New Contract for Brick Teachers

Though teachers in the township's school district will continue to receive step pay increases, the overall salary guide will not be increased under a new agreement forged between the Board of Education and the township's teachers union.

Board President Sharon Kight said the new, three-year pact – which was approved by the board at its Aug. 16 meeting – will continue the same terms, salary-wise, as the previous contract that had been in place.

Under the contract, teachers will continue to be paid based on a 20 step salary guide that starts at $51,396 for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree to $89,985 for a top-step teacher with a doctoral degree. Teachers with only a bachelor's degree top out at $85,010.

The new contract includes $1,500 stipends for teachers at the highest step in the second and third years of the new contract, said Kight.

The contract also eliminates hall monitors and cafeteria monitors, and allows only single health coverage for non-tenured teachers. After four years, teachers can participate in family health plans, or they can purchase family coverage on their own before receiving tenure.

Under the state's health insurance plan, teachers generally pay about 12 percent of their health insurance premiums.

Kight said the negotiating process went well.

"We were trying to just do the best we could with what we had," she said.