School board OKs contract, incentives

POLAND -- School board members have approved a one-year contract with the Poland Education Association that includes a 2.2 percent raise.
The agreement, approved at the board's Monday meeting, covers the 2006-07 school year and means that a starting teacher's annual salary will increase from $30,071 to $30,732.
The annual salary for a teacher with a master's degree and 27 years' experience will increase from $60,743 to $62,079.
The PEA includes about 130 teachers, and the union has ratified the agreement.
Also included in the contract is an early-retirement incentive plan. The district estimates a savings of more than $1.3 million over a three-year period if all 19 teachers who are eligible retire in June 2007.
Superintendent Robert Zorn said the contract is for only one year as school districts are awaiting the outcome of Ohio House Bill 66, which calls for a statewide pool of health-insurance carriers.