Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Teachers don't contribute to health care premiums.
FARRELL, Pa.-- Teachers in the Farrell Area School District are getting 3 percent annual raises in a new three-year contract approved by the school board.
The district's 94 teachers approved the pact Monday and the school board ratified it Monday night, said Michael Stabile, district business manager.
The pact is retroactive to September. The teachers worked the entire school year under terms of their old agreement.
The new contract carries the district through the 2005-06 school year.
Stabile said the average first-year raise will be about $1,500.
All supplemental coaching and other salaries are frozen in the first year and will rise 2 percent in both the second and third years.
No change
There is no change in health care insurance, Stabile said, noting teachers don't contribute to their health care premiums but do have co-payments set by the Western Pennsylvania Schools Health Care Consortium, which handles the district's health care.
The contract adds a retirement incentive for the first time, offering a $13,000 payment to teachers who retired in the school year just ending. That drops to $12,000 for teachers who retire in the second year and $11,000 for retirements in the third year of the contract.
Farrell had frozen its starting salary at $32,022 for the past seven years.
It is increased to $34,916 in the first year of new agreement and will continue to rise annually to $36,885 in 2004-05 and $38,519 in 2005-06.
The maximum teacher salary in the district rises to $58,197 for the first year and rises to $59,535 in the second year and $61,083 in the third year.
The contract raises the average teacher salary to $49,097 in the first year.