GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A week before the new school year at Grand Rapids Public Schools, contract negotiations are still ongoing between the district and its teachers.
On Monday, GRPS announced it had proposed a 4.5% average salary increase for Grand Rapids Education Association members, an additional $4 million investment for the 2025-26 school year.
"We are committed to hiring and retaining the best educators," GRPS Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby said in a statement. "We believe this proposal is a critical step toward achieving that goal."
The Grand Rapids Education Association (GREA), which represents more than 1,500 teachers and other professionals within the district, has called for a 7.5% raise.
"We're going to continue to bargain in good faith until we reach a deal," said Tim Russ, a representative for the GREA who works for the Michigan Education Association.
Russ says the current negotiations — which began at the expiration of the contract on June 30 — will not impact the start of the school year.
"We'll be there when school starts," he said. "Our teachers are going to work — the ones that are staying with the district — because that's where they want to be."
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In addition to the 7.5% average salary increase, the union is seeking the right to resolve disputes over teacher discipline, placement and evaluation through arbitration.
"Our mission is to ensure every child has a qualified teacher and we will not settle the financial package until we believe we have a reasonable chance of ensuring every student has a qualified teacher," Russ said.
Per the latest data from the Michigan Department of Education, GRPS ranks last in Kent County in terms of average teacher pay. During the 2023-24 school year, its teachers earned an average of $60,816.
"If they're not willing to pay the market price for teachers, they are not going to get (a) the best teachers and (b) enough teachers," Russ said.
In its Monday press release, GRPS said the current contract negotiations come during an "especially uncertain time for public education funding."
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A pandemic-born program that supplied the district with more than a hundred million dollars, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), recently expired.
The federal Department of Education has also withheld funds, GRPS says, and the State of Michigan has yet to pass its 2025-26 budget.
"During this time of funding uncertainty, we’ve made intentional reductions at the administrative level," Supt. Roby said, referencing the 25 positions at GRPS that were eliminated for the 2025-26 school year.
A GRPS Board of Education meeting — the final meeting before the start of the school year — will be held at the district's Franklin Campus on Monday, August 11 at 6:30 p.m.
