MOUNT CARMEL - Seventeen months of contentious negotiations ended Monday night when the Mount Carmel Area School District approved a three-year deal with the Mount Carmel Area Education Association to the tune of $697,000.
After the 7-2 vote at a special meeting, union President Joseph Varano said he was relieved and happy.
"It took a lot of effort for each negotiating team to take this to vote. They each had the best interest of the district in mind," he said.
School board President Donna James wished Varano and the 17 other teachers in attendance a happy Thanksgiving and congratulated them for the settlement,
The process was tedious and long, she said.
The teachers union has been working under an expired contract since June 2012.
The contract, which is retroactive from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2015, guarantees the district's 114 teachers a step increase of $1,563 for the previous school year 2012-13, a step increase of $1,563 plus 2 percent for 2013-14 and another step increase of $1,563 plus 2 percent for 2014-15.
At an average of 4.2 percent, the increases will cost the district $697,000 provided the amount of staff remains the same, according to district financial consultant Charles J. Mannello.
A teacher making $31,778 right now will make $36,282 by the end of the contract, he said.
This does not include benefits of social security and pension, he noted.
Negotiations between the two entities hit a stalemate in May when the school board accepted the report of a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board fact finder, but the union rejected it.
Tension flared considerable when the teachers picketing a contract negotiation meeting Sept. 18 and a regular meeting Sept. 19. By Oct. 7, the teachers adopted a "working to the rule" policy, which meant they would not do any work outside their contracted hours. This ended Oct. 25.
Look at tomorrow
Because national average salary increase is half of what the district's increases calls for over the next two years, Director Dr. Ray Kraynak said he couldn't support the contract.
"Everyone wants to be compensated, everyone feels entitled to higher wages, but you have to look for tomorrow," he said.
The teachers taking money consumes all the district's resources, he said.
"We'll have no money for anything else," Kraynak said. "The bottom line is money. Down the road, we'll have massive problems."
At a board meeting Sept. 19, Mannello explained that, as of June 30, 2012, the district had a $3.7 million fund balance. He said the board later passed a resolution to place $2.5 million into an assigned fund balance that would be used to cover increased costs involved with health insurance and the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS), and for future capital improvement projects.
Mannello said the remaining $1.2 million in the fund balance is needed for cash flow.
With projected cost increases for pension and health insurance over the next five years, the fund balance could be left with $149,592.51.
At Monday's meeting, the board members immediately entered into executive session for approximately 20 minutes. When the public meeting started again, Directors Michael Rovito and Robert Muldowney made and seconded the motion to approve the contract. It passed 7-2 with Directors Kraynak and Raymond Kraynak voting against it.
Director Charles Mannello voted for it against his "better judgement."
Health coverage
Varano said the raise is fair and the teachers were able to insert additional benefits into the contract.
In the new contract, the teachers will now be able to use four of their 10 sick days a year in half-day increments and have an additional planning period during the day in order to collaborate with other educators.
Also, the teachers now have to pay for their first 12 college credits instead of 18 toward a master's degree.
However, the teachers gave up paying 1 percent toward their health care contributions and will instead be paying a percentage of their premium starting in 2014-15.
"The biggest thing we gave up was health care. For the association as a whole, it was a sticking point. They didn't want the health care to change," Varano said.
Many of the teachers graduated from Mount Carmel Area and they have dedicated their professional careers to the district, he said.
"We're as invested as it comes," he said.
The average teacher salary in the district in 2011-12 was $43,834, ranking Mount Carmel Area 489th out of 500 Pennsylvania school districts.
The median household income in the school district in 2011 was estimated at $34,188 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Other districts
While Mount Carmel Area's contracts are approved, the other three teacher unions in the school districts in The News-Item's coverage area are still operating on expired contracts.
At Line Mountain, teachers have been working on an expired contract since June 2012, which was a one-year extension of a five-year contract that ended June 30, 2011, that guaranteed educators a 3 percent raise each year.
Teachers there have been working to the rule since Sept. 30 to draw attention to the stalled contract negotiations.
School board President Troy Laudenslager said the next scheduled contract meeting is Jan. 23; the last time they met was Oct. 3.
"We've been waiting for a date, and we just got one. They're not in any hurry apparently," he said Monday.
Line Mountain Education Association (LMEA) President Mark Shearer did not return a phone call for comment Monday afternoon.
Shamokin Area's most recent teacher contract expired June 30 after a two-year extension to a five-year contract.
Southern Columbia Area teachers have been working on a three-year contract that expired June 30.
Both districts are still working toward a settlement, but there have been no indication yet that teachers will be taking any extraordinary action.