LORDSTOWN SCHOOLS Panel OKs wage deal for union workers
Pay raises will cost Lordstown $390,600 over three years, the treasurer says.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LORDSTOWN -- The school district's union employees will receive 6.77 percent pay raises over three years, plus $750 in cash.
The district's fiscal planning and supervision commission approved the package Wednesday with the 76-member Lordstown Teachers Association.
The 40 nonteaching workers, members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 774, approved a three-year contract in October 2000 that didn't include raises.
Because OAPSE members agreed to the same raises any other union received, they will receive the same percentage raises and cash.
Details: The pay raises are retroactive to August 2000 and run through July 2003.
The employees don't receive any raises from August 2000 to July 2001. They receive a 3 percent raise and $500 cash from August 2001 to July 2002, 3 percent and $250 cash from August 2002 to July 2003, and a 1.5 percent raise from January 2003 to July 2003.
District Treasurer Mark Ferrara said the increase is 6.77 percent over the three years and not the total percentage of 7.5 percent.
He explained employees will receive only half of the 1.5 percent the third year with the balance added to the next contract.
Ferrara said the agreement will cost the district $390,600 over the three years.
A starting teacher's salary goes from $24,078 to $25,927 by the end of the agreement, and the pay of a teacher with a master's degree and 23 years of service increases from $49,360 to $50,840.
Bill Wenger, chairman of the oversight commission since the district went into state-imposed fiscal emergency, recommended the pay raises.
Wenger said the raises "fit quite nicely" into the district five-year plan to get out from under the fiscal emergency.
"Both unions stepped up and helped" during negotiations, Ferrara said.
Money situation: At the meeting, Ferrara reported the district lost $257,000 this year in expected revenue. He explained that the loss comes mainly because of General Motors Corp.'s reduction in inventory. That loss could be trimmed if the Lordstown plant begins producing a new car line.
Also, Ferrara said, the state is reimbursing the district $155,000 for five years to offset money lost from the deregulation of natural gas and electricity. After five years, there will be no reimbursement.
Wenger said despite significant decreases in district employees, more cuts could come. He asserted a "hard look" will be taken in the spring at not filling vacancies such as those created by retirements.
Commission member Walter Craigo said the school administration will have to look at consolidating classes.
Wenger noted improvements can be made in the teacher-student radio without violating the contract with the LTA, which has a cap of 25 students per teacher.
yovich@vindy.com