Greenfield — A new contract for members of the Whitnall School District teachers union was approved by the slimmest of margins Monday.
The School Board voted 4-3 for a contract that calls for a 2.9 percent increase in the total compensation - salaries and benefits - for the first year and a 4 percent increase the second year.
The teachers union ratified the contract on Thursday. The agreement covers the period from July 2009 through June 2011.
District officials said they were pleased with the negotiation sessions and with savings found on pension liability and health care costs.
Dealing with difficulties
The School Board last fall approved the district budget assuming a 1 percent increase in teacher salaries, but because of the savings on benefits, the contract will not increase the district's projected deficit, School Board President Bill Osterndorf said.
Osterndorf praised the teachers union and Whitnall administrators for coming together despite the district's budget troubles. Negotiations began in April 2009, before anyone knew of a sharp cut in state aid that was coming later that summer.
"This is a step forward," Osterndorf said. "It's legitimate to say that everybody has things they wanted to get they didn't get. It's also legitimate to say we all had things that were important to us that we did get."
Resolution not ideal
Other School Board members, however, said they were hoping for more. Board member T.J. Anderson said he was troubled the district laid off teachers and support staff and yet still gave increases, and he wanted more measures regarding test scores and teacher accountability.
"This is a far cry from where we originally stood when we opened negotiations," he said. "The goal of the board at that point was to develop more of a professionalism in our district. … When I look at this, it may sound like a great package, but this doesn't move our district in the right direction."
Anderson, Bernard Shaw and Michael Clarizio voted against the agreement.
A teachers union representative could not be reached for comment by press deadline.
The contract is the first one the School Board has approved in several years. The board and teachers union could not come to terms on a 2007-09 agreement, and the board eventually renewed the contacts using the state's qualified-economic-offer law.
The law, which no longer exists, gave teachers a 3.8 percent increase in salaries and benefits.
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