West Frankfort Educators Vote to Ratify New Agreement Between AFT Local 817 and Frankfort CUSD 168

After reaching a tentative agreement yesterday with the Frankfort CUSD 168 school board, the 113 teachers who are members of American Federation of Teachers Local 817 in downstate West Frankfort voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to ratify that agreement. With 91% of members voting, 85% voted “YES.”

“Our students and school communities deserve strong schools that invest in their classrooms and in their educators,” said AFT Local 817 President Tim Aldridge. “With this vote, our members maintain fair salaries and healthcare, protect the smaller class sizes that help students learn, and help the district in its current situation. I’m proud that our union team worked diligently from the start to compromise and develop creative proposals that met the needs of everyone involved.”

Like many districts across Illinois, West Frankfort only receives about 74% of the state support committed under the state’s evidence-based formula.

The tentative agreement came just days after the teachers union members took a unanimous strike vote due to the lack of headway in bargaining with the district. With the three-year agreement ratified by members, if approved by the school board, it will provide increased stability for the district grappling with how to balance its budget in the face of underfunding from Springfield.

Crissy Wall, 32-year West Frankfort special education teacher, said, “I’m proud of the agreement we were able to ratify tonight. We understand the fiscal challenges our district faced, and as a union we worked responsibly to meet the needs of our students, schools, and community because we know that an investment in our educators is an investment in the students we love so much and the work we do.”

The members received a note of recognition from the newly elected President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, President Stacy Davis Gates, who said, “I want to congratulate the members of Local 817 in West Frankfort for standing up for what students and teachers need and deserve. Until the Governor and legislators in Springfield make good on the promise of full funding to make our state #1 in education, each of our districts will be put in the impossible position of budgeting and negotiating around a hole that only the state can fill. Together, we can all be partners to take care of our students, schools, and educators but it will take all of us committing to the group project to do it together.”

The board of education is expected to vote on it next week, at which point the new agreement will take effect immediately.