Dear Editor,
Gallup-McKinley County Schools needs to settle its prolonged dispute with teachers over this year’s calendar and compensation. The issue is simple: GMCS should either shorten the school year or pay teachers for the additional days it requires them to work.
New Mexico requires 180 instructional days. For the past three years, GMCS has required teachers to work 190 days—10 days beyond the state minimum—without additional compensation for those days.
That is difficult to justify. GMCS receives additional state funding when it extends the school year. Some of that money should go to the teachers who actually provide the additional 10 days of work.
This dispute also comes after last year’s prolonged contract negotiations, which ended in binding arbitration. The arbitrator ruled in favor of McKinleyCounty Federation of United School Employees on all the disputed proposals. Rather than accepting the outcome of the process the parties had agreed to, the Board authorized the superintendent to pursue legal remedies to challenge the decision.
That history should concern the entire community. Collective bargaining is supposed to provide a process for resolving disagreements—not an endless contest in which the district continues fighting after an arbitrator has made a binding decision.
GMCS also needs to recognize the importance of attracting and retaining quality teachers. Asking educators to work 10 days beyond the state requirement without additional pay, while engaging in prolonged disputes over compensation, does little to make GMCS an attractive place to build a teaching career. A district struggling to recruit and retain good teachers cannot afford to send the message that additional work will be expected without additional compensation.
If 190 days are necessary for GMCS students, then teachers should be paid for 190 days. If the district cannot afford to pay for those additional days, then return the calendar to 180 days.
This is not complicated. If GMCS wants 190 days of work, it should provide 190 days of pay.
The Board should stop prolonging this dispute, recognize the value of its teachers, and settle the issue fairly.
Our teachers deserve to be paid for every day they are required to work.
Sincerely,
Greg Perry, GMCS teacher
