L-S teacher contract could lead to savings
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Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will save some money due to concessions the teachers union agreed to in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed June 30 between the district and the Lincoln-Sudbury Teachers Association. At this point, however, officials can’t say exactly how much the district will save.
“We are dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s and we will have a final agreement in place before the next L-S School Committee meeting,” said Mark T. Collins, vice chairman of the L-S School Committee.
In the MOU, faculty agreed to pay 30 percent of the health insurance premium, rather than the current 25 percent, saving the district $81,000, for fiscal 2010.
Additional savings will be realized when L-S non-teacher employees also pay the increased insurance premium, said Collins.
The agreement also eliminates the early retirement incentive plan beginning in 2011.
The state introduced the program to encourage senior (and higher paid) faculty to retire. At L-S, up to three faculty members could participate. Assuming they met all the qualifications, they were paid a bonus of 50 percent on their last year of their base salary.
By eliminating the program, Collins said, the district will save between $95,000 and $140,000.
“We have concluded that the early retirement plan has not been an effective incentive for retirement. There are better ways to compensate our faculty more equitably,” he said.
The savings will be partially offset by the new Master Teachers Program, which replaces the early retirement incentive plan. The new program gives a $2,500 bonus to senior teachers, costing the district $77,500 in 2010.
“We intend to monitor this program closely, to make sure it is an effective program and open to negotiations in three years if not,” said Collins. “We see this as a savings and it helps us create a performance incentive for our most experienced faculty and those are the folks we often rely on to engage in the mentoring and some of the non-classroom responsibilities that are necessary to run a high school.”
The teacher contract also includes small annual cost of living pay increases. An increase of .75 percent in the first year will cost the district $80,000.
Sudbury Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Woodard said he is pleased an agreement has been reached and that L-S is addressing the high cost of and the high rate of growth of health care benefits.
“Having said that, it is difficult to determine from an MOU what the new contract will mean financially to the town,” said Woodard.
The Finance Committee has invited an L-S representative to its regular monthly meeting on July 20 to discuss the terms of the contract.