Tiverton School Committee To Vote On Teacher Contract Tonight

The Tiverton School Committee will be voting at its Aug. 14 meeting on a three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with Tiverton’s teachers.

Our goal going into negotiations was to recognize our teachers for their hard work and recent successes in increasing the academic achievement of all our students; at the same time we recognized that in order to be fair to taxpayers we must limit increases in the total school budget due to continued economic uncertainty. Fortunately our teachers once again demonstrated their willingness to put the best interests of both our school community and our town first by voting to accept a contract that includes no increase in year one and only very modest increases in years two and three.

Significant features of the CBA include the following:  

• no cost-of-living increase (COLA) for any step in year one
• a 1.75% COLA in years 2 and 3 for step 10 teachers only (steps 1- 9 remain unchanged)
• a stipend payment of $200 per teacher in years 2 and 3
• two additional teacher work days in years 2 and 3 to address professional development needs identified by school administrators
• new restrictions on the rights of individual teachers to pursue grievances against the district  

During our negotiating sessions both sides engaged in candid yet respectful discussions and were committed to identifying solutions acceptable to all. For example, the use of one-time stipends allows us to recognize all our teachers for our district’s improved performance but will not increase our budget base going forward. Taxpayers should know that after three consecutive years of no cost-of-living increases, Tiverton’s teachers are the lowest paid in the state according to data provided by the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, and this contract’s modest increases will not change that. 

Tiverton schools can take pride in many accomplishments this year. Many of you have no doubt heard that Fort Barton School recently received the highest score of any school in the state from the RI Department of Education. You may not know, however, that both our middle school and high school also saw significant increases in their NECAP scores this year; in fact Tiverton Middle School tied for first place among middle schools for increased student proficiency levels. The middle school and high school also both ranked in the top three for their grade levels statewide for low-income student performance on the NECAP. The addition of teacher professional development days will help the district to continue to build on this success. 

Approval of this contract will allow our entire school community to remain focused on student achievement while also providing long-term fiscal stability. The cost to the district will average approximately $250,000 annually over the three-year contract or less than 1% of the school district’s total annual budget. The committee and I will also continue our efforts to identify costs savings in other areas throughout the district in order to keep the impact on the taxpayer as low as possible. 

A copy of the contract and the fiscal impact statement can be found on the Tiverton School District website. The School Committee meeting will be held in the high school library at 7 pm.

Click here to view the memorandum of agreement and financial impact statement.

This information is from a press release from Tiverton Schools Superintendent William Rearick.