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Middletown teachers taking a pay cut

The Middletown Teachers Association also agrees to higher health care costs in 3-year contract.

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By Andy Sedlak, Staff Writer 1:57 AM Friday, June 3, 2011

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown City Schools teachers are giving back a portion of their base salaries as part of a new three-year contract with the district — a move one state education official called “unusual.”

The Middletown Teachers Association — which represents about 500 teachers — also agreed to freezes on automatic raises and to shoulder a higher portion of their health care costs, which combined with the salary decreases would save the district an estimated $4.1 million.

The terms of the pact come from a fact-finding report done May 23 by a third-party administrator after the two sides could not reach a deal through standard negotiations.

Richard Packert, chief negotiator for the teachers’ union, said he worries the concessions could send some educators searching for other jobs. He said he would have preferred cost-of-living and step-raise freezes to base salary cuts.

“Who’s going to come into the district knowing that the following year you’ll make less money?” said Packert, a middle school social studies teacher. “It’s just going to be something the district has to deal with.”

Terms of the pact

Teachers will take a 1 percent salary decrease each of the first two years and see a pay freeze the third. Teachers’ health care share increases from 10 percent to 15 percent in the first year and from 15 percent to 20 percent in the third. There will be no step raises — yearly increases to the base salary depending on seniority and level of educational attainment — throughout the life of the contract.

“With these decreases, we are still in the average salary range in the area,” said Superintendent Greg Rasmussen, adding that district officials are being vigilant long-term. “These are the kinds of things that can’t go on forever.”

The concessions come at a time when district officials are carving more than $5 million out of their $70 million operating budget and contemplating a tax levy in 2012.

What district has done so far

So far, the district has cut more than 30 staff positions, closed a middle school and converted an elementary school into a sixth-grade building. In addition, more than 50 teachers, administrators and other staff have accepted an early retirement incentive offer.

It’s not uncommon for cash-strapped districts and their unions to agree on pay-raise freezes, but base salary reductions are unusual, said Renee Fambro, deputy director of labor relations for the Ohio School Board Association.

“This is the first year that I’ve been here that I’ve seen any form of wage reductions,” said Fambro, who has worked with the OSBA for six years. “What we have seen this year (between districts and unions) are a whole bunch of zero-percent increases to the base (pay) and a significant number of step freezes.”

Some aspects of the MTA agreement, such as “health care tiers,” are still under discussion.

The contract is expected to be finalized in the latter part of June, according to Debbie Alberico, the district’s communications specialist.

“This is a unique situation,” Alberico said. “Our employees understand the economy is down right now and they’re willing to do whatever they have to do to keep our students whole.”

Alberico said the long-term savings will help the district maintain best practices for students, such as keeping class sizes down.

She said it was unclear at this point whether the savings may offset any future position cuts.

Heading into negotiations, Packert said the MTA team wanted to be as financially responsible as possible in times of economic strife and to firm up a three-year deal to help hold off the implementation of the controversial Senate Bill 5.

SB 5 would reduce collective bargaining rights and eliminate seniority-based pay increases, among other items.

The measure would not to take effect until an existing contract expires, so Middletown’s new deal will delay SB 5’s impact for three years.

Also, a voter referendum may be placed on the November ballot to overturn the law.

“With that in the back of our minds, a three-year contract was important,” Packert said. “The vast majority of our membership looks at the situation we’re in. They asked us as a bargaining team, ‘Is this the best that we can do?’ We had to honestly tell them yes.”

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