Though the news of a tentative agreement late Tuesday night resulted in Seattle Public Schools opening as scheduled Wednesday, there’s still one big step this week for the new Seattle Education Association contract: The ratification vote. That’s set for Friday (September 11), with the union membership set to meet at Seattle Center’s McCaw Hall at 5 pm. Assuming it’s ratified, the contract’s details are expected to become public; superintendent Ben Shuldiner gave some hints when he met with media Wednesday morning at Alki Elementary, including that the accepted salary offer was a bit above the 8.8 percent over three years that the district had previously offered. The union’s announcement of the agreement, meantime, mentioned the issue on which their focus had been: “We won an 18-month collaborative community process to improve Special Education services.”
