Clarion Area School Board Reaffirms Tentative Teacher Contract

Ron Wilshire

Ron Wilshire

Published June 7, 2017 4:36 am
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CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – The Clarion Area School Board reaffirmed a four-year tentative teachers’ contract from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2021, at a special Tuesday night following its regular monthly work session.

The special meeting was called to reaffirm a vote previously taken at a special meeting on May 13, 2017.  The action at the meeting was believed to be invalid because it was not advertised in a newspaper of general circulation as required by the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law.

The teachers association approved the tentative contract in May.

The district estimates it will save approximately $387,934.00 over the length of the contract.  The contract would also call for slightly more than two percent raises in each of the four years.

During the work session before the special meeting, Business Manager Jill Spence said that the contract is expected to save the District $191,892.00 for next year and requires taking less money from the Fund Balance to the budget for 2017-18.  In order to have a balance budget, $440,095.00 would be transferred from the Fund Balance, and school directors are considering a one-mill tax increase.

“The estimates include all increases in salary and costs, including the increase in contributions to the state retirement system over which neither the district nor the teachers association has control; increase in contributions to social security and workers’ compensation as required by law and the savings experienced in health insurance and longevity elimination,” said Superintendent Michal Stahlman at the earlier special meeting. “Long term savings not yet determined are not considered.”

A breakdown of the estimated savings presented at the May meeting includes:

• 2017-18, $113,094.00

• 2018-19, $109,160.00

• 2019-20, $93,934.00

• 2020-21, $71,749.00

“The teachers association approached the board last year in the budget process and offered a complete freeze for the 2016-17 school year,” said Stahlman.  “With a memorandum to that effect, it brought us to June 2017, and this is a successor agreement we are considering.”

Stahlman said there is a significant change in healthcare benefits that provide savings for the district.

“We’re going to a $1,500.00/$3,000.00 qualified high deductible plan with a Health Savings Account (HSA) attached to that.  The cost savings to the district over the four-year term contract is a little over $106,000.00. We are self-insured through a consortium, a group to offset the highs and lows.”

The district also tentatively agreed to contribute 50 percent of the deductible each year of the contract to the HAS account.  Employees will pay $2.50 per month toward administrative fees for HSA.

Salary increases for the following years include:

• 2017-18 – 2.02 percent increase inclusive of step increase and a cost of the district of $75,359.00

• 2018-19 — 2.29 percent increase inclusive of steps and a cost to the district of $87,472.00

• 2019-20 – 2.03 percent increase inclusive of step increases for a total cost to the district of $79,166.00

• 2020-21 — 2.03 percent increase inclusive of step increases for a total cost to the district of $80,821.00.

School board members voting to accept the agreement Tuesday night included President Hugh Henry George Alexander, Dave Estadt, Eric Funk, Shane Kriebel, and Julie McCormick.

A detailed contract using the guidelines in the tentative agreement will be developed for final approval by both the school board and teachers association.

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13.

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