PLEASE RELEASE: October
15, 2007
Scotia-Glenville
teachers and Board of Education agree to four-year contract
The Scotia-Glenville Board of Education and Scotia-Glenville Teachers’
Association (SGTA) have agreed to a four-year contract that raises salaries,
increases elementary instruction time and tightens health insurance
offerings.
The Board of Education approved the pact on Monday by a 6-1 vote; the
SGTA members approved the contract by a 211-3 vote on September 21.
“We are very happy to have arrived at a contract with our instructional
staff, who are doing the very important work of educating our children
every single day," said Superintendent Susan Swartz. "This
is a fair contract for our educators and for the taxpayers of our community."
Board of Education President Margaret Smith said she was "pleased
that we have a new contract with our teachers that will allow us to
continue to attract quality teachers to the district." She also
said that a projected savings in health care costs is a plus for community
taxpayers.
"I'm very pleased we were able to reach an agreement that meets
the needs of the teachers and the district," said Eric DeCarlo,
president of the 249-member Scotia-Glenville Teachers' Association.
"I hope we can build on the momentum gained in negotiations to
work collaboratively with the district to continue to raise student
achievement."
The new teachers' contract – including the negotiated pay raise,
mandated step/longevity salary increases and after reductions for health
care savings – will increase spending by 4.33 percent in the 2007-08
school year, 3.97 percent in the 2008-09 school year, 4.05 percent in
the 2009-10 year, and 3.93 percent in the 2010-11. In the final year
of the contract, teachers will remain at their 2009-10 step level.
The new agreement expires on June 30, 2011 and is retroactive to July
1, 2007. The previous agreement expired June 30.
Those percentage increases includes an average 1.4 percent “step”
increase. 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 – step 23 in Scotia-Glenville's case – there are
no more step increases, only negotiated salary increases.
Other areas of the contract:
• Starting (step 1) salaries will increase by 12.2 percent over
the four-year contract, from $36,000 with a bachelor's degree in the
2006-07 school year to $40,400 with a bachelor's degree by the 2010-2011
school year. Higher starting salaries are a key way for school districts
to lure and keep good teachers, Swartz said.
Bachelor degree salaries on the top step over those same four years
will climb by an average of 3 percent per year from $76,944 for an employee
with 23 years of experience during the 2006-07 school year to $86,344
for a 23-year employee during the 2010-2011 school year.
With a master's degree – which is required within five years of
teaching – teachers are paid an additional $1,600 per year.
• In the past, elementary students were not in class for three
half-days during the year so that teachers could complete report cards.
Under the new contract, students will have just two half-days off each
year for report card preparation. Teachers will select a third day during
which substitutes will cover their classes for a half day for report
card preparation while students will continue to receive instruction.
• Regarding health insurance, the expensive Blue Shield Indemnity
Plan will no longer be available after Jan. 1, 2008. It will be replaced
by the Blue Shield PPO plan with an office visit cost of $20. Total
health care savings amount to $37,000 in the first year of the contract
and $74,000 in each additional year of the pact.
• Mentor teachers, who work with newer teachers during their first
year at Scotia-Glenville, will be paid $1,000 and mentor coordinators
will be paid $1,200 per year.
MEDIA:
For more information, Superintendent Susan Swartz at 382-1215,
S-G Teachers Association President Eric DeCarlo at 386-4239 or
Robert Hanlon, Communications Office, at 386-4343