“There is no new money
in the contract,” said School District Solicitor Stephen Kalis; by which he
meant that there is no increase to the rate of pay for any of the teachers.
However, teachers will
see pay raises because of the way the salary steps in the contract have been
re-arranged to provide for higher salaries at the lower levels, as well as a
full step forward in the schedule for all in March of 2017 and again in March,
2019.
As the result of more
teachers making more pay, the contract does have a cost.
The district will have
to add $454,223 to the payroll in the first year of the contract, which begins
Sept. 1, and another $425,688 to the payroll in the second year.
By the third year, the
cumulative financial impact of the salary re-arrangement will be close to $1.4
million, Kalis confirmed.
The salary schedule will
be expanded from 16 steps up to 20, and then back down to 13 steps over the
course of the next eight years in a method and formula crafted by high school
science teacher Scott Braunsberg before the full effect is realized.
“We know how much work
went into trying to rectify the inequities in our salary schedule and we are
grateful that we have a board that was willing to listen, and understand, and
put the students first and help to keep some of our teachers here,” said Elisabeth
Yoder, the president of the union and a member of the negotiating team.
For months, the school
board has been listening to presentations by teachers
about the impact of low pay, and this new salary
schedule is designed to address those concerns.
By way of example,
retiring Franklin Elementary School teacher Lindi Vollmuth said she has heard
from the numerous teachers who left Pottstown for new teaching jobs this year
that they are seeing higher paychecks of as much as $10,000 or more.
The remainder of the
contract makes few changes.
There is no change to
the teachers share of health care benefits, but the policy which allows for
retirement incentives to be offered has been lowered from 20 to 15 years of
service.
Also, after many years
of constancy, the stipend for co-curricular activities, such as being a coach
or club advisor, will increase by 1 percent each year of the contract.
Similarly, the stipend
for special education teachers helping to prepare special education individual
education programs, or IEP’s, will increase by $200 in each year of the
contract.
“I was pleased with the
tone, and the openness and the ability to talk through some difficult issues,”
Kalis said of the negotiations after the vote.
Board member Thomas
Hylton cast the only vote against the contract and explained why in a written
statement from which he read at the end of Monday’s board meeting.
Although taxes have not
gone up for two years, Hylton noted spending in the current $59.5 million
budget is up 4 percent, “which is more than double the rate of inflation. Over
the last 10 years, our budget has increased 28 percent, which is 60 percent
above the rate of inflation.”
Noting that the value of
the tax base has dropped by 4 percent during that same period and, as he often
does, that Pottstown has the 12th highest local tax effort in the state, Hylton
said if the contract had been for two years “I would have voted for it. But I
don’t think we know enough about the future for me to responsibly vote for a
three-year contract.”
He praised the
cooperative and creative effort by the teachers union to correct the inequities
in the salary schedule, but noted that one result of the higher cost of the
district’s payroll will be more money required to pay into the state’s troubled
pension program as well.
“We just can’t keep this
up,” he said, noting that if Pottstown spent the same per pupil as the
Boyertown Area School District, the budget could be cut by $9 million.
Andrew Kefer, the
board’s vice president, said “the contract is fair and equitable for both
teachers and taxpayers.”
School Board President
Kim Stilwell thanked the negotiators on both sides, adding “I’m glad it’s
done.”