Board OKs two-year teacher contract
With a unanimous vote, the Phoenixville Area School Board on Thursday approved a two-year contract with the teachers union that provides average raises of 2.7 percent in each year.
The Phoenixville Area Education Association voted in favor of the contract on Nov. 11. The teachers have been working under the terms of the previous contract, which expired June 30.
In the first year of the contract, the raises do not go into effect until the second pay period in January. In the pact’s second year, the raises go into effect in the first pay period of
December, 2021, Superintendent Alan Fegley said.
Fegley said the raises in the contract will add about $500,000 to the current school year’s budget and another $800,000 to the 202021 budget.
The contract, which covers 332 teachers, was arrived at after the school board rejected a fact-finders report in October that, had it been adopted, would have formed the terms of the contract.
The report was requested by the teachers union after tentative agreements had been reached on a number of other issues, according to the school district’s website. Those included:
• Additional non-instructional time for special education teachers to develop Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for their students
• Dedicated time for teachers to prepare their classrooms and instruction prior to the first day of school
• Addition of family sick leave
• Revised definition of long-term substitutes
• Streamlined guidelines for course reimbursements
• Change from 26 pays per year to 24 pays
• Addition of summer healthcare coverage for retirees
• Revision to healthcare coverage post-retirement for 25-plus year teachers
All that remained for the 48-page fact-finders report to settle were issues of health care and salary.
The two sides were actually contemplating a fiveyear contract, with the union proposing 2.99 percent salary hikes each year. The district’s proposal had raises ranging from 1.71 percent to 3.58 percent, according to the fact-finder’s report.
The fact-finder agreed with the teachers proposals for both salary and health care, but the school board rejected the report and continued to negotiate.
According to the district, the average pay for a Phoenixville teacher is $75,000, but with the cost of benefits added in, costs taxpayers nearly $125,000.
On Oct. 10, hundreds of teachers marched on the school board meeting that night carrying signs like “how can you put students first if you put teachers last?”
Board member J. Kenneth
Butera, who was the board’s chief negotiator, announced on Oct. 18 that the board and union had reached a tentative agreement.
Butera was joined by board member Kevin Pattinson
Thursday in expressing disappointment that the contract was not for a period longer than two years.
Tammy Kurtz, a physical education teacher and president of the teachers’ union, expressed the same wish for a longer contract.
“A lot of people don’t realize we’ve been negotiating since year, and now we will start negotiating again next year,” she said.
The school board, administration and union president all expressed appreciation for the other side’s effort and professionalism.
This article first appeared as a post in The Digital Notebook blog.