The Scotia-Glenville Teachers Association agreed to a four-year contract that increases spending on educators’ salaries by 4.3 percent, increases elementary instruction time and improves health insurance offerings.
The board of education met with the teachers association at the Monday, Oct. 22, meeting to complete and approve the contract by a vote of 6-to-1, with board member Ben Conlon opposing.
Superintendent Susan Swartz said she feels the contract is fair to all parties involved, including taxpayers.
We are very happy to have arrived at a contract with our instructional staff, which is doing the very important work of educating our children every day. This is a fair contract for our educators and for the taxpayers of our community, said Swartz.
The agreement is in place until June 30, 2011, and is retroactive to July 1.
The increases include an average 1.4 percent `step` increase. According to the district’s communications director, every teacher in the state receives a step increase for every year of service up to the top step of a contract. After reaching the top step, there are no more increases. The top step in the district is 23; after that, only negotiated salary increases are made.
The new teachers contract will increase spending by 4.33 percent in the 2007-2008 school year; 3.9 percent in the 2008-2009 school year; 4.05 percent in the 2009-2010 school year; and 3.93 percent in the 2010-2011 school year.
`I’m very pleased we were able to reach an agreement that meets the needs of the teachers and the district. I hope we can build on the momentum gained in negotiations to work collaboratively with the district to continue to raise student achievement,` said Eric DeCarlo, president of the Scotia-Glenville Teachers Association.
Last May, the board proposed a $44.57 million budget to voters. In this approved 2007-2008 budget, close to $14 million goes to teacher’s salaries.
Starting salaries will increase by 12.2 percent over the course of the four-year contact, increasing a starting 2006-2007 teacher’s pay at $36,000 increase to $40,000 by 2010-2011. Bachelor’s degree salaries on the top step over those same four years will rise by an average of 3 percent per 23-year employee from $76,944 during the 2006-2007 school year to $86,344 for a 23-year employee during the 2010-2011 school year.
The portion of the contract that requires additional teaching time involves instructional time during report card preparation. Teachers will select a third day during which substitutes will cover classes for a half-day during the preparation.
In the past, elementary students were not in the classroom for three half-days so teachers can complete the reports. Teachers will now only have two half-days without students in the classroom.
Board president Margaret Smith said she in satisfied with the contract and said the research behind coming to an agreement was well worth it.
`I think the pay scale coincides with what we expect from our staff. Hopefully this will help us continue to attract quality teachers to our district,` she said.“