Scotia-Glenville teachers will see an average of 3 percent step raises in a 2-year contract unanimously approved by the Board of Education on Monday. The contract affects 237 teachers.
The salary for new teachers will increase from $40,400 during the past school year to $40,804 for 2011-12. For those teachers on the top step, who are in their 23rd year of service, the pay will rise from $86,344 to $87,207. This does not include any stipends or other payments teachers receive for serving as coaches or advisers for extracurricular activities.
In addition, there will be a 1 percent cost-of-living increase in the 2011-12 school year and no increase in the following year. Teachers who have more than 23 years’ experience would receive a $500 payment in 2012-2013.
The existing 4-year pact was going to expire at the end of the month.
Superintendent Susan Swartz said both the district and the union did not want a long-term deal. “We agreed that given the uncertainty of the time, we were interested in settling quickly for a shorter period of time,” she said.
The implications of the recently passed 2 percent property tax cap are yet to be known, Swartz said. One question is whether the cap can be overridden with 60 percent of registered voters or 60 percent of voters in the school board election.
“There seems to be an awful lot of unanswered questions,” she said.
Also, Swartz said she has yet to see meaningful relief from state education mandates. One of the only changes to come out of the legislative session was allowing very small school districts to share superintendents — something that would not affect Scotia-Glenville.
The contract also contains changes to health insurance coverage. It eliminates the MVP HMO and CDPHP HMO plans. Instead, employees will be offered a choice of CDPHP Exclusive Provider Organization and Blue Shield Provider Organization. These plans differ because they take the health care use of a smaller group of people into account in setting the premium rather than the community at large. School officials estimate the change will save the district $206,000 for the coming school year and $275,000 for every year following.
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