Staffing, Programming Cuts Loom Following Ratification Of Ridgewood Teachers' Contract

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — The village school board approved a three-year deal with the teachers’ union that gives members annual raises and reduces their out-of-pocket health insurance costs, but will require cuts to instructional and extracurricular programs, a district-issued news release said Tuesday.

The deal is retroactive to July 1, 2015. It ends June 30, 2018. Teachers will receive raises of 1 percent the first year and 2.7 percent each of the next two.

The union’s 547 members will pay between 14 and 26 percent towards their health insurance premiums, a major point of contention throughout the 20-month negotiation process. They had paid an average of 26 percent those premiums.

The deal will bring the budget to about $2.5 million over the state’s mandated 2-percent increase cap, resulting in “budgetary reductions next year that will result in changes to staffing and programming,” the release stated.

When preparing the 2017-18 budget, the Board of Education will work closely with Superintendent Daniel Fishbein to identify reductions that will “have the least impact on the instructional programs and extracurricular offerings.”

Present union members will be grandfathered into their current health plans. Employees hired after Sept. 12 are required to enroll in a cheaper plan until they are granted tenure.

Negotiations included state mediators, fact-finders, and a super-conciliator.

The Ridgewood Education Association ratified the deal Sept. 28.

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