The will of Austin’s public school teachers will be known tonight.

Friday, January 07, 2000

The will of Austin’s public school teachers will be known tonight.

The group has had the past three days to look over a proposed contract, and began voting Wednesday night on whether or not to approve it.

"The voting has to take place over the two days after we showed them the proposed contract," explained Cheri Stageberg, president of the local branch of the American Educators Union.

The last of the votes will come in today, and then will be tallied by union members. At 6 p.m., Stageberg said, there will be a news conference at the Ellis Middle School cafeteria, where she will make the results available.

The most recent compromises reached by the union negotiators and the school district, with the assistance of a state-appointed mediator, happened after the union took a proposed contract to the teachers but suspended a vote due to points of confusion and lingering dissatisfaction. That was Dec. 6-7.

Jeff Ollman, chief negotiator for the teachers, had seemed hopeful this would be the revision that stuck when it was hammered together in late December.

"Well, I think we can say we have the framework for an agreement," Ollman said Dec. 23.

Time is now of the essence. If Austin Public School District No. 492 and its teachers cannot reach a contract decision by Jan. 15, it stands to cost the district a chunk of change. Districts with no teacher contracts by that date lose $25 per student. In Austin’s case, that’s close to $120,000.