Council Rock Inks 5 Year Contract With Its Teachers Union

NEWTOWN, PA — The teachers in the Council Rock School District will be returning to the classroom next week under a new five-year contract with the district.

The school board earlier this summer voted 7-2 to ink an agreement with the Council Rock Education Association that will ensure labor peace in the district for the next five years. The new contract will extend through June 30, 2030.

Under the agreement, teachers will receive salary increases each year of the contract, ranging from $2500 to $4,000, plus step increases.

Contract Highlights

• Five-year agreement provides stability for the community and in budget planning.
• Revamps the salary grid to remove large gaps in salary from step to step.
• Increases the number of teacher work days by one day in the first two years of the contract and by two days in the last three years of the contract.
• Increases teacher professional development days.
• Teachers applying for jobs in Council Rock can now carry over up to six years of professional experience if they are retained by CR.
• District retains control over increases in healthcare premiums.
• Provides a more equitable distribution of tuition reimbursement.
• Increases dental coverage by $500 per year but adds an employee contribution to fund the increase.
• Provides a fair and reasonable cost-of-living increase for each year of the contract

Board president Ed Tate called the new five-year contract "a positive achievement that will

provide stability, but also predictability for the biggest line item in our budget."

He commended the board's negotiating team, including board members Anne Horner, Linda Stone, Tracey Osecki and Nicole Khan, along with business manager Anthony Rapp and director of human resources Ronnie Spring, for the long hours and hard work spent negotiating the contract.

"We talk about Students First. There is no more important element than our teachers and ensuring the quality of our teachers," said Tate. "This contract goes a long way toward that. There are small things that add up that make this a very good contract," he said.

Board member Tracey Osecki called the new contract “favorable to the teachers and to the school district. In particular, we believe this new contract will make it easier for the district to attract teachers, both at the entry level and teachers transferring to Council Rock,” she said.

Board member Linda Stone added that during the negotiations, both sides had some wins and both sides made some concessions. "We looked very carefully at our budget and what we thought we could afford and I think we came back with a wonderful compromise that I feel is a win-win for everyone."

Horner added that it was an "amazing experience" being part of the negotiating process. "There were many, many days and hours upon hours spent learning and understanding the needs and wants on both sides. This district has amazing staff who care to educate and move the educational needle on every student and who live Students First Always."

She continued, "We have excellent teachers in this district that we need to retain as well as we need to recruit to fill open positions with the best qualified. This agreement will surely be achieved on both of these objectives.”

Two board members voted against the contract - Joseph Hidalgo and Michael Roosevelt.

"This is where we get to make the biggest impact as board members, being fiscally responsible with the organization and trying to negotiate a great contract that is fair and equal to both sides. This contract probably achieves that,” said Hidalgo. “However, I will be voting no on the collective bargaining agreement, not because I don’t think the teachers deserve every penny they are going to get. But it falls outside of the parameters that I have set and have been stated publicly for the past five years,” said Hidalgo.

That parameter included not increasing taxes above 2.5 percent for 2025-26. "We could have negotiated that money - about $800,000 - spread out among the whole contract base, but that wasn't done," he said.