By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Lawrence Township public school teachers and support staff will receive pay raises averaging 2.2 percent each year under a three-year contract approved Monday by the Lawrence Township Board of Education.
The school board’s approval of the contract, which grants pay increases of 2.3 percent in the first year of the contract and 2.25 in the second year and 2.15 in the final year, follows on the ratification vote by the Lawrence Township Education Association on March 9.
The six school board members present Monday night voted unanimously to approve the new contract. School board vice president Leon Kaplan and board members Jo Ann Groeger and Thomas Patrick were absent.
Teacher union members voted, 453-34, to approve the contract, which is retroactive to July 1, 2011. It expires June 30, 2014. The union represents teachers, instructional assistants, Child Study Team members, secretaries, buildings and grounds personnel, custodians and cleaners.
Union co-president Barbara Levine said the negotiations process was “handled with civility and professionalism. We feel we have reached a fair and equitable settlement, which was supported by 93 percent of our members.”
School board president Laura Waters said “all in all, I think this is a fair and balanced resolution.” It takes into account the need of the taxpayers, the union members and the students, she said.
Although the new contract is retroactive to July 1, 2011, the prior contract expired June 30, 2010. It was extended for one year after the union members agreed to take a one-year salary freeze for the 2010-11 school year.
It is also the first contract to take effect after the implementation of new state regulations regarding public employees’ contributions to their health care and pension benefits. It removed those issues from the negotiating table, Ms. Waters said.
The new contract contains several changes, including a $1,000 reduction in the starting salary for new teachers. A new teacher who begins work in September and who has a bachelor’s degree and no prior experience will earn $50,460.
A teacher’s pay tops out after 18 years. In the final year of the contract, the maximum salary ranges from $83,136 to $88,336 for a teacher who has worked for 18 years. The range depends on the amount of education a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree and any additional credits earned beyond that degree.
The starting salary for a Group 1 secretary who begins work in September is $37,000, down from $39,773, and Group 2 secretaries will start at $34,000. They had started at $36,157. The salaries top out at $57,049 and $51,863, respectively, in the final year of the contract. They must work for 10 years to reach the maximum salary.
The salaries for newly hired custodians, maintenance workers, drivers, cleaners and head custodians also declines for those who are newly hired and begin work in September. The starting salary for custodians, maintenance workers, drivers and cleaners is $40,000, which is a decrease from $47,587.
Newly hired head custodians at the grades pre-K-3 elementary schools start at $42,000, down from $48,470. The head custodians at the grades 4-12 schools start at $44,000, down from $49,810. The tradesmen plumbers, carpenters and electricians begin at $46,000, which is $6,150 less than under the expired contract.
Depending on their job titles, the maximum salary in the final year of the contract ranges from $55,043 to $59,606. The top of the pay scale is reached after seven years.
The new contract also locks in the extra duty pay that teachers receive for participating in after-school activities ranging from coaching sports to supervising the school store at the Lawrence Intermediate School at the levels under the expired contract. The extra duty pay will not increase during the life of the new contract.
The Lawrence High School varsity football team head coach earns $9,079, while the teacher who supervises the LIS school store earns $964. The LHS mock trial team adviser earns an extra $2,100, and the bus supervisors are paid $1,084.

