co-pays, distance learning practices and faculty input on class sizes.
Now the agreement will go to the legislative assembly, which is compromised of delegates from each university before it finally goes to the full membership of APSCUF for a vote.
“We are very pleased that after a very long, sometimes difficult process, we have reached an agreement with the state system that is both fair to faculty and students,” Gutshall continued.
Students at Millersville University say that’s welcome news after threat of a strike.
“I think that’s fantastic. I mean, I know I’m paying out the wazoo for it, for the education here, so it’s pretty spectacular that we can stay here and keep learning,” commented Howie Pearson, sophomore at Millersville.
“I was kind of scared that I was going to be home for a semester with nothing to do and I already paid for this semester,” admitted Tarek Richardson, a junior at MU.
For teachers, it means they can be back in the classroom with a little peace of mind.
“They can go back to working and doing what they love,” Gutshall stated. “They can go back to teaching.”
Now before this can all come official, the agreement must go through two more boards, the first of which will vote on the agreement this Friday.
The agreement has to go through two more boards before it is finalized.
This is a huge step after a year and a half of negotiations, leaving both teachers and students very pleased.
On Friday the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties met for the 46th time, and after two full days of negotiations, they came to a tentative agreement on contracts.
“At that point they felt that the faculty and the state system had reached some sort of frame work for an agreement,” explained Lauren Gutshall, Director of Communications for State APSCUF. “This evening our negotiations committee formally approved unanimously that tentative agreement.”
The main topics of discussion for this agreement were teachers’ salaries, health care co-pays, distance learning practices and faculty input on class sizes.
Now the agreement will go to the legislative assembly, which is compromised of delegates from each university before it finally goes to the full membership of APSCUF for a vote.
“We are very pleased that after a very long, sometimes difficult process, we have reached an agreement with the state system that is both fair to faculty and students,” Gutshall continued.
Students at Millersville University say that’s welcome news after threat of a strike.
“I think that’s fantastic. I mean, I know I’m paying out the wazoo for it, for the education here, so it’s pretty spectacular that we can stay here and keep learning,” commented Howie Pearson, sophomore at Millersville.
“I was kind of scared that I was going to be home for a semester with nothing to do and I already paid for this semester,” admitted Tarek Richardson, a junior at MU.
For teachers, it means they can be back in the classroom with a little peace of mind.
“They can go back to working and doing what they love,” Gutshall stated. “They can go back to teaching.”
Now before this can all come official, the agreement must go through two more boards, the first of which will vote on the agreement this Friday.