[From The Keene Sentinel Letters Page]
I am writing to ask the voters of the Monadnock Regional School District to support both the teachers and support staff contracts when they cast their votes on March 11.
During the past two years, I have served on the negotiations committee for the Monadnock Regional School Board.
It was an eye-opening and thought-provoking experience and I have a new appreciation for the negotiations process. It has been said that if both sides leave the table unsatisfied the negotiation has been successful.
If that’s the measure then we were successful — no one got everything he wanted.
However, we did, I believe, reach two fair contract proposals — fair to our teachers and support staff personnel, and fair to the the taxpayers of the district.
So what exactly is fair? I believe most would agree that a property tax system that bills someone living in Troy more for a $200,000 house than it does in Fitzwilliam for the same house is not a fair system.
Or, is it fair when the federal government tells us we must “include” students with special needs in our schools, and then fails to fund that program for more than 30 years, costing our district millions of dollars?
Is it fair that a young person graduating college is paid less simply because she chose to work in the public sector as a teacher rather than using the same degree elsewhere where the annual salary could be $10,000 to $20,000 more?
All of us who vote — we are the employers — and we can do something to remedy this third inequity.
As stated earlier, I feel we have negotiated a very fair contract with our teachers and support staff personnel. Both groups have been without a contract for the past two school years.
They have received no raises during that time period. Both contracts will put our employees back on their correct salary level (step) over the next two years.
There will be no retroactive pay. In other words, they will not receive an increase in pay for the period July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008.
New teachers (bachelors degree; no experience) currently start at $30,000 a year.
This starting salary will increase as follows: $30,600 in 2008-2009; $31,850 in 2009-2010; $33,100 in 2010-2011; $34,600 in 2011-2012.
This will allow us to stay competitive with the other school districts in the region. First-year paraprofessionals (aides) currently begin at $8.50 an hour. This hourly rate increases to $8.67 an hour in 2008-2009; $8.84 in 2009-2010; and $9.02 in 2010-2011.
Early retirement will go away. This was an idea with good intentions but it didn’t work well.
Early retirement works best in the private sector, where it is used to lower the number of employees quickly and when replacement employees are not being hired.
Eligibility and benefits will decrease over each of the next three years, then disappear completely on July 1, 2011. Early retirement is in the teachers’ contract only. Support staff personnel never had this benefit.
Currently, both employee groups are contributing 10 percent of the cost to purchase the Blue Choice Point of Service health insurance plan. If the two contracts pass in March, employee participation for health insurance will increase to 20 percent over the next three to four years.
The teacher contract is a four-year agreement.
The estimated cost of this contact is 5.29 percent in year one; 2.34 percent in year two; 2.97 percent in year three; and 3.13 percent in year four.
The overall four-year average percentage increase of the contract is 3.6 percent.
The support staff contract is a three-year contract. The estimated cost of this contract is 5.83 percent in year one; 4.39 percent in year two; and 2.48 percent increase in year three.
This summary by no means lists all the changes to the two contracts as space limitations do not allow it here.
However, these are the big ticket items, and those that have tended to be the most controversial. A more detailed explanation appears on the district Web site: www.mrsd.org, or I’d be happy to e-mail, fax, or mail anyone a copy.
Please vote “yes” for warrant articles 4 and 5. Both warrant articles are supported by the school board and the budget committee.
Our employees deserve our support.
GENE WHITE
Swanzey School Board Member
Spring Street
Swanzey
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