Teachers, board close to deal

Tentative 4-year agreement would run up until the 2022-23 school year

EAST MARLBOROUGH » UnionvilleChadds Ford school directors and the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association are close to terms for a new, early bird fouryear contract agreement that would run up until the 2022-23 school year.

The contract would begin with the 2019-20 school year. The terms of the tentative contract call for an average 2.99 percent yearly increase in base salaries.

The tentative contract calls for supplemental contract payment schedule increases by 1 percent per year and would retain the currently hourly pay rate of $42 per hour. It would retain annual tuition reimbursement pool set at $250,000 and update the supplemental list to include all of the current offerings. It would remove the appearance of lowest half-steps from the salary schedule each year.

The tentative agreement calls for the school board to work collaboratively with the UCFEA toward adding an optional qualified high deductible health plan and health savings account plan, at a cost impact for both the school district and UCFEA that is equal to the current base medical plan (personal choice 1020-80-50).

All employee salaries and benefits in the district account for 72 percent of the district’s budget. Curriculum accounts for 14 percent, and debt service another 10 percent.

The average salary for a teacher in Pennsylvania in 2016-17 was $66,265, teachers’ paychecks vary

The tentative contract calls for supplemental contract payment schedule increases by 1 percent per year and would retain the currently hourly pay rate of $42 per hour.

greatly district by district.

Pennsylvania’s average annual teacher salary ranks fourth behind only Michigan, Massachusetts and Ohio, according to the National center for Education Statistics, Council of Community and Econommic Research.

At Unionville, the average

teacher salary is $73,182, with a high annual salary of $104,741 for teachers with a master’s degree plus 60 credits and 16 or more years of experience.

The highest average teacher salary in Chester County is at the Great Valley School District ($85,216) followed by TredyffrinEasttown School District ($82,984). In the region, the highest average teacher salary is Lower Merion School District ($99,253).