Wilmington, Teachers Agree On Contract

WILMINGTON, MA -- The Wilmington School Committee and the union that represents teachers reached a contract agreement that gives teachers cost-of-living increases as well as "market rate" salary adjustments through the end of the 2020-21 school year. The agreement includes a one-year deal for the current school year and a new three-year deal to follow this year. Teachers had worked more than 80 days this year without a contract.

The new contract gives teachers a 2.25% cost of living increase for this year and a 2% increase in each of the three following years. The contract also includes a "market-rate adjustment" during each year of the three-year contract that starts next fall. That increase is about 1% per year and is aimed at making the teachers salaries more competitive with those in surrounding districts, according to the Wilmington Apple, which first reported this story.

"We certainly don’t want the Wilmington school system seen as the lowest paid system in the region. We want our district to excel," School Committee Chair Steve Bjork told the Apple. "We want the best possible teachers we can secure and we appreciate the teachers we have on staff."

According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the average teacher salary in Wilmington was $71,281 in 2014-15, the most recent year for which data is available. By comparison, teachers in Burlington earned $90,475, on average, while average teacher salaries in the surrounding communities Andover, Billerica, North Reading, Tewksbury and Woburn were all higher than Wilmington.

For more on this story, see the Wilmington Apple. Subscribe to Wilmington Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Photo by Dave Copeland.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).