School Board Approves Early Bird Tentative Agreement with Upper Dublin Teachers

AUGUST 23…The Upper Dublin School Board is pleased to announce that on August 22 it approved an early bird tentative agreement which will serve as a contract extension to the collective bargaining agreement which was slated to expire June 30, 2017. The contract extension will cover the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years, thus providing continuity to the three-year contract previously approved. It also achieves the following goals: providing fair salaries that will retain quality teachers and controlling healthcare costs. The Upper Dublin Education Association voted in favor of the contract extension earlier this month.

Highlights of the early bird two-year contract extension include:

Salary

The contract extension provides fair and reasonable salary increases while putting a cap on the maximum salaries teachers can earn at the Masters +30 level.

· Salary increases of 1.75% plus step and column movement in 2017-2018 and 1.75% plus step and column movement in 2018-2019.

· Average teacher salaries of $94,776 and $98,082 in each year of the contract extension respectively.

· A salary cap of $108,525 in year one of the extension and $110,425 in year two of the extension for teachers at the top of the salary scale (Masters +30 level)

· An increase in extra-curricular and extra pay rates to .5% in 2017-2018 and 1% in 2018-2019.

“We believe that the salary increase is a reasonable one, given that the current contract had a 0% increase in year one and a 1% increase (plus step and column movement) in each of the two years that follow,” said School Board President Art Levinowitz.

Insurance

The contract extension preserves the quality of the District’s benefits plan offered through the Bucks and Montgomery County Schools Health Care Consortium while continuing its commitment to employee cost-sharing.

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• Teachers will be able to choose between one Point of Service (POS) plan and two Open Choice plans.
• Year one of the contract extension will continue existing employee cost-sharing percentages of 15% for the POS plan, 16% for Open Choice 1, 15.5% for Open Choice 2 and 15% for a 10/20/35 prescription plan. In year two of the contract extension, all health plan cost-sharing will increase .5% and the prescription plan cost-sharing will increase 1%.

“This contract extension, when viewed from year one of the current contract, truly represents a commitment to cost sharing by our teachers. The contract started with teachers sharing 11.5% of health insurance costs and has increased each year in a manner that demonstrates their willingness to negotiate a plan that is workable for all involved,” said Director of Human Resources Thomas Sigafoos.

From a logistical perspective, the extension eliminates the disruption of having to resume negotiations in January of 2017, thus freeing up teachers and administrators to focus on implementing key educational initiatives throughout the District.

“Developing this early bird contract extension was truly a collaborative effort between the Upper Dublin Education Association, our School Board and the Administration,” said Superintendent Deborah Wheeler. “I am thrilled to start the school year with negotiations now resolved.”

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