Teachers and students voice their frustrations over a proposed salary freeze by the Idaho Falls School District 91. Teacher negotiations went south last week, leading them to walk away from an offer of 0% raise from the district’s bargaining team. Staff members think it’s unfair that they put in a lot of work for this school year to not get a raise. The world is getting more expensive and with no raise, teachers and other staff will have a hard time living in their day to day lives. Idaho Falls School District 91 was going to receive $42,107,614 as part of the schools facility fund passed earlier this year. 

The school students and teachers got out an hour earlier on May 22nd, 2024 for a meeting about staff pay. The proposal from May 15th was left on the table offered by the IFEA was a schedule of 2.5% an increase to article 12 which is the extracurricular and cocurricular activities schedule, was discussed to be set at $36,323.22. In April, we learned the district overspent $4 million last year, which means they need to make cuts for next year. Budget cuts have been a hot topic for the whole district this year.

There are decisions that are not 100% set in place yet. But many are still trying to make cuts to stop the overspending from last year, and many are still trying to push those cuts more and more. Many students and staff are worried about what they are going to cut out next year. The meetings are still going through. Contracts have not been signed and they most likely will not be until the end of the summer. Good luck to teachers and staff during this long summer.