BUFFALO, N.Y. — Despite some movement in negotiations over the past week, a deal between the Buffalo Teachers Federation and Buffalo Public Schools could not be reached.
BPS and its teachers federation urged that they are the closest they’ve been to striking a deal, but both sides once again showed they are further apart than ever.
At Wednesday night’s school board meeting, discussions got heated. The school district said it has made its final offer to the teachers after adjusting its initial salary proposal to allow its teacher to reach their maximum salary three steps sooner, and increasing the one-time bonus for teachers to 10 percent.
“When you’ve got a deal like this in front of you, what are you waiting for?” BPS general counsel Nate Kuzma said.
“There is no disagreement on the salaries,” Buffalo Teachers Federation president Phil Rumore said. “We’ve agreed to the salaries. Everyone keeps talking about the salaries, the salaries, the salaries. That’s not all that the teachers deserve.”
Rumore did not back down. He claimed that the school district is holding out on two key issues that are preventing this deal from being reached by requiring teachers to work one additional week for the same pay and eliminating retiree health care benefits for all new hires after Jan. 1, 2026.
“If you're the board, or if you're an employer, why do you want to take things away from your employees, rather than give them something to reward them?” Rumore said.
“All six of our other unions that had this benefit have agreed to give it up for new hires,” Kuzma said. “They understood that when they came to the table, that was a compromise that they were going to have to make.”
The school board also got involved, standing by its negotiating team and urging the Buffalo Teachers Federation to bring an end to this three-year battle.
“We're not going to sit here and continue to play this game,” said Sharon Belton-Cottman, president of the Buffalo Board of Education. “This is the best and final offer the board has offered, and we want our teachers to get paid. … I don't think there's anyone in Western New York that does not feel that this is a decent offer very different.”
BPS said there are no further negotiating dates on the calendar.