Teachers will get an average 4.1 percent salary increase over a three-year period.
By: Helen Pettigrew
MONTGOMERY – Teachers and other members of the Township Education Association have a new three-year contract with annual pay increases averaging 4.1 percent.
The Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved the contract after a closed session. The association approved the contract a week earlier by a 5-1 margin, according to President Karen Vail.
The association represents about 400 employees, comprising 321 teachers along with teachers’ aides, custodians, maintenance personnel, bus drivers and clerical staff.
The new pact is retroactive to July 1, when the last contract expired. In the interim, teachers and other association members had been working under the terms of the old contract, according to interim Superintendent Thomas Butler.
The association had been negotiating with school board representatives during the spring, summer and fall, according to Dr. Butler.
The current starting salary for teachers will rise from $35,000 to $36,000 and the top salary will increased from $62,600 to $63,900 for teachers with a master’s degree plus 60 course credits, Dr. Butler said.
Ms. Vail said the MTEA is "very pleased" with the new contract and the process that preceded it.
"It was a very collaborative process between the board and the association," she said. "We feel the financial settlement was consistent with the going rates of neighboring communities."
Reginald Luke, who led negotiations for the school board, said the negotiations were "quite prolonged and intense but never hostile." They took longer because the district did not have a permanent superintendent, he said.
Former Superintendent Jamie Savedoff left the district in June, the same day the contract ended, and Dr. Butler entered the district in the middle of the negotiations in August.
"I came here in August so I was not intimately involved with the negotiations, but from what I could see, it was amicable and respectful," Dr. Butler said. "They worked it out so that both parties could walk away satisfied with the agreement."
Mr. Luke said many small work issues needed to be resolved, prolonging the negotiation process. Some of these were deciding how much teachers should be paid if they have to pick up an extra class period, what rate teachers should get if they work more hours than contracted and how much time should be allotted for travel between schools in the district.
Under the new contract, employees will have slightly higher co-payments for doctors’ office visits but will have more choices within the health plan, Mr. Luke said. The new plan also will give the district a lower premium, he added.
Ms. Vail said the new health plan will be better for the association because members will receive uniform coverage. Under the old contract, health coverage was two-tiered, she said, with new members receiving HMO coverage.
The pact includes a provision to distinguish between clerical aides and instructional or teachers’ aides and increased compensation for staff members who run extracurricular activities and teachers who work additional class periods.