3-Year Teacher Contract Gets School Board Approval

Hatboro-Horsham teachers will earn an average 2.2 percent salary increase under a new three-contract the school board approved Monday night.

The "early bird" agreement for the district's 390 teachers takes effect on July 1 and continues through the 2015-2016 school year, ending on June 30, 2016. 

The union and the school district had worked on the pact for the last five months, officials said. But, health care, both sides agreed, proved to be the biggest obstacle. Eric Shea, president of the Hatboro-Horsham Education Association, the union that represents district teachers, estimated that talks throughout January and February focused primarily on health care. 

"Health care was big because health care costs are tied to salary," Shea said. 

While the approved contract had been "in the works for a while now," teachers only voted prior to Monday's school board meeting, he said. 

"It passed by a nice majority," Shea said, declining to share the vote breakdown.

Salary

Under the contract, teachers would receive step increases only in the first and third years. Step 15 employees with current top level salaries of $98,976, would receive a "minimal increase" to $99,966 at the contract's conclusion, according to Monday night's presentation. 

A one-time non-recurring stipend of $1,000 will be provided during the second year of the contract as a concession to the salary freeze. 

On average, the projected annual salary increases–including step–amount to 2.2 percent under the new pact, according to district figures. 

Insurance

To help reign in health care costs, the district opted to move from more expensive Aetna and Keystone plans to a cost-efficient Point of Service plan. The move will keep premiums at current levels, officials said. Employees would have 10 percent co-pays under the point of service plan. Two other plans require co-pays of 16 percent. 

For 2014-2015, Bob Reichert, the district's director of business affairs, said a "self-insured medical arrangement" would be considered.

Co-pays for the last year of the contract would be based on annual premium cost increases born by the district, according to Reichert. For premium increases of 2 percent to 5 percent, employees would pay 1 percent more in co-pays; premiums between 5 percent and 8 percent higher would warrant a 2 percent uptick in employee co-pays; and premiums higher than 8 percent would mean 3 percent more in employee co-pays. 

Retirement incentive

As was the case in the district's previous teacher contract, which was adopted in April 2011 after a nearly two-year stalemate, the new agreement offers a retirement incentive. Teachers on step 15 with 15 or more years of teaching experience within the district can opt for a one-time $10,000 tax sheltered annuity contribution. 

During the district's last contract adoption, the retirement incentive saved the district from furloughing teachers to close a budget shortfall. 

On Monday night, Shea told Patch that he was not sure what impact the retirement incentive would have.

"I don't know how much that's going to persuade people," Shea said, adding that "hopefully a decent amount" would take advantage of it. 

Special education teachers

The new contract calls for a stipend of $1,000 per year for special education teachers, which is a $300 increase from the current $700 yearly stipend.