after vacations and during parent conference weeks.
Diana Prichard, who negotiated on behalf of the teachers, said, "we are
grateful we have reached an agreement and are satisfied with the settlement. It
has been a long road, but it was worth it."
Teachers ratified the contract on Friday, December 8.
The increases will raise the base salaries for a new teacher with a bachelors
degree to $22,230 for the first part of this year and to $22,452 next year,
according to school district business manager Earl Armbruster.
A teacher at the top of the salary schedule in terms of education and
experience will earn $43,726 for the first part of 94-95 and $45,488 in
95-96.
The district will continue to cap health insurance benefits at approximately
$415 per month per employee, and continue to make the employee's contribution
to the Public Employee Retirement system, according to Armbruster.
Armbruster said he will not know the exact impact of the increases on the
school budget "until we apply the numbers to the teachers who are actually
here," but he thought the increases could cost an additional $110,000 in 95-96
and another $128,000 in 96-97.
The total district budget for 95-96 is $6,885,144. Salaries total $3,166,820
and benefits cost another $1,240,622, Armbruster said.
The budget for this year did not contain any provisions for pay increases, so
the raises will have to come from other programs or from increased revenues,
Armbruster indicated. The district may also receive some more money from the
state for increased enrollment.
There were some last minute snags. Teachers held that they "retained" the right
to choose an insurance carrier since the district had capped the contribution.
Previously, the same insurance policy was adopted for all district employees,
including teachers, administrators, maintenance employees and bus drivers.
Upon review of the contract on Friday morning, the school district's attorney
told the board's negotiating team of Bill Reed and Harold Gott that it was not
clear the teachers ever had an exclusive right to choose the insurance
carrier.
Gott said he went to the teachers on Friday morning "seeking a discussion with
teachers' representatives concerning that sentence."
Gott says that statements that "I slept on it and backed out is not a fair
representation. My concern was not that they be able to choose, it was that our
other two groups (administrators and classified) should not be in a situation
where they did not have a voice."
The language that teachers retain the right to choose their own insurance
carrier will remain in the contract, Gott said.
Overall, Gott said "we have good folks that work for us and I want them to know
I think that. We are on the same team, headed in the same direction."
Another issue, surrounding early retirement, has been opened for renegotiation,
according to board chairman Bill Reed.
Reed said that the two year contract will be very helpful in next year's budget
development.
"Salary and benefits represented 85 percent of the district's expenditures last
year. It was terribly difficult not knowing what those costs were gong to be
(when budgeting for the 95-96 school year)," he said.
While the salary increases could reduce expenditures in other areas, Reed said
the board was "certainly pleased to have this behind us and look forward to
working with the teachers on preparation of the budget for the following year."
