SUMMARY
Kalamazoo Public Schools’ (MI) 2025-2026 collective bargaining agreement features a “Letter of Agreement” titled “Staffing for Racial Balance” which sets a minimum standard for the number of teachers of color in each school in the district.
The agreement includes provisions for meeting the standard such as recruitment and hiring practices, “support services and incentives” that could include “financial assistance prior to going on payroll or other help in obtaining loans,” and the use of voluntary transfers that may require awarding a vacancy to the “teacher of color even if they are less senior.”
LETTER OF AGREEMENT – STAFFING FOR RACIAL BALANCE
The “Letter of Agreement – Staffing for Racial Balance” states that both the district and teachers union “agree that the achievement and maintenance of a racially representative and balanced teaching staff depends upon an effective program to recruit, hire and retain persons of color.” The agreement states that the district “agrees to provide funding and other resources necessary to fully develop and implement the plan.”
Plan Implementation
The plan implementation includes:
- “Annual and long-term goals and objectives”
- “Major activities” such as:
- “Identifying teaching needs”
- “Identifying potential candidates”
- Recruitment
- “Support services and Incentives” which could include “financial assistance prior to going on payroll or other help in obtaining loans”
- “Developmental program” for “current bargaining unit members who may wish to become a teacher”
Staffing for Racial Balance Standard and Procedure
The agreed upon “standard and procedure” for “staffing for racial balance” includes reviewing information such as “the number and race or regular classroom teachers” at all elementary and secondary schools, as well as those in “special areas” in every elementary school.
The agreement states that this “data will be prepared by the district and reviewed by parties” to evaluate “whether the individual schools meet the standard for the current year and possible changes for the next year regarding standards and compliance.”
Test I
As part of the evaluation process, “Test I” will assess the “district percentage of regular classroom teachers of color by level (elementary and secondary) plus or minus five (5) percent rounded off to the nearest whole number.” The agreement states that the “range would be fifteen (15) plus or minus five (5) which is ten (10) percent to twenty (20) percent.”
Test II
Test II will look for “at least one regular classroom of color at each school or district average of regular classroom teachers of color (percentage) times number of teachers in a building rounded off to the nearest whole number, plus or minus two teachers.” The agreement adds that “the minimum is at least one regular classroom teacher of color.”
Transfers and Staffing Assignments
According to the agreement, it “may become necessary to plan to assign teachers to schools for the next year in order to comply with the standards.”
To meet the standards, solutions include:
- “Voluntary transfers”
- New hires being “assigned when appropriate to existing open positions”
The document also states that “if the standard is not met in the building and more than one teacher applies for the vacancy, the position will be awarded to the teacher of color even if they are less senior.”
The agreement notes that the “standard will change as teachers are hired and terminated” and that “if the district is successful in recruiting, hiring, and retaining persons of color, the minimum standard will increase.”
2024-2025 AGREEMENT
The district’s 2024-2025 Agreement with the Kalamazoo Education Association also included this “Letter of Agreement – Staffing for Racial Balance.”
